What are those things?
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Have you seen those funny/cute/weird little yellow two-seat vehicles around Santa Cruz lately? I saw a woman getting into one the other day and it turned out to be one of the owners of a new business in town that rents them. Her name is Judy (her partner is named Lynne) and the name of the business is Cruz Carz. She told me they are specially designed, open air, twin-seat scooters that can be rented by the hour or day. They can even be leased. It really looked like a fun ride, so I asked her if it was.
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- Cruz Car at street level
“Yeah,” said Judy, “It really is a fun way to get around town. Plus, the mileage is great.” In fact, the little scooters use a 100cc gas engine that gets up to 80 miles per gallon. And from what I could see, driving one looked pretty simple. It steered like a bike and the hand brakes worked the same, too. But, like a motorcycle, the accelerator is operated by turning the handle and you need to wear a helmet (she said they provide that). But in case you might be worried, it’s easier than a bike or a motorcycle to drive because there’s no need to shift gears. Forget the freeway. It can only go up to 45mph. But, why would you want to go on the freeway if you’re in one of these?
Judy gave me her business card before she left and I decided that I should check this out in person. Later, I followed the directions on the back of the card. It showed the location of Cruz Carz was just past the Santa Cruz Police Department building on Center St at Washington. Whoa! Couldn’t miss that building, painted bright yellow like the scooters! I parked on the curb and went inside where maybe a half a dozen yellow scooters were parked and ready to go.
So what happened next? Check it out here.
The Truth About West Side Video
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Walking into West Side Video transports you back to a time when the phrase “renting a movie” actually meant “renting a 
VHS tape.” A time before Blockbuster and Hollywood Video made their publicly traded land grab for every video-renting neighborhood in America. A time before Netflix and Redbox completely removed the human element from renting a movie. In this bygone era, the person behind the counter at your locally owned and operated video store didn’t just have an encyclopedic knowledge of all things cinema, they have a knack at personalizing a recommendation just for you by asking a couple of quick questions.
Now things have changed. Our movies tend not to be rented from other people, but rather delivered by a mailmain who doesn’t know the difference between a Woody Allen and an Ed Wood, or dispensed by a vending machine in SafeWay that hasn’t even been programmed to say “Have a nice day” in a creepy cyborg voice.
But the beloved video store culture of yesteryear still exists, I tell you, and you need look no further than West Side Video. The video store sits in the corner of a parking lot on Mission street, tucked away behind Sabieng thai restuarant where it has stood for 23 years.
The first thing you’ll notice, when you enter through the glass doors, is wall after wall, and shelf after shelf, of VHS tapes available for rent. In fact, I have to admit, the first time I visited West Side Video I didn’t think that they had DVDs in stock. It was pretty shocking, and slightly traumatizing. But I soon got over the trauma, and found my way to their DVD section (just to the right of the entrance) and was pleasantly surprised. They have a lot of extras you won’t find at box video stores, or at video vending machines, like a local pick section consisting entirely of movies that played at the “Nickelodeon.” Being a huge fan of independent films, this was a natural draw for me and I instantly recognized a couple movies I had seen at the Nick, and some I had missed.
What I love most about West Side Video is the passion of the owner, Ashlyn Adams. Cinema just gushes out of her, and it’s impossible to talk to her for longer than a minute without having a handful of directors to check out whom you’ve never heard of, a handful of movies to watch that you haven’t gotten to yet but MUST SEE, and updates on all the recent releases.
Ashlyn grew up watching TV and movies, and started working in West Side Video a few years ago. When the previous owners, a couple who both currently work for Google, decided to close down West Side Video, Ashlyn was heartbroken. She offered to buy it. The rest is history.
To Ashlyn’s credit, she totally keeps with the whole “Keep Santa Cruz Weird” vibe. For example, there is a pirate ship hidden somewhere in the movie store. In the event of a power outage (Ashlyn tells me it happens once or twice a year), there is an immediate scavenger hunt for the pirate ship. She’ll even equip you with a flashlight. If you find the pirate ship, a booty of free movie rentals awaits.
Today, West Side Video stands a testament not only to one woman’s passion for movies, but for a community’s passion for a good video store. Leaving I’m struck with an overwhelming awareness of what corporate franchises do to movie store culture: they spray Windex all over it and rip the heart out.
Me, I’m heading to a video store where I can get in depth reviews, critiques, and suggestions from a living cinema-pedia. I’m going where everyone knows your name, and co-workers come in on their days off to hang out and watch movies.
I’m going to West Side Video, or somewhere close.
Local Duo Launch Graphic Design Biz
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Young & Talented is a new monthly series that will spotlight some of the exciting things young entrepreneurs, artists and musicians are doing here in Santa Cruz.
SANTA CRUZ — As many people try to weather the economic storm that’s been blowing full force for months now, a young local duo are heading straight into the winds with the launch of their inaugural business. Earlier this month, Davy Reynolds, 26, and Ruby Anaya, 23, launched Parachute Creative, a graphic design firm that creates everything from band posters to candy packaging.
