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New Year’s Walk at King Tide
4K Video of Low Tide Walk from New Brighton to Capitola
On January 1, 2018, Santa Cruz county rang in the new year, and Mother Nature provided an incredible way to greet it: with a King Tide. A King
Tide is simply the very highest tide, and the flip side is a very low tide. When the tide is very low, it’s possible to walk from New Brighton Beach to Capitola Beach, right along the base of the cliff, without having to get wet.
My wife and I decided to take the kids for the walk, because this kind of super-low tide doesn’t happen every day. The weather was fine, just a tad under 60 degrees, with scattered high clouds. We started off from New Brighton Beach around 1 PM, with the lowest tide to come at 4:18 PM.
It took us a little more than an hour to make the walk to Capitola Village, exploring the rocks and tide pools exposed by the receding waters. We checked out countless sea anemones and hermit crabs, but were unable to find any starfish. Some folks said they had seen a small red octopus, but it vanished into the rocks.
We made it to Capitola shortly after 2 PM, and headed down for a late lunch at Paradise Beach Grill. By 3:30 we were again on the sand, walking back. On our way home, we ran into a lot of people we knew, so it took closer to two hours for the return trip. Which was fine, because the sunlight was sublime and it was great to be able to spend so much time with Mother Nature and so many members of our community.
We are so thankful that in less than a five minute drive from our house we can get to the beach for an experience as spectacular as the one we enjoyed as a family on New Year’s Day. Before we left, our youngest boy Evan was complaining about another trip to the beach, but he was amazed by all the “discoveries” we made, frolicking in the tide pools. Another priceless family memory, courtesy of our beautiful Monterey Bay. Happy New Year everyone!
[Home-Price-Callout]
Learning to Surf
Ahh, summertime! Last year I wrote about how we registered our son for Capitola Junior Guards. That was the last year, it seems, when folks had to get up at o’dark:30 to wait in line to make sure they got the session they wanted (now it’s all done online, boo hoo!).
He is now in his second year of Guards, and so he’s spending hours every day at the beach. We got him one of those $100 foam surfboards from Amazon for his birthday, and now, he’s learning how to surf with it! Check out this video:
This is Our Community
I don’t know how to surf – I tried it once, decades ago, and it seemed too much like work. But I’m proud of my boy, and it brings me incredible joy to watch him learn, and see how much fun he’s having.
What’s also cool to me is that when I tell people, “Hey, my kid just stood up on a surf board for the first time the other day!” I get really warm congratulations from them. Around here, it’s like a rite of passage, and folks are genuinely stoked to hear that Aiden is on his way becoming a surfer.
Of course, it takes a village. Since I myself don’t know how to surf, we asked the son of a friend of ours – who I met, years ago, when I helped them buy a house in La Selva Beach – if he could given Aiden a few lessons.
Their son is himself a Junior Guard, and an amazing kid and incredible role model for our boy. Thank you guys so much for being part of our lives! We are all very grateful for your support. 🙂
Zach Friend Interview: Aptos Village
In the ninth and final segment of our Zach Friend Interview Series, the Supervisor talks about the Aptos Village Project. Zach stresses that the county’s role in the project at this point is very specific, focusing primarily on traffic improvements such as new signal lights, sidewalk, widening Soquel Drive, installing a dedicated left turn lane, and crosswalks. These will be some of the first changes we’ll see in the Village, and it’s just the beginning of a multi-year process. To the greatest degree possible, the county and the developer will provide information to the community proactively so people can plan accordingly.
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We hope that you have enjoyed all these segments of our Zach Friend Interview Series!
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Zach Friend Interview: Housing Affordability
In the eighth segment of our Zach Friend Interview Series, the Supervisor talks about housing affordability and what needs to happen to improve it in Santa Cruz county. According to Friend, too many people live in substandard and overcrowded housing conditions, and it is simply unacceptable for this to be happening in a place and time as wealthy as we live in. The Supervisor notes that if current trends continue, there will be more renters than home owners in Santa Cruz county in a couple of years.
