As You See It: Oct. 22, 2009

"He has drafted legislation that has been very useful in moderating bad behavior."
That's true enough....

2 minutes instead of 3 minutes to voice your dissent at council meeting regarding his Sanctuary City program.
Why don't any Sentinel articles mention the word "sanctuary", btw?
Not Christian?

Ryan's main shortcoming?
No kids to eat any of Larry's cookies.
That's why Ryan and the rest of the his politburo are so out of touch with our childrens' reality.

And wasn't Neil Coortney then the leader of the downtown business association and went record speaking against retrofitting because it was too expensive? His business' wall was the one who killed that 22 y/o girl.

at least they won't be smoking while they are stabbing you. That's REALLY important.

wake up city council and police! The law says you can evict from Section 8 Housing anyone harboring gang members) do it.

As Ms. Miler point out her son's experience, so will I highlight only a few of our experiences in downtown Santa Cruz recently: my 8 yr old son picked up a crack pipe
in front of O'Neill's surfshop and showed it to me saying 'what's this'; my kids and
I passed by a man looped on herion in the parking garage on Locust St. where
he was defecating in his pants; we spent a lot of money to dine at the new Aquarius
restaurant as a family only to look out the window at 10-12 vagrants doing drugs
near the stairs and then to head to beach after dinner in hopes to walk a bit where we
had to watch 5 teenagers smoking out of a pipe and offer us pot. It is pathetic!
No wait, it is terrifying that THIS is what we are expected to ACCEPT! I think
we should adopt a drug free & drug awareness campaig like Scotts Valley, ban
the marijauna smoke out days at San Lorenzo park, triple the fines for drug use and
sales and posession within 10 miles of every school in the county!!! We should promote "Keep Santa Cruz Safe & Sober" instead of "Keep Santa Cruz Weird"!!
But hey, who am I to say that DRUGS have everything to do with our cities
problem!!!!

Larry Pearson WAKE UP. If you are so sure that the City is safe after dark then you can let your teenagers walk home from a football or basketball game at the high school. I would be willing to bet if you do have kids they wouldn't be walking around after dark down town. As for Ryan Coonerty doing SO MANY good things behind the scenes don't make me laugh. He's a member of the left wing good old boys club along with his dad. You would have us give credit where credit isn't due. Look at the City see what all these recycled politicians have done to the City. The City is run by career politicians. All they do is change seats once in a while and each gets to be the Mayor for a while. They run good business's out of town or don't let them in town and then have to come up with taxes like the FUN TAX to fuel their out of control spending. Then there is down town, oh boy there is a destination for locals and tourists. Wake up and uncover your eyes and listen, then ask yourself is keeping Santa Cruz weird really what you want? VOTE VOTE VOTE, VOTE THEM OUT!

Gang members have FATHERS. And those fathers don't do a THING! That's who we need to start calling out. Latino fathers, do you really want your race known as gang bangers?!!? If you don't want people to be racist against your children, START PROVIDING GUIDANCE, love, and care for them.

I BLAME THE LATINO FATHERS! We all should until they step up to being men.

Eating wrote:

Gang members have FATHERS. And those fathers don't do a THING! That's who we need to start calling out. Latino fathers, do you really want your race known as gang bangers?!!? If you don't want people to be racist against your children, START PROVIDING GUIDANCE, love, and care for them.
I BLAME THE LATINO FATHERS! We all should until they step up to being men.

Typically, a Latino boy who grows up with his father regularly in his life is far less likely to join a gang. It's an unpopular reality in Liberal/feminista mecca, but gang bangers are largely raised by single mothers.

gee Ryan Coonerty is getting picked on because he made a stupid comment that doesn't reflect reality since Downtown Santa Cruz is a dangerous place especially at night. The combination of welcoming transients to this town under the guise of being humane along with Sanctuary City policies is it any wonder why the public is furious with him when he refuses to acknowledge what is evident to everyone including the police. Santa Cruz has one of the highest crime rates in the Bay Area and if you don't believe that then look at the statistics

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp...

Tell yourself something often enough and you just might believe it. Sadly, I think this is how most of the city council operates.

random guy wrote:

out of curiosity, did anyone notice the part in the story where it says the kid walked ACROSS THE STREET to confront the gang members. This was not some kid getting mugged and stabbed as he walked along the street, this kid went towards the fight because they were taunting him. Here's a quick self-defense lesson here, if people are taunting you, keep walking, they are not a threat from across the street. who cares if someone called you a **** or a **** or says they did your mom, it doesn't matter!

Yes, this was noticed. Kids are not known for doing the smartest things all the time.

However - did you notice this is part of a pattern of violence that has been getting worse and worse?

An elderly woman was raped 2 weeks ago in her home near Bay and West Cliff. Tuesday, a man attempted to push a woman into a car near Felix and Laurel. A few weeks ago, another woman was molested near Felix and Laurel. A few weeks ago, another woman was molested on Walnut by the high school.

58 reported stabbings this year according to stabsantacruz.com , which gets its information from local news sources and keeps track.

The Santa Cruz crime rate is too high. We need more cops. Santa Cruz has 1.5 cops per 1,000 residents; average rate in the U.S. is 3.0 cops per 1,000 residents.

We need more foot patrols - particularly around the high school and downtown.

All the people who believe we have to have more social programs to address root causes - Santa Cruz probably has more of that than any other community in the country. If that is the solution, why are we not living in paradise by now?

"He has drafted legislation that has been very useful in moderating bad behavior."

So the smoking ban is going to stop gang violence?

