Westside / Downtown Neighborhood Newsletter for Monday, January 26

---

Good morning! It’s January 26 — here’s what’s going on in your community today…

Sunny to partly cloudy in Westside / Downtown

Today will be sunny to partly cloudy. The high will be 64 with a low of 43.

Looking ahead: Partly sunny this weekend

---

Westside / Downtown news

Alta Organic Coffee’s founder passed the 40-year-old business to her granddaughter and “honorary granddaughter” to modernize while preserving traditions. Santa Cruz cleared the Coral Street homeless encampment before the annual PIT count.

---

What’s new around you

▼︎ police incidents   ▼︎ food inspections   ▼︎ events

Read on to see the details about each item…

---

Roadwork is affecting traffic in the region

• There is a one-way traffic closure on South Highway 9 at Lorenzo Avenue in San Lorenzo Valley because of emergency work. The closure is expected to end at 3:59 p.m. on April 1.
   

---

Restaurant inspections

County officials regularly inspect food facilities to ensure compliance with state laws. Here, Lookout Santa Cruz reports both those who have passed the inspections and those that the county deems to have a “major” issue. The county’s full ongoing report can be accessed here.

• El Palomar Restaurant at 1336 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, was cited for high-risk violations of improper food preparation or handling, inadequate employee hygiene or training, improper food temperatures and unapproved food sources or contaminated food and low-risk violations of improper food preparation or handling, inadequate washing of utensils or equipment, unapproved food sources or contaminated food, inadequate employee hygiene or training, improper food temperatures, inadequate hand-washing procedures on January 20. The issues were resolved during the inspection.
   
• Alta Organic Coffee Warehouse & Roasting Co. at 2712 Mission St., Santa Cruz, passed a county health inspection on January 22 with no critical issues.
   
• New Life Community Service Inc at 707 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz, was cited for high-risk violations of unapproved food sources or contaminated food, improper food preparation or handling, inadequate employee hygiene or training and improper food temperatures and low-risk violations of improper food temperatures, inadequate washing of utensils or equipment, improper food preparation or handling, unapproved food sources or contaminated food, inadequate employee hygiene or training, inadequate hand-washing procedures on January 22. The issues were resolved during the inspection.
   

---

Community crime report

• A second-degree robbery happened near 259 Water Street in Santa Cruz County around 2 p.m. on January 11. (source)
   
• Police arrested a person for disobeying a court order and for mistreating an elder or dependent adult. The incident happened near the 200 Block of Fern St., Santa Cruz, at 6 p.m. on January 24. (source)
     
• A battery incident involving a spouse or ex-spouse was reported. It happened near the 100 Block of W Cliff Dr, Santa Cruz, at 2 a.m. on January 24. (source)
   
• An arrest was made for violations of post-release community supervision and indecent exposure. The incident happened near the 100 block of Alamo Street in Santa Cruz County at 7 p.m. on January 12. (source)
   
• A person was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, having a blood alcohol level over .08 percent, not having vehicle registration, and making an unsafe lane change. The incident happened near Mission and Van Ness in Santa Cruz at 1 p.m. on January 12. (source)
   
• Police responded to a case involving alcohol in a vehicle, resulting in an arrest for driving under the influence and related charges. The incident happened near the 100 Block of Walti St., Santa Cruz, with the vehicle being impounded. It occurred at 9 p.m. on January 24. (source)
   
• A person was arrested for trespassing, driving under the influence of alcohol, and petty theft. The incident happened near 303 Water St., Santa Cruz County at 9 a.m. on January 12. (source)
    
• A person shoplifted from a store. The incident happened near the 400 Block of River St., Santa Cruz, at 5 p.m. on January 20. (source)
   
• Two people were cited and released for having illegal drug paraphernalia. The incident happened near the 100 Block of Swanton Blvd., Santa Cruz at 9 a.m. on January 23. (source)
   

Note on today’s report: Some of the incidents listed are not recent. This can happen for a couple of reasons: Delays in agency reporting — sometimes officials don’t file reports right away, or agencies release batches of reports weeks later. Delays in public complaints — people may not notice or decide to contact police until some time after an incident. Please contact the responsible law-enforcement agency or your local elected officials if you have concerns about their delay in releasing information.

Disclosure: Traffic incidents and police incidents are partially generated by artificial intelligence. We are constantly working to improve the accuracy and quality of our AI-generated content. However, there may still be errors or inaccuracies. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.