The Santa Cruz needle exchange has moved for now, but the debate over its future is far from over. It has been two months since city attorney John Barisone came down with a case of political amnesia and said he’d never heard of the 20-year-old institution.
Articles by Jacob Pierce
Signs of Change in Shooting Aftermath
After Santa Cruz’s violent crime spike that started with a drive-by homicide and culminated in the shooting of two SCPD officers, here are five signs of change in the Santa Cruz landscape.
Shooting Tragedy Ignites Cultural Battle
Erik Larsen was living in the Lower Ocean area and working in Beach Flats as a community organizer in the ’90s when he got to know Loran “Butch” Baker—a smiling, jovial police officer who took a neighborhood-based approach to keeping people safe.
“He was a really good cop,” Larsen says. “Butch embodies everything anyone would want to know about a community officer. He was a really good guy, and Santa Cruz lost a really good police officer.”
Chief Calls Officer Shooting Deaths ‘Darkest Day’ In SCPD History
“Our department’s in mourning,” an emotional Kevin Vogel said Tuesday Feb. 26. The Santa Cruz Police chief addressed reporters just after sunset. “This is a horrific day in my career as police chief and for our community and for our police department.”
Artisan Santa Cruz: Jam, Snacks and More
Kristen Cederquist’s Santa Rosa Plum Preserves taste as sweet and wholesome as a fruit pie home-baked by Doris Day, topped with an American flag and finished off with a swirl of whipped cream. Cederquist, who owns Santa Cruz’s Serendipity Jams, began making jams with grandma at age five and hasn’t looked back.
Santa Cruz’s Angriest Man
Ken Collins has been talking nonstop for fifteen minutes. His voice is getting hoarse, and the cold he fought off a day earlier sounds like it’s coming back. “This is a small surf city with big city problems. It should never have gotten this bad,” he says.
Q&A: Paula Poundstone
Poundstone rose out of the stand-up scene in Boston, and came to national attention with her TV appearances and award-winning HBO special in the late ’80s. These days, she is a frequent panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, an avowed asexual and an unapologetic crazy cat lady. We caught up her via a phone interview as she prepares to perform at the Rio on Friday, March 1, 2013.
Regional Transportation Commission Awards Funds to School Kids
If 75 bus-riding cyclists fought with a few hundred kids over a pot of money, who would win? That’s pretty much what unfolded at Santa Cruz City Hall last week. During a Regional Transportation Commission meeting, commissioners had to choose certain transportation programs for grant applications through the county’s Regional Surface Transportation Program.
Downtown Businesses React to Shooting
“Oh my gosh, what’s happening to Santa Cruz?” Carlos Ortiz of Planet Fresh Gourmet Burritos said two days after a tragic shooting near the restaurant. “It wasn’t like this five years ago.”
Zach Friend Adjusts to County Seat
New county supervisor Zach Friend has some experience that sometimes comes in handy in his new job. He used to be a rock star. “You learn to market,” says Friend, the former guitarist for Santa Cruz band Blueprint. In 2005, Friend and the band won Metro Santa Cruz’s Gold Awards for best musician, best album and best band.
