Santa Cruz becomes only the second California city to close the gender pay gap in sports
Three years ago, a local freak show was a lightning rod for controversy in Santa Cruz. Now, it will also be remembered for creating enough of a ripple to force a sea change.
That is, the 2021 O’Neill Freak Show; the Steamer Lane surfing competition that initially proposed a 10:1 payout gap between its male and female winners. The men would compete for a $10,000 purse, the women would battle for $1,000. The criticism, immediate and harsh, painted O’Neill’s program as yet another example of a mainland surfing culture that fawns over its men as brave, sculpted warriors, and relegates the female competitors to an afterthought.
Although O’Neill eventually agreed to change course and split the prize money evenly, the episode opened old wounds around the disparities between men and women on the water. Watching from the sidelines, local environmental activist Rachel Kippen saw a break. Only months earlier, Kippen stepped down from an executive position with O’Neill in public fashion, with an explosive resignation letter that accused the company of fostering an immovable culture of racism and misogyny.
“The [Freak Show] was a catalyst,” Kippen said. “There was a lot of pushback from the event. It was an opportunity to grow.”
Last week, less than three years after the Freak Show, city of Santa Cruz lawmakers unanimously voted that, within the city, all special event competitions with prize money must offer equal payouts to male and female competitors. To many, the rule change seemed obvious; however, Santa Cruz is just the second city or county in California (behind only Half Moon Bay) to pass an equal pay rule for local competitions.
How did the city do it? And what does it mean for other local jurisdictions who also host sporting competitions?
Rail in Santa Cruz County thrust onto life support after proposal fails to pass supervisors
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors failed last week to approve a 4.5-mile stretch of the Coastal Rail Trail project through Eastside Santa Cruz and Mid-County, with some supervisors citing environmental concerns and questions surrounding project costs and funding shortfalls.
The board was split 2-2 on county staff’s recommendation to approve the next steps toward drafting final designs and eventually breaking ground on Segments 10 and 11 of the project, between 17th Avenue in Live Oak and State Park Drive in Aptos.
County spokesperson Jason Hoppin told one local news outlet that the plan was now on “life support.” What happened? My colleague Max Chun has that story.
Santa Cruz County makes foray into restricting e-bike riders
A new law that would ban electric bicycles and scooters from Santa Cruz County sidewalks and walking paths cleared its first hurdle this week after local lawmakers threw unanimous support behind the change.
The move comes both as e-bikes become increasingly ubiquitous (sales nationally jumped from 325,000 in 2018 to 1.1 million in 2022) and as the county is preparing to welcome hundreds of new electric bicycles into its urbanized unincorporated areas next month through a bike-share partnership with BCycle.
The law as proposed would prohibit e-bikes and e-scooters from county parks and any sidewalk in the county’s jurisdiction unless the sidewalk is also dedicated as a bike path. However, there are some exceptions in Koenig’s proposal. E-cyclists can ride on a sidewalk as long as no pedestrians are present and no adjacent bike path exists. The law also gives flexibility to county officials to dedicate specific sidewalks and county park paths for e-bike usage in the future. E-bikes would also be prohibited from all hiking and mountain biking trails unless explicitly allowed.
Looking Ahead
A new vision for Highway 17: The county has increasingly been hit with extreme weather and natural disasters over the last few years, a trend that climate scientists expect to continue. Hell hath no fury like Highway 17 during an atmospheric river, and state transportation officials are working to reinvision the Santa Cruz-to-Silicon Valley artery. Tune into a public Zoom meeting with CalTrans to weigh in on the development of the State Route 17 Resiliency and Adaptation Plan. Wednesday, April 3, at 6 p.m.
Examining e-bike regs: Following the board of supervisors’ unanimous approval of a first draft of electric bicycle rules (see above), the county’s Community Traffic Safety Coalition will meet on Tuesday to more closely examine the proposal that seeks to ban e-bikes from most sidewalks and parks.
The transit board weighs the state of the rail trail: Last week’s decision by the board of supervisors to not advance a critical portion of the Coastal Rail and Trail project has pushed the generational project into uncertain waters. The county’s Regional Transportation Commission will meet on Thursday at 9 a.m. to discuss where the project stands.
Weekly News Diet
Local: Insurance giant State Farm has been calling residents across Santa Cruz County to let them know their home policies will not be renewed. State Farm’s broader pullback from California will affect nearly 4,300 county homeowners. My colleague Hillary Ojeda has that story.
State: April 1 marks a big day in California — most fast food employees will begin making at least $20 per hour as a state bill passed last year comes into effect. The Los Angeles Times asks: How will this impact prices across the state?
National: As in many communities across the country in 2024, housing supply and affordability comes up again and again as Santa Cruz County’s most pressing issue. Housing is something that often gets left up to local governments; however, solutions to the issue may be critical to a presidential victory in November as battleground states such as Arizona face mounting housing pressures.
One Great Read
In 1992, a Chronicle reporter went undercover in high school. Everyone is still weighing the fallout By Peter Hartlaub for the San Francisco Chronicle
If any In the Public Interest reader remembers this story, I would love to hear from you.
In 1992, the San Francisco Chronicle wanted to find a new way of shining a light on how school budget cuts impacted students. So, editors decided to send baby-faced 26-year-old reporter, Shann Nix, undercover as a senior at San Francisco’s George Washington High School.
The result was a one-of-a-kind, four-part series that put Nix in the hallways, at the desks, and within the social circles of George Washington High students, from which she showed how the teenagers were struggling against inflated class sizes and diminished resources. The series went on to inspire the 1999 film, “Never Been Kissed” starring Drew Barrymore.
Thirty-two years later, the Chronicle set out to talk to the reporter, editors, and subjects of this story to understand how this assignment came to be, and re-examine its real-life ramifications.
“It turned out to be, you know, was it even a good thing? Was it even an ethical thing?” Nix said.
But it happened, and had an impact on a lot of people, including Chronicle readers, Washington High students who are now adults, and the reporter herself. And 32 years later, they still have a lot to say about it.