In response to recent downtown violence, locals decide they’re just going to hang around. Take Back Santa Cruz is hosting a mass loitering event to discourage crime near the intersection where Tyler Tenorio was recently stabbed to death.
It’s not a protest. It’s an “uplifting event.” That’s the message that Take Back Santa Cruz is aiming to relay at its mass loiter on Pacific and Laurel streets this Friday. Local residents are encouraged to meet on the corner and hang out for an hour, sipping apple cider and smiling at passerby, particularly the suspicious-looking ones. “You have the power to change this community,” says the group on its Facebook page.
The group, which mobilized on Facebook in October, states that it has “one goal and one goal only. To make the streets of Santa Cruz safe and free from drugs, gangs and abusive behavior.” Its 2,000 members support the local police, emergency services, and fire department. Among its other activities are the collection of funds to put up an engraved memorial bench for Tyler Tenorio, the 16-year-old who was killed by gang members last October.
Read More at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
