Mia Duquet
What do you do for a living?
I help the city look beautiful. I’m a Sr. Parks Maintenance Worker for the City of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department (I am part of a crew that takes care of a section of the Parks called the “Central Zone,” which is Pacific Ave., the Town Clock, City Hall, Civic Center, Mission Plaza Park, Louden Nelson, the police station, Beach Flats Park, etc.), and due to budget cuts I have a second job. I work for Imagine with a developmentally disabled buddy.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing that?
Putting together and organizing another Bicycle Art Parade downtown and maybe calling it Cyclelogical II.
What do you do in your free time?
With free time I listen to free music and see art for free. I like what a friend said: If there is such a thing as free time I’d like to have more of it, because time is money and then I would have free money!
What brought you to Santa Cruz?
A Volkswagen Squareback full of five crazy people from Ohio 30 years ago.
What’s your favorite street?
Shaffer Road, because the Homeless Garden Project is there.
What’s your favorite plant?
OMG, that is a really hard question! I’m a gardener, how can I pick one?!
Don’t you pick one either.
Name a pet peeve.
Cleaning up dog poop and replanting after the little or big unconscious plant stompers of the little gardens under the trees on Pacific Ave.
What are you reading?
I just finished reading Road Song by Natalie Kusz and I really enjoyed it, but one of my favorite authors is Christopher Moore. He makes me laugh.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the last three years?
The power of non-violent communication.
Secret star crush?
It’s a tie between Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Cate Blanchett.