Bill Rupert... thanks for your rekindling of a tribute to Dave Steeves. He was a kind and decent man who was one heck of a fine Chief Building Official! It is too bad Dave's keen sense for the safety of the community was overshadowed by those who's only true concern was holding iron-clenched political power over Santa Cruz, its people, and its purse-strings.

Remember their names, folks. They'd do the same to each and every one of you in a heartbeat!

Dan Young wrote:

And wasn't Neil Coortney then the leader of the downtown business association and went record speaking against retrofitting because it was too expensive? His business' wall was the one who killed that 22 y/o girl.

Dan, Neal Coonerty did not own the building. However, to be sure it was Coonerty's books that weighed so immensely on the wall's load, and it was Neal Coonerty who would have been inconvenienced, by a retrofit and a hefty rent increase.

You are also correct that Coonerty was a major voice against retrofitting. It is also probably not coincidental that Coonerty's unwaivering support for city council progressives at that time was (the quid pro quo?)what handed him a city council seat.

Ryan Coonerty ...was quoted out of context in the Sentinel.

So why didn't you provide the context to back up that claim?

It didn't take a building inspector to know the buildings would likely fall. It was obvious to many people including some of the tenants of the those buildings. I had conversations with some that freely acknowledged as much. I was told that mortar dust would fill the air after small temblors.

Dave Steeves was a man with a vision. He went to Coalinga and saw the devistation created by a relatively small earthquake. He saw unreinforced masonry fail. He also Red Tagged the Louden Nelson Center and had it retrofitted. It still stands. I see, on a daily basis the short term memory of the county building department. Inspectors that are not aware of the components that resist seismic damage. They still aren't listening Dave.

Santa Cruz Mom wrote:

As Ms. Miler point out her son's experience, so will I highlight only a few of our experiences in downtown Santa Cruz recently: my 8 yr old son picked up a crack pipe
in front of O'Neill's surfshop and showed it to me saying 'what's this'; my kids and
I passed by a man looped on herion in the parking garage on Locust St. where
he was defecating in his pants; we spent a lot of money to dine at the new Aquarius
restaurant as a family only to look out the window at 10-12 vagrants doing drugs
near the stairs and then to head to beach after dinner in hopes to walk a bit where we
had to watch 5 teenagers smoking out of a pipe and offer us pot. It is pathetic!
No wait, it is terrifying that THIS is what we are expected to ACCEPT! I think
we should adopt a drug free & drug awareness campaig like Scotts Valley, ban
the marijauna smoke out days at San Lorenzo park, triple the fines for drug use and
sales and posession within 10 miles of every school in the county!!! We should promote "Keep Santa Cruz Safe & Sober" instead of "Keep Santa Cruz Weird"!!
But hey, who am I to say that DRUGS have everything to do with our cities
problem!!!!

people on heroin don't sh¡t their pant's. opiates halt peristalsis and make you constipated. and teenagers have always smoked at the beach in beach towns.

"We Ban ______" fill in the blank with useless topics like smoking, dogs, skate boarding, republicans, democrats, funny walking... etc.. is the new motto of the Santa Cruz Council.

Sadly the current position of the council members reflects the only people who have been voting in Santa Cruz. I am a Democrat, first tried to vote for Bobby Kennedy and was proud when Obama won as it was the rare time my vote produced a winner.

I am a progressive, liberal in my views, but I am not represented on the local Democratic ticket in any way. If you feel as I do and would enjoy the opportunity to see this town represented by something other than a Homeless (It appears that Santa Cruz can not discriminate between Drunks, Drug Addicts, Dead Heads and Battered Women so to avoid that problem they call them all "homeless")Center at the BIG GREETING SIGN to Santa Cruz, remember this News cone election time.

This is a Democracy and, given the current news, the majority of the folks who vote apparently like women being attacked when they walk or jog, tagging (oh yea.. it is art alright..), Drunks stabbing Drunks, Gang members claiming Chestnut street (Come on..) and the Color red (why not pink?)and stabbing fellow students from the school that is little more than a day care center, no celebration on the 4 of July... On and On..

So, if you find the news Weird and believe the City needs folks who can run a town and not an experiment in Lunacy get your friends and neighbors out to find some humans who reflect your view on the ballot before election day, sorry to be trite, and then VOTE for them!

They cancelled the City Council Meeting at 7:00 on the 27th new time 3:00, tell your friends...

Joe Sun wrote:

"We Ban ______" fill in the blank with useless topics like smoking, dogs, skate boarding, republicans, democrats, funny walking... etc.. is the new motto of the Santa Cruz Council.
Sadly the current position of the council members reflects the only people who have been voting in Santa Cruz. I am a Democrat, first tried to vote for Bobby Kennedy and was proud when Obama won as it was the rare time my vote produced a winner.
I am a progressive, liberal in my views, but I am not represented on the local Democratic ticket in any way. If you feel as I do and would enjoy the opportunity to see this town represented by something other than a Homeless (It appears that Santa Cruz can not discriminate between Drunks, Drug Addicts, Dead Heads and Battered Women so to avoid that problem they call them all "homeless")Center at the BIG GREETING SIGN to Santa Cruz, remember this News cone election time.
This is a Democracy and, given the current news, the majority of the folks who vote apparently like women being attacked when they walk or jog, tagging (oh yea.. it is art alright..), Drunks stabbing Drunks, Gang members claiming Chestnut street (Come on..) and the Color red (why not pink?)and stabbing fellow students from the school that is little more than a day care center, no celebration on the 4 of July... On and On..
So, if you find the news Weird and believe the City needs folks who can run a town and not an experiment in Lunacy get your friends and neighbors out to find some humans who reflect your view on the ballot before election day, sorry to be trite, and then VOTE for them!