As Anaya puts it, “If we don’t know how to make something right off the bat, we find a way.”
And already things are moving quickly. Reynold’s eccentric band posters have become ubiquitous in store windows downtown in the last few weeks. He now does poster designs for upcoming performances at The Red and 515. Parachute Creative also designed HappySantaCruz.com, a site co-founded by city councilmember Ryan Coonerty.
In the month since they launched, Parachute Creative has done work for local bands, real estate agents, the Santa Cruz Design & Innovation Center and Ashby Confections, a local chocolatier.
Reynolds, who looks like a clean Russel Brand (he was born in England as well), brings an out-of-the-box illustration talent that always starts with a pencil and paper. Anaya, who graduated from UC Santa Cruz last spring with a degree in biology, handles the administrative side of business making appointments, talking to prospective clients and giving Reynolds her frank opinion on his work before he sends it out.
“She’s ridiculously and annoyingly intelligent,” Reynolds said. “Whenever I get really stressed, Ruby helps me figure out a solution.”
In a few short weeks, they’ve managed to build a client base that’s increasing everyday. While I was interviewing them in their office, a new client called to setup a project.
“We’re getting more and more referrals every day,” Reynolds said.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Before they launched, they were broke, had just left their previous job and didn’t even have a proper computer.
So armed with a $5,000 small business loan — they had hoped for $10,000 — and Anaya’s brother’s computer, they opened up shop in NextSpace, a collaborative downtown office home to freelancers and small business owners, keeping the thought of failure out of their head.
“Failure pretty much wasn’t an option,” Reynolds said. “I figured there was no way I could lose considering the amount of sweat we put into this.”
But the stakes were high. Just last week, Reynold’s credit card was declined when he tried to purchase a coffee at Lulu’s.
In light of this, things are pretty bare bones at the home office. But you can still tell there’s a designer in house. Reynold’s sits at a desk made of cinder blocks and wood. On it sits the company’s first and only major purchase — a brand new 24-inch iMac. The mainstay of the business.
Other items include skateboard decks that he designed himself and a black and white TV that plays two blurry channels throughout the workday. It serves as an good-luck omen for Parachute Creative. Reynolds found it on the side of the road while driving home from his final day at his last design firm. Anaya and he had discussed how cool it’d be to have a vintage TV that played skateboarding videos in their new office all day. A few minutes later, on his way home, he found exactly what he was looking for on the side of Seabright Avenue. A tiny 13-inch black and white TV. And it worked.
“It seemed like a real clear sign,” Reynolds said. “I knew I was ready to take the risk.”
Creative Parachute’s launch comes in the midst of a number of burgeoning campaigns like Keep Santa Cruz Weird, NextSpace and cheap housing for artists at the Tannery Arts Center to keep local talent and encourage new talent to come to Santa Cruz. It finally seems to be working.
“The economy is moving more and more towards design,” Coonerty said. “Manufacturing can be outsourced, but communities that can attract companies in need of good design and innovation or, even better, grow our own companies, will be the sustainable communities of the future.”
As for the future, Anaya and Reynolds hope to branch off and do design work in the industries that interest them. Most notably, action sports like surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding and t-shirt design.
“We’re going to start an apparel line with limited runs,” Reynolds said. “We’re going to try to get consignment in O’Neill’s, Pacific Wave and Krate.”
But really, they just want to provide quality illustrations with a personal connection and beat an economic storm that had them up to their heads just a month ago.
“For us, it’s not just another paycheck,” Reynolds said. “And I genuinely mean that. Two hundred dollars or $10,000, they’re going to get the same level of personal attention.”
Business is Booming at the New Whole Foods
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Four days after a new Whole Foods location opened on Soquel Avenue, it is clear that the Santa Cruz community has chosen, en masse, to shop there.
Pulling into the Whole Foods parking lot at approximately 4:00PM on Saturday the 21st of March, just four days after the Whole Foods on Soquel opened, I was amazed. I couldn’t find a parking spot. There was not one empty space in a lot that, by my quick estimate of counting space, contains at least 250 parking spots.
After driving in circles for a few minutes a car finally left a spot in front of me and I pulled in. Locked the car. Walked up to the entrance of the store.
Immediately I notice a chalk board, written on in bright, neon colored chalk, detailing community events. On the board were slots filled with printed calendars that show you the planned events for the current month of March as well as next month, April. Today from 11AM to 3PM was a BBQ Demo. I had just missed it.
Entering Whole Foods, the first thing that greets you is the produce section. Their produce section is enormous, especially by Santa Cruz standards. It takes up one entire section of the store, from the front wall stretching all the way to the rear. Almost everything in this section is organic, including pears, grapefruit, minneolas, limes, Hass avocados, tomatoes, garlic, apples, grapes, and more. Their vegetable selection is equally organic and voluminous. They have organic red, green and rainbow chard, yams, potatoes, taro root, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, onions and more, all organic.
