A historic week begs the question: Who will take the reins?
There was a moment on Saturday morning when time fell away and I felt as if I had been dropped into a history textbook’s chapter on the 1960s. Thousands gathered beneath the redwoods at San Lorenzo Park, holding up handmade signs that demanded change, and singing along as a ukelele band, standing atop a platform stage at the crowd’s center, played “This Little Light of Mine.”
The demonstration in downtown Santa Cruz was one of 2,000 “No Kings” protests scheduled across the U.S. over the weekend, a massive pushing back against the Trump administration’s increasingly autocratic streak. At this scale, these things take a lot of time and effort to schedule, but luck would have it that Saturday’s event capped off one of the most politically charged weeks since the summer of 2020.
As hordes of people crossed the pedestrian bridge and filtered into the park, many were just hearing about the morning’s breaking news: Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband had been assassinated inside their home, and another Minnesota state senator and his wife had been shot.
This threw fuel on an already combusting week. Increasingly aggressive raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including on a garment factory in Los Angeles, sparked massive protests that shut down part of that city. President Donald Trump responded by sending in the U.S. military, against heated objections by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Days later, Sen. Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed and briefly arrested by federal agents after showing up at a news conference to demand answers about the raids and military response from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
This is to say nothing of the decision of the controversial military parade held by Trump on Saturday, or the Friday decision by Israel to begin bombing Iran, sparking a conflict that could reshape power in the Middle East.
While it felt like the country, and even the world, teetered on its edge, Santa Cruz’s was a peaceful protest. I’d even argue that, at times, it was a touch placid. Under the weight of such a historic week, with what felt like a historic-sized crowd of march-ready protesters gathered around a stage, the moment was ripe for a local leader to step forward — not to incite, but to inspire. Yet, Saturday’s speeches largely ran like public service announcements describing the good work of Watsonville’s Community Action Board and the SEIU 521 labor union, two organizations directly impacted by the ICE raids and federal budget cuts.
Perhaps Saturday wasn’t intended for spellbinding oration. The march was massive, and showed the people of Santa Cruz County remain heavily engaged in the state of our world. The crowds that walked from San Lorenzo Park to the county government building spanned blocks, shut down a chunk of Ocean Street, and appeared larger than what news outlets reported in other, more populous U.S. cities. That’s encouraging, no matter which side of the aisle you occupy.
And, no, we don’t need more speeches, but America, its states and its cities do need a new generation of leaders to rise up and meet this moment, across ideologies. Santa Cruz’s “No Kings” protest felt like a rare moment for that to happen locally, but it also felt like a microcosm.
I said earlier that Saturday felt like a snapshot out of the 1960s. On one hand that was inspiring, but bothersome on the other. Sixty years later, we should have some new examples of meaningful people power, and new leaders to rely upon. In a column Sunday, my colleague Wallace Baine said the time was ripe for a seismic cultural gathering, a Woodstockesque free concert headlined by Bruce Springsteen to both bring us together and wake us up.
As a New Jersey boy, I love Bruce. He is, undoubtedly, the preeminent working-class hero, a role that is the perfect foil for what some see as our ascendant oligarchy. But the torch needs passing. Rather, it needs taking. Next year is the country’s 250th birthday. If we are to see this union make it another 250, or even another 100, we will have to evolve beyond the examples of a bygone and, to be sure, golden, era. The people are ready; not for a return but for something new.
The question remains: Who will guide us there?
OF NOTE
“These people don’t know my life”: For some Santa Cruz County health care workers facing layoffs, the long wait for last Tuesday’s final budget decision felt like a slow unraveling, leaving dedicated government employees in a state of helplessness and anxious anticipation. For a story last week, I spent “decision day” with three workers who could only watch as the county board of supervisors decided their fates. In the end, the supervisors voted to delay most of the layoffs until at least September.
Capitola City Council appoints another replacement councilmember: Capitola has a new city councilmember, the second in more than five months, after the city council voted Thursday to appoint Susan Westman to fill a vacancy left by former councilmember Alexander Pedersen. My colleague William S. Woodhams has the details.
Why does Santa Cruz build only rentals? Santa Cruz is building more housing than ever — but almost none of it is for sale. Sky-high home prices and a state law meant to protect buyers are discouraging developers from building condos, closing off a key path to ownership. In a story published Monday, I look into what this all means for first-time homebuyers.
ICE raids are hurting Watsonville’s businesses: As my colleague Tania Ortiz reports, Watsonville businesses, flea markets and food drives say they have seen sharp decline as immigration raids intensify nationwide, forcing immigrant community members to avoid busy public places.
POINTS FOR PARTICIPATION
Santa Cruz County announces series of battery storage community meetings: The fire at the Moss Landing battery storage facility in January set off a tense mood across the energy industry and in Santa Cruz County, where a similarly sized battery storage plant — intended to hold renewable energy — has been proposed for South County. The county government announced Monday it will hold a series of community meetings around the “role and risks of battery energy storage systems.” The first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25, from 5 to 8 p.m. inside the board of supervisors’ chambers at 501 Ocean St. in Santa Cruz. The other two meetings are scheduled for the back ends of July and August.
Scotts Valley to re-up contract with Town Center consultant: The city council will meet on Wednesday to vote on whether to extend its contract with the Good City Company, the Redwood City-based government consultant that has helped usher Scotts Valley’s much-talked-about Town Center project. The contract up for a vote is worth $150,000, and would cover the company’s forthcoming work to update the project’s plans, manage the environmental review process and help develop a request for proposals for a Town Center developer.
Mid-County gets a chance to weigh in on Measure Q spending: County voters in November approved Measure Q, which will raise an estimated $7 million per year for countywide conservation and climate resiliency efforts. Santa Cruz County is now hosting a series of community meetings that invite residents to weigh in on how the money should be prioritized. On Tuesday, the county will host one of these meetings at the Live Oak Community Center, 979 17th Ave., at 5:30 p.m.
Election and voter participation ideas? Come one, come all: Santa Cruz County Clerk of Elections Tricia Webber wants to know more about voter behavior and how to increase participation. Her office is hosting a series of community meetings to hear from voters “about when and how they cast their ballots, what accessibility services matter most to them, and how they prefer to receive information about upcoming elections.” The first meeting is Monday at 4 p.m. at the Aptos Library. Subsequent meetings will be held on June 23 at the Simpkins Swim Center, and on July 1 at the Scotts Valley Library.
ONE GREAT READ
The White House marching orders that sparked the L.A. migrant crackdown, by Elizabeth Findell, Ruth Simon, Michelle Hackman, Tarini Parti for The Wall Street Journal
In a deeply reported and startling investigation led by my friend Elizabeth Findell, The Wall Street Journal reveals how the White House, and particularly Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, has been pushing ICE to get more aggressive in its missions to conduct the president’s promise of the largest deportation operation in American history.
“Agents didn’t need to develop target lists of immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, a longstanding practice, Miller said. Instead, he directed them to target Home Depot, where day laborers typically gather for hire, or 7-Eleven convenience stores. Miller bet that he and a handful of agents could go out on the streets of Washington, D.C., and arrest 30 people right away.”