Westside / Downtown Neighborhood Newsletter for Monday, March 16

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Good morning! It’s March 16 — here’s what’s going on in your community today…

Very warm in Westside / Downtown

Today will be partly sunny and very warm with the temperature tying the record high from 2014. The high will be 82 with a low of 56. Allergy sufferers beware: there are high amounts of tree pollen in the air.

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Westside / Downtown news

UCSC projects an $81 million deficit for 2025-26 with $99 million in cuts. Egg Productions’ comedy “Matt & Ben” runs at Actors’ Theatre through Sunday. RiverRow apartments open, reconnecting downtown Santa Cruz to the San Lorenzo River.

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What’s new around you

▼︎ police incidents   ▼︎ food inspections   ▼︎ events

Read on to see the details about each item…

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Things to do in Westside / Downtown

Add an event to our calendar

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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 Hermoso Mar at 313 Beach St., Santa Cruz, passed a county health inspection on March 11 with no critical issues.
   
• Gilda’s at 37 Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, passed a county health inspection on March 11 with no critical issues.
   
• Makai at 49a Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, passed a county health inspection on March 11 with no critical issues.
   
• Copal at 1203 Mission St., Santa Cruz, was cited for high-risk violations of improper food preparation or handling and unapproved food sources or contaminated food and low-risk violations of inadequate hand-washing procedures, unapproved food sources or contaminated food, inadequate washing of utensils or equipment, improper food preparation or handling, improper food temperatures and infestation of rodents or insects during a county health inspection on March 12. The issues were resolved during the inspection.
   

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Community crime report

• A person was arrested for violating a protective order, mistreating an elder or adult, hitting a police officer, being drunk and disorderly, and violating a domestic violence protective order. The incident happened near the 900 block of Creek Drive in Santa Cruz County at 7 p.m. on August 14. (source)
   
• Police responded to a report of someone causing physical injury to their spouse, partner, or someone they are dating. The incident happened near the 200 Block of Ocean St., Santa Cruz, at 7 a.m. on July 16. (source)
   
• A hit and run incident involving property damage was reported online near the 500 Block of Water Street, Santa Cruz at midnight on April 18. (source)
   
• Police investigated a case involving possession of illegal material showing a minor in a sexual act, which is a felony. The incident happened near the 100 Block of Center St., Santa Cruz, at 3 a.m. on October 30. (source)
   
• A sexual assault involving rape by force or and forced oral copulation was reported near the 100 Block of Felix St., Santa Cruz. The incident happened at midnight on July 1. (source)
   
• A grand theft involving money, labor, or property was reported. The incident happened near the 1000 Block of River St., Santa Cruz, at midnight on October 6. (source)
   
• A person was arrested for felony domestic violence for causing injury to a spouse, cohabitant, or dating partner. The incident happened near the 600 Block of Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz at 1 p.m. on February 27. (source)
  
   
• A person was found with illegal drugs, gave false identification to police officer, had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant, and violated probation. This happened near the 1600 Block of Ocean St., Santa Cruz at 11 p.m. on November 8. (source)
   
• A person stole items and then hit a store security officer. This happened near the 2100 Block of Mission St., Santa Cruz at 11 p.m. on November 6. (source)
   
• A person was given a citation released for having an outstanding misdemeanor warrant. This happened near SR 9 and Golf Club, Cruz at p.m. on May 30. (source)
   
• A person was arrested for a felony warrant and an order to seal the arrest. The incident happened near the 1400 Block of Mission St., Santa Cruz at 7 p.m. on May 24. (source)
   
• A person was involved in grand theft, burglary, using someone else’s ID with intent to defraud, and possession of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia. This happened near 400 BEACH St., Santa Cruz at 4 p.m. on December 31. (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.

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No traffic problems nearby

We checked with state and county agencies — the roads look good!

Disclosure: 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.