What really sets Whole Foods produce section apart are the exotic items that are stocked, like pioppini, chantrelle, and lions mane mushrooms. They even have ostrich eggs for 29.99.
Their seafood section includes Dungeness crabs for 8.99 per pound, littleneck clams for 6.99 per pound, and BBQ oysters for 99 cents each. Their fish selection includes cod, ahi tuna, swordfish, tilapia, king salmon, butterflied trout and opah.
In addition who regular fish and shellfish, they have pre-skewered kebabs of shrimp, mini jamaican jerk crab cakes for 2.99, large crab cakes for 5.99, and salmon burgers for 4.99.
When I talked to an emlpoyee in the seafood department, he said that the crab cakes were selling particularly well.
Also on ice were full coho salmon, and you can order then whole or half.
Their meat section is impressive. None of their lamb, chicken, pork, buffalo, quail or beef is grown with hormones or antibiotic, and all of it is fed a vegetarian diet. In addition, all of the suppliers of meats from their butcher section are regularly audited by independent third parties.
You can get things like ground turkey breast, pesto chicken sausage, buffalo hot dogs, buffao steak, any kind of beef steak you can imagine, and bacon that is completely nitrite and nitrate free. The prices are a little high, with Rib Eye steak going for 9.99 per pound and 7.49 per pound of ground turkey.
They also have a carving station in the middle of a busy aisle. Admittedly, its just a tad strange to walk by an enormous leg of beef being cut up in the middle of the store. They really want to hammer home that they do custom cuts. They also had hot samples of chicken breast and pork.
Now on to their cheese section. I am a huge fan of blue cheese so I was particularly interested in their offerings. In blue cheeses alone they had countless varieties including Maytag, Buttermilk, Roaring 40s, Point Reyes, Black River, Cambozola, Danish and more.
The prices for their blue cheese ranged from 6.99 per pound for Black River blue to 19.99 per pound for Blue Oregon.If you are a true blue cheese afficionado, you should be adequately satisfied with their selection.
The rest of the cheese deparment has your usual suspects: Cheddars from Vermont, dry jack from California, Gruyeres from Switzerland, Brigante from Italy, Garroxta from Spain, and so on. They even have a Parmagiano Reggiano from a small cheese maker in Italy who only makes 10 wheels per day.
Their wine selection is divided into Domestic Reds, Import Reds, Domestic Whites, Import Whites, and a few niche categories like sparkling wines.
I perused their red wine selection and found wines from Chile (Calina), South Africa (Goats do Roam), Australia, Spain (Protocolo), Italy (Taurino), France (Chapoutier), and so on. Their domestic reds section featured wines almost entirely from California. In fact, if there are any domestic red wines not from California, I didn’t see them.
The nice thing about their wine section is that each wine has a tag next to it with a checklist of characteristics for that wine, including fruity, peppery, robust, sweet, chocolatey, long finish, dry, tangy, tannic, earthy and supple. So now not only can you impress your date with a fine wine, you’ll know to descrive it as earthy and supple with a long finish.
The bakery section has a few bread selections, including speeded sourdough for 4.99 per loaf, and a “family loaf” for 5.99 (pictured right).
However, where the bakery section of Whole Foods really shines is the sweets. They have canolis, cream puffs, eclairs, fruit tartlettes, cheesecakes, cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, cookies, creme brulee, and a lot more. All fresh baked.
The prices are a little high. A full New York cheesecake costs 29,99, and cupcakes range from 1.99 for a chocolate frosted to 3.59 for a vegan vanilla or a vegan carrot.
The bulk food section features over 140 different foods, most of which are organic. For example, I found organic pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, pecans, rolled oats, couscous, granola, pine nuts, hazelnuts, raisins, whole wheat flower, flax seeds, trail mix, figs, and more.
Also in their bulk foods section is bulk wildflower honey, bulk extra virgin olive oil, bulk raw agave nectar, and bulk soy sauce.
The prices for most of these bulk items range from $1 and change to $3 and change.
Next to the bakery section of the store is a buffet section. For 7.99 per pound they serve dishes like mashed potatoes and turkey gravy, polenta with mushroom marinara, grilled vegetables, chicken korma, teriyaki tofu and more.
Their salad bar, which is also 7.99 per pound, offers beans, peas, red yellow and green peppers, tofu, broccoli, beets, eggs, olives, cheeses, and all the fixins of a full salad bar.
Next to the buffet section is a taqueria station where you can build your own burritos for 6.99 (vegetarian) to 7.99 (with meat). Next to that, a pizza station where you can get hot pizza for 2.99 per slice or 15.99-16.99 for a full pizza. The pizzas and the slices are small however, but they are gourmet styles.
