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Write to the RTC on the Rail Corridor

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The Coastal Rail Trail
Tell the RTC Your Thoughts on the Future of our Rail Corridor

The Regional Transportation Commission will soon decide if the Santa Cruz Rail Corridor will be used for passenger rail, or some kind of bus service. They are working on a Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis – but they are only looking at two alternatives – fixed rail and bus.

This web site has frequently made the case that the best use of the corridor isn’t for passenger rail. Many (most!) Aptos residents are likely also opposed to any capital-intensive, low-use projects envisioned in the corridor. Please write to the RTC today at transitcorridoraa@sccrtc.org or info@sccrtc.org or via their Contact Us web page.

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Suggested Talking Points for a Message to the RTC

I’m writing to let you know that I OPPOSE the rail transit options and the bus option on the rail corridor. The rail options however are far worse than bus, because…

  • Rail transit will not move more people faster nor for less money than bus transit.
  • Rail transit is more NOT accessible, less comfortable, and louder for riders and neighbors. It also does not go where people need to go.
  • Rail transit will operate in a corridor creating additional traffic congestion in residential neighborhoods, so provides the least reliable service: NEVER on time any time.
  • Rail transit CANNOT be implemented sooner than bus transit, it will have NO IMPACT to be able to travel car-free, it WILL NOT lower our emissions, it WILL NOT fight global warming, and will have NO IMPACT to escape traffic congestion sooner.
  • Rail banking WORKS and absolutely protects 100% of the existing 32 mile rail corridor from easement threats. The Great Redwood Trail in Northern California is using rail banking for a distance 10 times longer than the Santa Cruz Corridor with not easement threats. The only threat here is from the extremists at the Friend of the Rail Trail.

Choosing rail transit means construction of the Coastal Rail Trail is ALREADY delayed and WILL NOT be completed within 10 years. Plans for the rail trail are shoddy and ridiculously expensive.

Bus Rapid Transit/Bus on Shoulder along Highway 1 offers South County riders the same access to improved public transportation as North County riders, RAIL transit does not. It would also clearly show single occupant vehicle drivers that there isa faster way to Santa Cruz.

Rail transit WILL NEVER double the use of public transportation county-wide. Please use SMART as an excellent example of Rail Transit Failure. You cannot get an entire county to accept the burden of financing public tranportation for 2% of the population.

Rail transit is THE MOST expensive to operate and maintain so, over time, rail transit will BANKRUPT SANTA CRUZ METRO.

Funding to implement passenger rail service is NOT REALISTICALLY identified in the State Rail Plan. With COVID-19, we will also be taking a massive hit to revenue in the county, making paying for such capital intensive projects even less feasible.

Tearing up the existing tracks to replace them with a road for buses or commuter rail would create environmental trauma such as TOXIC CLEANUP FROM DECADES OF PESTICIDES, GREASES and OTHER WASTER along with demolition waste, grading, miles of new pavement, and digging for storm drainage systems. This is minimized by replacing the tracks with an active transportation trail and keeping mass transit on the Highway 1 corridor where it belongs.

Rail provides the LEAST easiest access and minimal amount of bike storage per vehicle (rail 20 or more, most buses can only carry around 3). WE DON’T WANT A PLACE TO STORE OUR BIKES, WE WANT A PLACE TO SAFELY RIDE OUR BIKES!

It doesn’t matter if rail provides the access for wheelchairs if it is difficult to get to the locations to ride the train and to get to a final destination as the centuries old rail line does not pass through any current day employment area, government center or higher learning campus. Rail on a signle track cannot accommodate more people with personal mobility devices.

STOP WASTING OUR TIME WITH THESE STUDIES! STOP THE MADNESS OF RAIL AND THEIR SPECIAL INTERESTS AND BUILD A TRAIL ON THE CORRIDOR NOW!

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Hosted Taco Bar Sunday 10/6 in Aptos

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Taco Bar and Open House 10/6/19 in Aptos

I’ve hosted a number of taco bars over the years – often for housewarming parties and the like. But this is my first public taco bar open house. I wanted to open it up to anyone and everyone, to show my appreciation for my community (while also, hopefully, getting some good exposure for my listing).

