Hello there, Lookout friends. It is Tuesday, Oct. 14, and showers are expected to linger through the day around Santa Cruz County as the storm system that doused us Monday moves along, with mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 50s and 60s.
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Santa Cruz mainstay Classic Vapor Dry Cleaners is closing, Hillary Ojeda reports, with a manager saying that the move to remote work brought about by the COVID pandemic put a strain on the business. “It’s Santa Cruz — you can’t dry clean bathing suits,” said Vanessa Johnson. “It’s a beach town. Jeans-and-a-T-shirt town. It’s less professional and the work attire is more casual.”
A rideshare program launching in the Pajaro Valley later this month aims to help farmworkers and other low-income residents without a means of transportation get to medical appointments, Alonso Daboub reports. The Green Raiteros service will use zero-emission vehicles and a mix of volunteer and paid drivers.
A new book of essays serves as a field guide to our state’s current literary landscape, Wallace Baine reports, with “California Rewritten” covering almost 50 books from living writers that capture the Golden State experience. Editor, poet and literary anthologist John Freeman will be on hand Thursday at Bookshop Santa Cruz to talk about it.
And in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, Semillitas director Crystal Gonzalez and former Santa Cruz mayor Ryan Coonerty write about the Semillitas program, which has helped families build wealth for their children from birth, by offering every newborn since 2021 a college savings account with up to $500 in potential deposits. It’s more than a financial tool, they write – it’s “a statement of community values” and a model for equity-based investment in children’s futures.
The Tuesday headlines also include a mix-up that sent runners the wrong way during the weekend’s Westside Half Marathon and a look at what’s happening around Santa Cruz County politics & policy this week. Shall we?
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After 114 years, iconic Santa Cruz dry cleaner Classic Vapor falls victim to remote work culture
After more than a century in business, Classic Vapor Dry Cleaners in Santa Cruz closes its doors Tuesday, citing financial strain from the pandemic and a lasting shift toward remote work and casual attire. The family-run dry cleaner is filing for bankruptcy, prompting an outpouring of support from longtime customers mourning the loss of a community fixture. Hillary Ojeda has the story.
A green rideshare program aims to help Pajaro Valley farmworkers get to the doctor
The Green Raiteros program coordinates free rides in zero-emission vehicles for farmworkers to get to medical appointments by providing local communities with vehicles and drivers to operate them. The service is set to expand to the Pajaro Valley later this month. More here from Alonso Daboub.
DAILY DIGEST
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Be safe out there, and thanks for reading.
Will McCahill