He remarks that many of today’s problems with traffic can be attributed to the fact that most of the new housing in the county has been built in the southern portion of the county, but most of the job growth has been to the north. While the county does not build housing, what it can do is facilitate an environment where housing can be built that fits the present-day and future needs of Santa Cruz county.
The Supervisor also discussed redevelopment of the Par Three Golf Course and the Poor Clares property as well, as there’s been some talk in the community over the years about these properties.
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In the ninth segment of the interview, Supervisor Friend wraps up our interview and discusses the Aptos Village Project.
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Aptos Cares
A couple of weekends ago, Comcast Cares Day came to Mar Vista Elementary School, where my son is currently enrolled in first grade. Each year, the good folks at Comcast sponsor community service events throughout the country, enlisting thousands of volunteers to help make their communities a better place. Comcast provides tools and materials, and actually also donates $10 per volunteer who shows up to help.
Mar Vista Elementary School was very fortunate to have been chosen this year, and we owe it to a Mar Vista Elementary school parent, Orlando Calderon, a Comcast employee, who nominated Mar Vista Elementary for the program this year. As it happens, Orlando came to my house and fixed an issue I was having with my high-speed Internet (the first issue I’d had in over 2 years of service) – and he doggedly stuck with it until the issue was resolved. It’s clear that Orlando really cares, about Comcast’s customers and our community as well.
It was great to see so many families from Mar Vista come out to participate in the event. Things got rolling around 7:30 AM, and a whole bunch of folks stayed for the entire day, with a break for lunch provided by Aptos Street BBQ. Lots of kids were out there working too. In an era of omnipresent iPads and other digital distractions, it was really refreshing to see so many kids happily and enthusiastically helping make their school a better place.
Comcast even got Supervisor Zach Friend out of bed early on a Saturday morning, leaving his wife and toddler son back at home, to come and give Principal Rich Determan a certificate from state senator Bill Monning, who, unsurprisingly, could not actually attend in person. I shot a little video of Zach’s remarks, which you can see below.
Zach Friend’s Remarks at Comcast Cares Day
This morning at the gym, I finished watching President Obama’s commencement speech for the 2016 class at Howard University. Say what you like about Obama’s politics, but the guy gives a good speech. What I took away from it is that your personal involvement in the community is really important. It’s not enough to sit and complain and refuse to participate because it’s futile or because the whole system is corrupt.
And I think this is what makes Aptos the amazing place that it is. People are engaged. People care. And you really saw that a couple of weeks ago at Comcast Cares Day. So thanks to Orlando Calderon, to Comcast, and to everyone who came out to help spiff up our school. You’ve helped make the world a better place, one shovel full of mulch and paint brush stroke at a time.
Libraries Measure S Presentation
Janice O’Driscoll, the interim director of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries (SCPL), and Kate Canlis, Vice President of Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, made a presentation last week at the Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club to discuss the state of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries and Ballot Measure S, a $67 million bond measure to improve the Santa Cruz Public Libraries.
Ms. O’Driscoll began with some background on the Santa Cruz Public library system. She noted that it has 10 branches, a bookmobile and a virtual services branch. It serves 219,000 people in northern Santa Cruz County from past Davenport down to the border of Freedom (Watsonville is not part of the SCPL system). The system handles 2 million circulations per year including “hard” books, e-books and downloaded video. They have 223,000 titles in their collections (including electronic or virtual items). In addition, they also provide 2300 programs a year for people of all ages. Programs vary including helping seniors learn to use iPads and kids learning to play chess.
Ms. O’Driscoll stated that the Library has signed a contract for a faster broadband Internet connection, which will go into effect the first part of July. This will necessitate that each branch be rewired and accommodate the faster service. They serve families and individuals who can’t afford Internet access (or a computer) at home. Their goal is to bring everyone in the county into the 21st century.
Kate Canlis spoke specifically about Measure S, which will pay for the upgraded wiring and many other renovations and improvements. These will include new roofs, story-telling space for kids, book clubs for adults, science programs, new bathrooms and a new building in Felton. Capitola also needs a new building which will be partially funded by redevelopment money.