Do you love tacos? Who doesn’t? That’s why I’m hosting a free taco bar this coming Sunday, October 6th @ 4 PM at my new listing in Rio del Mar, at 175 Tamarack Drive (just a few blocks from Rio del Mar Elementary). This is the first open house I’m holding for the property – it’s a beautiful home, right along the 14th fairway of the Seascape Golf Course. I figured a beautiful home like this really deserves a fun and festive first open house – so what could be better than a taco bar?

As I often do at open houses, I’m encouraging people to register to win a $100 Amazon gift card. To register, you need to tell me how much you think the final sale price of the home will be – and whoever guesses closest wins a $100 Amazon gift card at close of escrow. After all, everyone who loves tacos also loves Amazon.com, right? Chocolate and peanut butter!

Please come to 175 Tamarack Drive on Sunday, October 6th at 4 PM. The tacos are free, and all-you-can-eat while the tacos last! It would be lovely to meet more members of our Aptos Community. I hope to see you there!

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Save a Little Girl’s Life, Be a Match

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Today, there’s a family in Aptos that needs your help. The youngest child, Ziva, has been diagnosed with leukemia, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment. She’s a fighter, and has an army of family and friends behind her, praying for her and the family and doing all they can to support them in this unimaginably difficult time.

Ziva’s doctors have determined that Ziva needs a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, nobody in the family is a match, and so the search is on for a compatible bone marrow donor.

Don’t wait! BE THE MATCH at Join.BeTheMatch.org

Aptos, Ziva Mitnick needs your help finding a bone marrow donor. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to see if you might be a candidate. Simply point your web browser to join.bethematch.org. From that web site, you can register to be sent a swab kit. It’s easy: stick a cotton swab in your mouth, swish it around, and return it to the laboratory. Your results will be entered into a national database, and if you’re a match for Ziva, you’ll be contacted. If you’re not a match for Ziva, you may be a match for someone else someday – you could help a family somewhere else in the world in their hour of need.

Take a moment and sign up to be the match. If you’re aged 18 to 44, the swab kit is free. If you’re 45 to 60 years old, they charge a $100 donation fee.

Please don’t wait – act now. Your swab kit will take a couple of weeks to process, and Ziva needs as many of us as possible to send in their swab kits, stat.

Mar Vista Students Raise Funds for Paradise Elementary

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The students at Mar Vista Elementary School recently held a special Winter Benefit Concert to raise funds to help the children and families of Paradise Elementary School, which burned to the ground in 2018 during the devastating Camp fire.

Students in grades TK (Transitional Kindergarten) through 4th performed a wide range of songs, starting with It’s a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and finishing up with I’ll be There by Bruno Mars.  The first of two performances  was held on a Thursday morning at 8:30 AM, but the hall was packed with parents excited to see their kids perform.

Students from the 5th and 6th grades ran the coffee and bake sale, which was the fundraising portion of the event.  They had an ambitious goal of raising $4,000-$5,000 for the victims of the fire.  The students of Mar Vista Elementary School ask you to please donate to the Camp Fire Relief Fund!

Schools is all about learning, and by putting on this benefit concert, the students have learned a very important lesson.  They’ve learned that we’re all in this together, and that when people need help it’s important to step up and lend a hand to those in need.

Mar Vista Elementary Winter Benefit Concert Video

Mar Vista Elementary Winter Benefit Concert Photo Gallery

 

The school also put together a video showing how the idea of this special benefit concert came about, and can be seen below:

Our Community Reads in 2019

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Friends of the Aptos Library / Our Community Reads
Friends of the Aptos Library is again sponsoring “Our Community Reads” in 2019. In its second year, the goal is to bring the community together around issues concerning our residents and to foster ways to engage people in a thought-provoking manner.

