Alex Darocy Photography

At their latest monthly sit-in, community members protesting the sit-lie ban in Monterey sat freely on the sidewalk on Alvarado Street for the first time since beginning their protests. At each of the four previous sit-ins, demonstrators were pressured to discontinue the protest, either by the police or by downtown business owners. They have been gathering on Alvarado Street monthly since February to oppose the new Monterey ordinance, which outlaws sitting or lying on commercial sidewalks in the city between the hours of 7am and 9pm. They have scheduled their demonstrations monthly to avoid being cited under the law. To receive a citation, an individual must first be warned by police. "No person may be cited for a violation of this section until a peace officer first warns said person that his or her conduct is unlawful and said person is given a change [chance] to stop said conduct," the ordinance (Sec. 32-6.2) reads. "One warning by a peace officer to a person wh...

The six UCSC students charged in association with the March 3 blockade of Highway 17, where it meets Highway 1 in Santa Cruz, will be back in court on June 29 and June 30. On June 29 at 10:00am, there will be a hearing in Santa Cruz County Superior Court to finalize their sentence, and on June 30 at 1:30pm there will be a restitution hearing. The defendants and their supporters gather May 7 at the Santa Cruz Court House. The students all pleaded "no contest" to two misdemeanor counts each at their last court appearance on May 7, which was followed by a press conference where three members of the group, Sophia DiMatteo, Ethan Pezzolo, and Lori Nixon, discussed for the first time publicly what motivated them on March 3. The students each face a possible sentence of 30 days, and the prosecution has estimated the amount of restitution they are seeking is approximately $40,000. They have issued a call for court support: "We need to fill the court room with suppor...

Community members in Santa Cruz gathered at the Town Clock on June 14 to rally and share information about climate change in order to encourage individuals to take the Climate Mobilization pledge, which demands a "WWII scale" effort by society to create a 100% clean energy economy by 2025. A copy of the pledge was available for signing at the Town Clock, and after a variety of community leaders spoke about climate change from both a local and global perspective, the group marched around the downtown. The Climate Mobilization is intended to rapidly transform every sector, and supporters say that because the world's poorest people are the ones most adversely affected by climate change, there will be a strong social focus. "This campaign has to be about social justice as well as environmental justice," speaker Gillian Greensite, Chair of the Santa Cruz Sierra Club Conservation Committee, said at the rally. In addition to Greensite, speakers at the rally inclu...

Local residents rallied is Santa Cruz on June 14 to oppose the Catholic Church's plans to canonize Junipero Serra this September, which was approved by Pope Francis. Serra presided over the brutal California mission system during its founding in the 18th century. The purpose of the rally was to educate the public about the Native American lives that were lost at the missions and the torturous conditions that were imposed there, as well as to encourage community members to contact Priests and other religious and spiritual leaders, including the Pope, in order to attempt to change his mind about granting Serra sainthood. An event announcement released before the rally described the intentions of the participants: "In Solidarity with our indigenous neighbors - we stand for a correct history. We stand for the greatness and the wisdom the native Americans hold. We stand because they are human like us and only want to live in a society of truth and understanding. "Junipe...

On June 13, a demonstration seeking justice for Jose Velasco was held on North Main Street in Salinas, the location where the 28-year-old was tased and beaten aggressively with batons by police officers with the SPD on June 5. Velasco's three sisters and his mother, Rita Acosta, were in attendance at the demonstration, as were the families of three of the men killed by Salinas police in 2014. Jose Velasco's sister, Isabel. Velasco's beating, and subsequent arrest, was captured on video by multiple witnesses on June 5 after the Salinas resident was seen walking into the traffic lanes of North Main Street and exhibiting erratic behavior. Acosta was with her son that day, and she attempted to get him out of the street, but was not able to. She called emergency services for medical help, and individuals watching in cars on North Main phoned emergency services as well. Five officers with the Salinas Police Department arrived. Velasco was tased almost immediately, and the...

On June 1 the Lecturer's labor contract at UC Santa Cruz expired, and union members with American Federation of Teachers Local 2199 and their supporters marked the day by picketing - and picnicking - at the base of campus. Messages in support of adjunct-faculty members and a more democratized University of California system were displayed as individuals held several large, colorful puppets. Food was served, and the day-long event was dubbed "St. Precaria's Picnic." Lecturers are non-tenure track adjunct-faculty members. They say that they are not treated like professionals, even though they teach classes, engage in writing and research, and hold advanced degrees from top universities. Across the University of California system about one-third of all classes are taught by Lecturers, and contingent faculty members teach over half of the UC's undergraduate credit hours in total, if graduate student teachers are included in the equation. The majority of Lecturer...