Measure S will be on the ballot in June and will add $49.50 to property taxes per residential parcel, for a span of 30 years. The measure will require 2/3rds voter approval to pass, so strong community support will be needed if the measure is to be successful.
See also: OurLibrariesOurFuture.org, KSBW News Story about Measure S
Zach Friend Interview: Fiber Optic Broadband Internet
In the seventh segment of our Zach Friend Interview Series, the Supervisor talks about Fiber Optic Broadband Internet which will be publicly financed. Zach Friend mentions that the first legislation he brought forward upon being elected was a “dig once” policy to require notification to all utilities when a road would be dug up, so all concerned parties could do whatever work they needed to do at the same site, at a fraction of the cost.
The Santa Cruz Fiber Optic Broadband project is part of the Sunseys project. Every 1600 feet, any Internet provider will be allowed to break into the line to provide “incredibly” high speed Internet to any customer. Providing ultra-high speed Internet to residents of Aptos and Santa Cruz county is very important as it will enable high-tech Silicon Valley companies to open satellite offices here in Santa Cruz county, allowing many workers to stay locally and off the roads. This project has already gone through all the environmental impact reports and is now in the permitting phase.
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In the eighth segment of the interview, Supervisor Friend talks about the lack of affordable housing in Santa Cruz county, and what can be done to improve the situation.
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Zach Friend Interview: Sustainable Santa Cruz
In the sixth segment of our Zach Friend Interview Series, the Supervisor talks about the Sustainable Santa Cruz County plan. The Supervisor says that the county has been trying to look for new ways to do a lot of things. How can we manage growth in Santa Cruz county in better ways to create a more livable and sustainable community – while respecting Measure J, the growth management plan passed in 1984.
The Sustainable Santa Cruz county plan will direct the quality and direction of development in Santa Cruz county for years to come: what kind of new housing should we create, and where should we create it? The same questions go for jobs – what kind of new jobs do we want, and where do we want them? How can we create live/work environments, and how can we take cars off the roads? Zach touches on all of these in this segment of the interview.
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In the seventh segment of the interview, Supervisor Friend talks about the upcoming Fiber Optic Internet Broadband Service which should be reaching customer doors toward the end of 2017.
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Multi-Million Dollar Aptos Foreclosure at 631 Quail Run Road
A Multi-Million Dollar Aptos Foreclosure has returned to the Aptos real estate market. The home is located at 631 Quail Run Road, has been on and off the market for the past several years and is back this spring with a reduced price of “just” $3,790,000. It’s a stunning hilltop estate built on 68 acres, less than five minutes to Aptos Village. The home offers incredible Monterey Bay and forest views from nearly every room. The home features five bedrooms, 6 full bathrooms (and 3 half baths), and nearly 10,000 square feet of living space.
On the outside, the home offers a fresh, contemporary take on the classic English Tudor style, complete with a distinctive Cotswold rolled roof design that mimics thatch roofs of yore. The inside is a veritable wonderland of custom design elements, with handcrafted wood trim, doors, book cases, shelving, bannisters, and much more. The home features a living room, family room, office, library, play room, recreation room, media room, and a sunroom off the master suite which connects to the lap pool in the patio just outside. There’s also garage space for four vehicles, and an 1100 square foot guest house.
[Home-Price-Callout]
The master suite is particularly impressive, with not only his-and-hers closets, but his-and-hers bathroom suites as well.
The home was built in 1992, reportedly at a cost of $8,000,000 and today’s offering price of just $3,790,000 would have to be considered a reasonable price (consider after all the kind of relatively humble abode $1,000,000 buys in today’s market). The property is currently listed with Christine Evans at Bailey Properties, but can be shown by the agent or broker of your choice. The home is gated so you can’t drive by to see it, but it is vacant and available to see any time.
The bank which owns the property is offering special financing options for the home, and they are encouraging buyers to submit their best offer today.
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