A book is chosen by a committee and recommended as a community read. Last year’s themes were based around the book “Born a Crime”, by Trevor Noah which highlighted the issues of racism and “otherness” as they affect members of society. This year’s book choice, “The Death & Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival” focuses on the tumultuous story from the bay’s disastrous past of over-fishing and pollution to becoming the most prized natural resource it is today.

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The Friends of the Aptos Library offers a vast array of events to the public to bring these themes to light and allows people to gather together for discussion and community engagement. This year’s offerings consist of 3 films (each presented by an expert in a field relating to the film’s topic) several speakers, a panel discussion, a conversation with the book’s two authors, a poetry slam/art event hosted by Aptos High & Delta School, and some outings to explore the Elkhorn Slough. All but two of these events are free, and all are open to the public.

Not only do we project that readers will learn a great deal about the Monterey Bay through this extensive program and gain an appreciation for the bay’s turbulent past, but participants will gain access to what they can do to secure the healthy future of our most precious natural resource.

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A major goal of Our Community Reads is to foster awareness, highlight literacy, and create a passion for engagement and activism. We believe that a well-informed and involved community is a healthy one!

To reach underserved communities, the Friends of the Aptos Library, through a California Humanities grant, will be purchasing Spanish-language educational materials relating to the ocean and conservation and environmental issues. They will be donated to the county library Book Mobile and taken along with volunteers who can facilitate learning to these grade school aged children.

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Candy Cane Lane in Pacific Grove

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Each year in the month of December, a neighborhood in Pacific Grove transforms itself into Candy Cane Lane.  Dozens of homes around Platt Park (on Morse Drive) transform into an incredible show of the Yuletide spirit, with all manner of lights and decorations.  Don’t miss our exclusive video below, provided for your viewing pleasure.

This annual holiday tradition has been going on since the 1950s, and it’s a completely volunteer effort. The city of Pacific Grove pays for the electricity for the lights in Platt Park, but all other expenses are born by the neighbors. There’s no fee to park or walk through the neighborhood to take in the spectacle. It is truly a gift of love for the holidays from the neighbors to the community.

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A few days ago, we drove around Aptos (and Capitola/Soquel) looking at Christmas lights, and we saw some magnificent displays. But nothing we have in Santa Cruz county can compare with the mind-boggling display you’ll find just an hour or so south in Pacific Grove on Candy Cane Lane.

If you go, I recommend that you bring warm clothes and maybe some hot cocoa to share. Walking slowly through the neighborhood should take about an hour. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes nearby to grab dinner at before or after visiting Candy Cane Lane. It’s a great holiday tradition to share with the kids, so be sure not to miss it while they still believe in the magic of Santa.

Candy Cane Lane Video

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Christmas Lights of Aptos (and Beyond)

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This House Takes the Prize

Last night, after grabbing a quick bite at Burger and some hot chocolate from Starbucks, our family decided to hit the road and explore. We were looking for the best Christmas Lights of Aptos (and Beyond), and we discovered plenty of eye-popping and heart-warming displays throughout 95003.  You’ll find a slideshow with dozens of the best homes we found below.

If you’re on NextDoor, check the app (and I assume web site too!) for their “Holiday Cheer” map. It will show you where users have said that homes are festooned with holiday lights, and it will be a good guide for finding such homes in Aptos and elsewhere.

We didn’t actually end up using the NextDoor holiday cheer map much – my wife checked her iPhone and saw on Facebook where people recommended that you go to see some awesome Christmas lights. We ended up spending about 90 minutes driving around, through Seacliff, Rio del Mar, Mar Vista, Capitola, and Soquel, listening to Christmas music on the radio and sipping the hot cocoa.

Amazingly enough, the kids spent the time happily, with lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” and nary a mention of wanting to play XBox or jump on the iPad. And the best part is, when we finally rolled into our driveway, one of the boys had already fallen asleep and the other was well on his way. Visions of sugar plums, I’m sure, were dancing in their heads.