Next to the pizza station is a coffee / juice bar station where you can get a cup of coffee for under $2, Kombucha from the tap, and freshly juiced wheat grass.
In the end of the whole experience, my first though is that the competition is dead in their tracks -and I say this completely distraught at the proposition of any of the competition going out of business and at the same time utterly impressed by Whole Foods. This place is like the Wal Mart of health food -a one stop shop for everything. Where else can you get pizza, burritos, agave nectar, kombuca, wheat grass, chicken korma, antibiotic and hormone free meat, nitrite free bacon, and farm raised salmon?
Whole Foods is a succesful publicly traded company because they understand their market incredibly well, and offer them everything they want in a presentation that is visually inviting and engaging.
Consciousness about the quality of the food we eat is incredibly high in Santa Cruz, which not only created the opportunity for Whole Foods to move in, but also contributed to their immediate success. Already, Whole Foods is doing a lot of business. Much, if not all of this business will come at the cost of business done with other food stores, especially those that cater to high end, quality foods like New Leaf and Staff of Life. With Whole Foods buying in such bulk, smaller competitors get locked out of the opportunity to stock certain items.
Love it or hate it, can’t live with it or can’t live without it, Whole Foods is here to stay on Soquel Ave. And like I said earlier, I am thoroughly impressed.
Whole Foods descends on Santa Cruz (storm cloud looms over competitors)
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As swarms of people waited in line for free cake, cookies and Kombucha, John Gaits from Progressive News Talk Radio kicked off the Q&A bluntly. “Why should we as a community choose to shop at this Whole Foods store when only 10% of the money we spend here will return to the community and 90% will go to Texas?”
David Lannon dodging bullets
David Lannon, the regional president of publicly traded corporation which retails health food, gave the usual PR line. “We’re a publicly traded company, and so the money we make is returned to stockholders. That means the money goes to anyone in Santa Cruz or anywhere else in the world who owns stock in Whole Foods. In addition we have 5% days, four days a year we give 5% of our sales to local non profits.”
However, the point John Gates made in the opening question of the night is incredibly relevant in these rough economic times. What Santa Cruz needs to thrive, more than anything else right now, is to keep local money in the local economy and bring dollars from outside Santa Cruz, in. Shopping at Whole Foods flips the math equation, and exports our dollars to a corporate infrastructure based halfway across the country.
Free food, from Whole Foods
However, as with almost all issues, there’s the bad and the good. In defense, Lannon pointed out that in opening this Whole Foods, they’ve created 150 new jobs, and 80 of those jobs were filled by people who live within 10 minutes of the store location at Soquel Ave. The starting pay for an employee there is 11.25 per hour, and the average pay, exlcluding store leadership, is 15.75 an hour. In addition, 80% of their staff is full time, with full time benefits. And certainly no one was arguing with the free smorgasboard of deserts and health drinks. But would Santa Cruz be bought off so easily?
One woman, who identified herself as Chris, asked why they were opening two locations so close to each other. One location is in Capitola, and this one is in Soquel.
Lannon responded that they look at market opportunity. The Capitola store services the Capitola neighborhood, and this one services the Santa Cruz neighborhood.
City council member Tony Madrigal asked about local youth sports. He pointed out that their competitors in the community are local businesses, and give money to local youth sports teams. He asked whether they give any money to local youth sports teams. Lannon responded, “All of our stores support the community with donations to non-profits, which can include sports teams, environmental groups, educational groups. That’s something we’re committed to. And we do fundraisers also.”
Not all residents were skeptical however. Many were welcoming Whole Foods with open arms. One woman who did not identify herself by name, told her story about living in Aptos, working on the East Side, and shopping all over the place. She pointed out how when Starbucks comes into town, competing coffee shops do better because it draws people’s attention to coffee and improves business at all local coffee shops. The inference here was that Whole Foods will draw people’s attentiont to health food, and increase the business at all health food stores.
One woman asked them to elaborate on their policy with respect to GMO products. Lannon responded that they have an anti-GMO stance, they don’t allow GMO in any of their private label foods and avoid it whenever possible with everything else they stock. He admitted, however, that avoiding GMO is tricky because of issues of drift, where GMO seeds will drift into neighboring fields and contaminate and otherwise organic crop.
Lannon also went out of his way to state, many times, that they are not predatory, and are not looking to put other competing stores out of business. However, the fact is that an enormous store like Whole Foods can buy in bulk at lower prices than Staff of Life or New Leaf, and thus offer lower prices and lock up their access to the same products from the same suppliers as well.
Whole Foods opens in 13 days, on March 18th. The impact on local health food markets, whether positive or negative, will be the subject for a follow up piece. For now, I encourage you to consider where you spend your money and the economic impact of spending your money on locally owned and operated businesses as opposed to publicly traded corporate behemoths. That being said, I personally would shop at a Whole Foods over a Safeway any day of the week.
