Alex Darocy Photography

On September 26, workers held a rally at the Santa Cruz Dream Inn to send a strong message to the owners of the landmark hotel that they are demanding a fair contract with meaningful wage increases. Dream Inn workers are presently without a contract and have been negotiating with the hotel for months. Owners are proposing they take a three-year wage freeze followed by 1% and 2% raises in the fourth and fifth years. "We can barely support ourselves now and the Dream Inn wants to make it worse over the next five years," read a flyer handed out to hotel guests at the rally. Workers demanding a fair contract at the Santa Cruz Dream Inn include everyone from room cleaners to bell persons, as well as servers, cooks and banquet staff from Aquarius, the hotel's restaurant. Many of those participating in the rally did so on breaks from work and while still wearing their Dream Inn uniforms. Demonstrators marched in a circular picket line in front of the hotel and held signs wit...

Following a year of complaints about SCPD public safety Officer Barnett, who is assigned to patrol downtown Santa Cruz, the organization Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF) has begun an inquiry with the Santa Cruz Police Department to study the citations Barnett has issued. According to HUFF, Barnett has been, "accused by numerous community members of anti-homeless and racist harassment." To raise more awareness about this issue, and to pressure the Santa Cruz Police Department to release the information about Barnett's law enforcement practices more promptly, HUFF held a demonstration outside of the police station on September 17. Through a series of California Public Record Act requests, HUFF has obtained a cache of incident reports distilled from citations officer Barnett has written downtown. The group reports, however, that SCPD has required them to inspect the original physical copies of the citations at the station in person if they wish to gath...

On September 9, the family of Yanira Serrano Garcia announced they filed a civil rights lawsuit against San Mateo County and San Mateo Sheriff's Deputy Menh Trieu in Federal District Court in San Francisco for the June 3 killing of Yanira at her home in Half Moon Bay. The complaint alleges Deputy Trieu shot and killed Yanira without reasonable cause, which is a violation of the Fourth Amendment's limits on police authority. "The fact of the matter is there was no reasonable basis to shoot her," said attorney Arnoldo Casiallas, who is representing the Serrano family in the lawsuit. The complaint also alleges the shooting was a result of negligence on the part of the San Mateo County Sheriff's office due to its insufficient training of Deputy Trieu, as well as the dispatchers who handled the 911 call. The press conference was held at the location of Yanira's killing, which was outlined in flowers in the street a short distance away from her home in M...

The family of Yanira Serrano held a rally and march in Half Moon Bay on September 6 in reaction to District Attorney Stephen M. Wagstaffe's decision not to indict San Mateo County Sheriff's deputy Menh Trieu for killing Yanira on June 3 outside of her home in Moonridge. In attendance and marching were Yanira's parents, brother, grandmother and uncle, and speakers at the rally included a group of religious leaders from a variety of faiths. Attorney Jonathan Melrod spoke on behalf of the Serrano family, filed a lawsuit against the San Mateo County Sheriff's office threed days after the demonstration. The march began at the Half Moon Bay fire station and made its way through the downtown and on to the sheriff's station. The group recited a number of march chants as they walked, including: "DA says exonerate, we say indict," "mental health is not a crime," "Half Moon Bay, Ferguson, same struggle, same fight," and "racist cops ...