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Aptos Christmas Lights Slideshow

Halloween at the Santa Cruz KOA

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If you know anything about Santa Cruz County’s reputation, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Halloween is a big deal here.  Every Halloween evening in downtown Santa Cruz, there’s a massive street party attended by many thousands of people in costume.  The police are out in force to make sure everyone stays safe amid the chaos.  While some children do go downtown for the festivities, many parents are wary of bringing their kids, especially those of single-digit ages, into that madhouse.

So what is a fun-loving family to do in Santa Cruz county for Halloween?  It turns out, there’s a raging party down by the southern end of the county at the Santa Cruz Monterey KOA.

KOAs are known as squeaky-clean family campgrounds, a Disney-fied camping experience that’s cleaner, better-run and with much superior amenities compared to anything you’d find in a public campground.  So imagine my surprise when I learned that at our amazing KOA they host a Halloween party that is absolutely off the hook.

Each year, for the last three weekends of October, the Santa Cruz Monterey KOA hosts what they call the “Halloween Spooktacular.”  For 2018, the weekends are October 12-14, October 19-21, and October 26-28.  Of course, you’re probably already too late to get a spot for any of these weekends; I understand that they are generally booked up a year in advance – but they could have a cancelation, so it’s worth your time to inquire.

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So what’s this “Spooktacular” all about?  They have a bunch of activities during the day, like a pumpkin carving contest, the spooky train, site decorating contest, Halloween ceramic painting, the KOA Ice Cream Bike, and new this year, the “Haunted Trail” in the evening.  So there’s plenty of activities to keep everyone occupied until the witching hour, which starts at 6:30 PM.

That’s when the real fun begins.  The whole campground turns into a massive trick-or-treat extravaganza, with most cabin and RV sites hosting visitors, sharing candy for the kids and cocktails for the adults.  Many of the sites are decorated very creatively in splendid Halloween adornments, which make great conversation starters with the site tenants and fellow revelers.

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Later in the night, a roving dance party makes its way through the campground, with sound, lights, and dozens (hundreds?) of people bouncing around, with every color and configuration of lights flashing and swaying to the beat.

It’s an amazing thing to experience – a great time for children of all ages (even those who’ve been in their double digits for decades).  If you’re able to grab a spot and you’re looking to have fun this Halloween, you need to look into spending one of the last three weekends in October at the Santa Cruz / Monterey KOA.

Video from Santa Cruz / Monterey KOA Halloween Spooktacular

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ZuOYB-I7c&feature=youtu.be

Photo Gallery for Halloween at the Santa Cruz KOA

A Parable: When a Cheerleader Turns Quarterback

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This parable has been provided by an anonymous author who requested it be posted for community discussion.

There once was a Cheerleader. She was nice, outgoing, and a snake charmer to her community. People just adored her. She enters her Senior year and learns there’s a football scholarship up for grabs so she joins the team as the Quarterback. The coach said, she’s been at every single game for the last three years as a Cheerleader, everyone loves her, the team will thrive on her energy.

The whole first quarter, everyone was having a great time. Players were everywhere and trying new plays. By the second quarter, they scored 0 points and their scores continue to gap away. The players asked her for a plan going into half-time. She came back to third quarter with signs and banners. By fourth quarter, not only were their score the fastest losing game ever but players were getting pulled out of the game for serious injuries.

So the community loved this Cheerleader because she was nice and learned every player’s birthday. And from what they saw, she gave the best school rallies. But most folks didn’t see the game or had their child as a player; but they only heard about her great energy and spirit even as a Quarterback. Of course, they all saw the great banners everywhere.

Now the game is over, players are dealing with serious injuries from her lack of competence on the field and causing them to get hurt. Now the game is over, the team was dropped to the bottom of the regional line up based on their games scores. Now the game is over, the stadium seats were left empty from folks who did watch the game and probably don’t want to buy another ticket again.

So how can this happen? How can a Cheerleader be put in a Quarterback position? Do you blame the Coach for putting her in? Do you blame the league for allowing it? Do you blame the players for playing with her? Do you blame the audience for watching the whole game unfold? But more importantly, who’s responsible for the injured players because the Quarterback put them in vulnerable positions?

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