(photography by Lindsey Foden)
Whole Foods moving in, some residents unnerved
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Whole Foods, the large box-store retailer of health food, is moving in to 911 Soquel Avenue directly across from Shopper’s Corner, down the road from Staff of Life, and a hop skip and a jump away from multiple New Leaf locations.
The store is scheduled to open March 18th. Tonight, March 4th, from 6-7PM they are holding a Town Hall meeting at their store location to give a presentation and field questions.
The Cournalist talked to employees at Staff of Life, Shopper’s Corner and New Leaf after hearing various rumors about Whole Food’s business practices. One such rumor (which has not yet been evidenced) is that they intentionally set their prices low in an attempt to push competitors out of business, and then raise their prices after there is no competition left.
However, according to various employees at our local health food stores who wished to remain anonymous, Whole Foods also compete with these businesses on a whole other level: stock from local suppliers. According to our sources, Whole Foods buys in bulk such that many health food items previously available to stores like New Leaf and Staff of Life, become locked up an unavailable, thus damaging their business by leaving them without the ability to stock certain items.
Also, according to sources, Whole Foods needs to generate $120,000 in sales per day to break even. This number is significant, and threatens to directly impact the sales of it’s competitors who operate much smaller stores and boast independent local ownership.
No doubt these questions and more will be raised at the “Town Hall” style meeting tonight, at the Whole Foods Store. If you have any questions or concerns about this issue, you are encouraged to show up and voice your opinions.
The Promise of the Santa Cruz Design and Innovation Center
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Relatively new to the professional community here in Santa Cruz is the Santa Cruz Design and + Innovation Center, and in the year and a half since they began their mission they have made considerable strides towards catalyzing the creative professional community. They have also worked hard towards gaining the recognition Santa Cruz rightly deserves as a regional and national center for design excellence.
I sat down with Chris Yonge, the Operations Manager of the Santa Cruz Design and + Innovation Center to gain a clear perspective on what the organization is, what they do and how they intend to achieve their mission. He tells me that the story begins roughly two years ago when Yonge was part of the original technical advisory group which advised on the possibility of starting the design center. He was then one of the founding board members when it was set up as a non profit about 18 months ago.
According to Yonge, “The Design and Innovation Center first came to public attention in January 2008 when, sponsored by Plantronics, we held our kickoff event. It vastly exceeded our expectations and it put us on the map.”
The SCD+IC's Kickoff Event
Their kickoff event, held at the Plantronics design center, was attended by 400 people, with an additional 100 people who showed up but were turned away due to occupancy restrictions. The event introduced the design center and it’s its potential to Santa Cruz and its professional creative community. The Plantronics design center was a setting that fit the event well, due to the fact that Plantronics is a national leader in headset design and manufacturing. Their headsets are used by everyone from NASA astronauts to everyday pilots. They’re also one of the oldest and largest continuous employers in Santa Cruz County.
Following the kickoff event, there was a period of 4 months where the SCD+IC digested their debut to the creative community and looked around for funding sources. That’s when they achieved a major funding milestone, and secured a $100,000 contract from the city of Santa Cruz to report on the status, size, breadth of the creative community, to catalyze the community by means of regular events and a website and to produce a deliverable that would be the basis of their proposed technology business incubator.
It is important to note that their contract was not paid for by local taxpayers. Rather, it was an economic development agency grant which the city had readily available. The net result is that there is no cost, and only benefit to the local Santa Cruz community. This will come as relief to local residents who are increasingly scrutinizing the ways that Santa Cruz is spending its money and dealing with its deficits.
So who’s involved in the SCD+IC? Architects, designers of websites, product designers, intellectual property lawyers, engineers, software developers, publicists, creative writers, technical writers and photographers. You can name a creative profession and find such talent living but not necessarily working in Santa Cruz. If the SCD+IC succeeds in its overall mission, Santa Cruz will become a thriving center of design industry, and more and more talent will choose to work here as a viable and successful alternative to working over the hill, in Silicon Valley or San Francisco.
The question becomes then, how do you catalyze an existing creative community? Yonge tells me that this essentially comes down to “making the Santa Cruz creative professional community aware of itself as a viable community.” Yonge has first hand experience with the void of inter-creative professional awareness. Before helping to found the SCD+IC he was a technical designer and animator working as an independent consultant in Santa Cruz. During that time, he interfaced only with a handful of creative professionals.
And so Yonge, like many others, fell victim to the misconception that there were only a few creative professionals here in Santa Cruz. Soon after getting involved with the design center, he has discovered hands-on that the pool of talent is incredibly robust. All that was needed, it seemed, was to make the creative professional community aware of itself. What better way to do this than to hold huge events that people can get excited about, and create a web site where the community can connect further.
This is exactly what the SCD+IC has been up to. Over the past year and a half they have held five major events.
Photo from the Rittenhouse Event
Their most recent event was held on Feb. 13, 2009 at the E C Rittenhouse Building on Pacific, and was attended by 350 people. This was their second annual event, and it boasted an introduction from Mayor Cynthia Matthews, music, a bar, large screens and projectors, the Santa Cruz Roller Girls and a panel of five world class local bicycle designers from Santa Cruz. The panel included Craig Calfee, founder of Calfee Design, Robert Egger, designer for Specialized Bicycles, Jim Gentes, founder of Giro Helmets, Joe Graney, head engineer of Santa Cruz Bicycles and Roxy Lo, designer for Ibis Bicycles.
It was at the Rittenhouse event that the SCD+IC launched their new web presence, located at designsc.org. The entire site was built by people from Santa Cruz. Ted Holladay of Studio Holladay did the graphic design, Quiddities did the engineering and implementation, and Dusty Nelson did the beautiful video on the home page. Their website is just another example of excellence in design coming from local Santa Cruz talent.
The SCD+IC is now connected to hundreds of creative professionals in Santa Cruz. They have an email list that they use to publicize events news and announcements, and according to Yonge, “what we have in Santa Cruz is basically the largest design firm on the planet and in which people are able to collaborate due to their awareness of local resources.”
If you would like to become involved, or enter into the creative community here in Santa Cruz, I would strongly encourage you to head to the SDC+IC website and join their email list and begin attending their events. They have one major event annually, one large event every three months, and smaller events every few weeks.
UCSC Hosting $12,000 Prize for Business Plan Competition (Now You Can Stop Eating Top Ramen)
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Times are getting desperate for students, no jobs to be found for miles with tuition rising, cost of living digging in its heels as scholarships begin to limit their generosity and in some cases completely dry up. Money seems to be a central theme in much of the stress UCSC students experience during their years on the hill. Economists on the T.V are telling you to not get your hopes up for next year, or the year after that, or possibly even the year, after the year, after that.
However, the Cournalists have some good news for you. UCSC’s University Economics Association (UEA) has initiated the 1st annual Business Plan Competition, which will encourage students to brainstorm and articulate start-up ideas that could be feasible in the real world. But at the end of the day, what student has time to come up with a real business plan that is not only original but also feasible? As an incentive to participate in the competition, the City of Santa Cruz Department of Economic Development and Redevelopment, Santa Cruz Geeks, Santa Cruz Design and Innovation Center and the UEA have allotted $15,000 in prize money. The breakdown of the prizes is $12,000 for 1st Place, $2,000 for 2nd Place, $500 for 3rd Place, and $500 for “People’s Choice”, where the audience at the presentation will vote on their favorite plan
To most students, $12,000 sounds like a nice deal. However, this competition is no easy task, which has prompted the sponsors of the event to arrange for mentors to assist in composing the business plan as well as teach-ins conducted by various UCSC faculty to assist in this process. The president of the UEA, Eric Gonzalez, said “We’re looking to provide students with an opportunity to network with the campus community and local entrepreneurs. We’re pleased to be working with both the City and the University to support student research and entrepreneurialism.”
While the teach-ins have already begun, there two left on the 17th of February. At 12:30 in Baskin Engineering 330 there will be a presentation by James Davis, a computer science professor, titled “Too Risky to Fund – Identifying Risk: Tech, Market, Business, [and] Team”, followed by a presentation at 5:00pm in the same room by Nirvikar Singh, a professor of economics, titled “Indentifying and Securing Competitive Advantage”.
Mary Flannery, a professor of economics, addressed issues of market targeting to a group to potential competitors Wednesday evening. The public relations officer, Lisa Donchak, commented “We were very pleased with the turnout for the workshop; members of the Business Plan Competition Committee have been spending every spare minute spreading the word to students about this competition, so we were happy to see new interest after last week’s launch. This was also the first in a series of workshops we’re holding on different aspects of writing a business plan, and I think Professor Flannery’s brief lecture illuminated the concept of target markets for the students.”
For all of those interested, the executive summary (the first round of competition) is on February 27th. Visit the site below for more details on the competition.
Business Plan Competition Website: http://bizplancontest.soe.ucsc.edu/home
Victory for UCSC Workers Exposes Battles Yet to be Won
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The night after the “historic contract” agreement, the Student and Worker Coalition for Justice (SCWJ) held their planned teach-in on the situation regarding workers’ rights and wages. Despite the victory early that day, the tone of the attendees was not completely optimistic. It started off with smiles and thank-yous from two service worker representatives, grateful for the help that the students offered them in their time of need, and was followed SCWJ outlining the contract for the participants. As described by the UC Office of the President and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employee’s (AFSCME) respective press releases, the new agreement is as follows:
• Wages: Increasing minimum hourly wage from $10.28 to $14.00, raising the average worker’s pay from $14.35 to $18.39 an hour, over the contracts five-year period. The first year increase will be 4 percent, then 3 percent for the following four years until the end of this contract.
• Steps: Seniority will be recognized over the duration of the contract with a point system towards the workers’ wage.
• Healthcare: UCSC agreed to give service workers the healthcare package they provide for all other workers in the UC system, capping the increase by 12 percent over any two year period, beginning with 2008.
• Overtime: Overtime and double pay after 12 hours of work established.
• Parking: Capped parking rates increases to between $5-10/month.
Without a doubt, the group finds this contract to be more than satisfactory, winning increases in wages that are not dependent on state funding. This feeling of success is not without reason, when looking back on the 17 months of negotiations that took place prior to this agreement. For example, the UC proposed a mere $1 million increase in wage expenses on Jan. 17, towards the beginning of the bargaining, which the union quickly rejected (for reference, the proposed increase on Sept. 12, 2008 is an increase of $11.3 million to bring an increase in wages from the minimum of $10.83 to $12.00 an hour during the first year). Nineteen workers even took the risk of staging a sit-in, and consequently were arrested, at the private office of UC Regent Chairman Richard Blum in protest of the low wages for workers within the UC system.
Students at the UC campuses have played a large role in strengthening the support and the image of the worker’s struggle for a fair contract by organizing protests, teach-ins, movie screenings, and other forms of activism. Laura Barringer, a member of SWCJ, believes that the contract is sufficient but not what the workers deserve, and communicated in the interview that UC does not want to acknowledge the importance of the workers to the educational process. Due to this, Barringer also discussed the importance of the attitude of the students towards the workers on campus and how they should not only support positive contract bargaining, but simply talk to the employees on the way to class and be personal with them.
After the successes were addressed, the tone of the teach-in shifted. UAW, the union representing the Teaching Assistants (TAs) on the UCSC campus, took the floor and made it clear that their contract was coming up in September and there were serious issues to address. These issues range from wages, fee remissions, safe lab conditions, healthcare, sick leave, parental leave, and a childcare subsidy (last contract gave $200 in childcare per quarter, which was not sufficient). One of their biggest topics of discussion involves section sizes, which are increasing steadily every year.
“Basically what they are telling us is that you have to half as much work per student,” said Jesse Kerchner, a UAW representative. He said his sections have doubled in size over the last few years and that it was affecting the quality of education he was able to provide.
In addition to stating their bargaining points, they briefly touched on the way that the UC deals with unions. When unions attempt to get higher wages, they are told that a raise for the UC workers would mean an increase in student fees.
“This is something that the UC has used for a long time to try to divide people, try to convince people both that their interests are in opposition to each other and also that there is this limited pool of resources which is somehow dwindling and which everyone ought to go and get theirs and argue over a shrinking pie,” said Adam, a member of the UAW.
While AFSCME’s workers have achieved a great victory with their new five-year contract, it is clear that other workers essential to the operation and excellence of UCSC and the other UC campuses are preparing for their battle with the UC system over fair compensation and rights. What is also clear is that the UC system has an unsavory way of dealing with the workers and their unions, which is an issue that should be addressed and corrected.
Around Santa Cruz in 6 Lattes
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Coffee shops are big in Santa Cruz. On Pacific Avenue alone and the surrounding downtown area, you have Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting, Bad Ass Coffee, Starbucks, two Lulu Carpenter’s, Pergolesi, Peet’s Coffee and Tea, and probably one or two more I’m forgetting. Cast your net to all of Santa Cruz, and you have more coffee shops than Santa Clause could visit in a night and enough collective caffeine to send Santy hallucinating for days on something similar to an acid trip but much more intense.
What then of the coffee shops’ crown jewel? Which among them boasts the biggest diamond with the finest angles? I speak of course about none other than the latte: the artful expression of espresso, the warmth and childhood nostalgia of steamed milk. The caffeine buzz for the professional-on-the-go who’s had too little sleep, too much stress, and not enough to eat for breakfast. If you’re looking for a good latte in Santa Cruz, you can have your pick of the litter. But if you’re looking for the BEST latte in Santa Cruz, you’d better listen up.
The Abbey – $3.25
First up on the chopping block is the Abbey. The Abbey is a coffee shop tucked away on 350 Mission street, right before it turns into a highway near Costco. It boasts comfortable couches and chairs, soft lighting, plenty of tables, free internet and a smiling staff. But forget all that, because today the latte that is the be-all end-all of the coffee shop. So let’s see how it stacks up.
3.25 gets me a small latte. The first thing I notice is the latte art. Round outer rings give way to almond shaped rings on the inside, and the whole thing resembled an onion sliced in half. The lines are blurry and not particularly well designed. The barista may have been attempting a heart.
After just one taste I have a sneaking suspicion that they put the single shot of espresso in the same cup they serve the double in, and then proceeded to fill it with steamed milk in a disproportionately high amount. This is great if you want a.) more beverage to actually drink and b.) a latte that isn’t too strong.
You’ll notice from the photo above that the majority of the foam is dark-foam. Dark foam is richer, more bitter, and tastes more like coffee beans where as the lighter foam just tastes like milk. I prefer the dark foam for its bold taste, and so this latte is great for the fact that it gives you a taste sensation with each sip. The dark foam gives way to the lighter brew underneath and your palate ends up giving you more contrast than you bargained for, though I mean that in the best possible way.
Lulu Carpenter’s – $3.20
Next we go to Lulu Carpenter’s, a hot little coffee shop that has opened not one but two locations downtown. For the purpose of this review, I visited Lulu’s at the Octagon, across the street from Trader Joe’s. The seating inside this Lulu’s is sparse compared to their other location across from Jamba Juice, but I find a nice outdoor table to enjoy my latte.
The latte comes in a smaller cup here than at the Abbey. That, combined with a thicker foam makes for a much smaller milk to espresso ratio and thus a stronger drink. The flavor itself is more full-bodied here vs. the Abbey, but is also more bitter.
Now, observe the latte art with this cup. This is a standard “spruce tree” design, executed pretty well. The lines have good definition and if you look at the upper-most portion of the cup, you can see how dark and rich the foam gets. This is my favorite portion of the cup to drink from because it is so flavorful.
This is a solid latte. Good art, good proportions, good flavor. Just no where to sit.
Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting – $3.00
If you’re caught in the middle of Pacific Ave, and you’re looking to the Starbucks on one side of the street and Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting on the other, do the right thing and choose Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting. You’ll be glad you did.
The first thing you should be aware of is this latte is served hotter than any other latte in town. Hot enough to burn your tongue, in fact. Good to know if that’s your style.
If the Abbey serves a “light” latte, and Lulu’s serves a “dark” latte, then Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting serves up a hot medium. I wish they would have asked me if I wanted it for “here” or “to go” because if there is one thing I hate, it’s drinking a latte out of a paper cup like the one they served me.
The latte art here leaves something to be desired, though I have to admit if I was on a date with a girl who enjoyed lattes, this would probably be the place to take her. But in all seriousness, the heart is the easiest design to execute and this one comes off lopsided and tiny. Perhaps its a new barista.
This would be a great latte to order up if you weren’t sure whether you wanted something strong and rich, or something light and fluffy. It’s also your pick if you take your latte very hot.
Bad Ass Coffee – $2.95
Bad Ass Coffee doesn’t have any “for here” cups, so for the second time in a row my latte was served to me in a paper cup. I won’t dwell on this though, because I’m not that snobby goddamnit.
The art in this latte was non existant. It was served with a lid on the cup, and upon removing the lid I found a homogenous froth on top that didn’t have the darkness and richness of any of the other Lattes.
What Bad Ass Coffee lacks in a refined latte, they make up for with bad ass Apple computers that you can use for free after making a purchase. They also have bad ass donuts that they cook fresh, and hand out for free as samples if you’re lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time. And their tables shaped like longboards are pretty bad ass. Their lattes: not so bad ass.
Fins – $2.75
Let me start with the most important aspect of a latte from Fins: it has the best art of any latte reviewed here. The lines are clearly defined. There is no background noise or unnecessary swirls. It is executed flawlessly as though the design was stamped right into the foam. The foam itself ranges over three degrees of darkess. Three whole degrees of tantalizing richness for your taste buds.
Also adding a touch of class to the Fin’s experience is a silver spoon and two animal crackers that come on your saucer. However, you won’t find this latte downtown. Fin’s is closer to the court house, across the street from Marianne’s ice cream -so for a typical day on Pacific this might not be an option. But if you’re on bike or in a car, its only a minute away and located at 1104 Ocean Street.
It’s a good latte. Smooth with just the right amount of bitterness. The art is impeccable.
Pergolesi – $2.75
The baristas at Pergolesi are too cool for school, what with their Converse shoes and tight black pants and this same nonchalant attitude of a chilled out hipster is transferred wholesale to their latte. They’re not into “image” so don’t expect to find any pretty designs of a heart or spruce tree staring back at you from a bed of milky white froth. What you will find, however, is a proportion of milk to espresso that is perfect, an espresso bean that is exploding with flavor and a layer of foam thicker than any other latte in town thanks to the long slender glass it is served in.
But you don’t come to Perg for the best tasting latte in town. You come for the ambiance. Great music, cool art on the walls, and interesting people. You’ve only just walked in the door when you realize: you aren’t in Starbucks anymore.
And so that concludes the latte tour of Santa Cruz. In closing I would like to leave you with some final sentiments as I descend into a tweeking hallucination due to the caffeine from the six lattes I just drank. Pergolesi tasted the best. Fins had the best art. Bad Ass had free computers. I don’t think you can find a bad latte experience in Santa Cruz, but know what you’re looking for ahead of time. Know if you prefer aesthetics over taste, or vice versa, and then choose wisely.
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