On Sunday, December 20th, Santa was hanging out at the corner of Pacific and Soquel in downtown Santa Cruz offering hugs, hot cocoa, cookies, conversation and warm clothing to passers-by. Many people were receptive and appreciative of Santa’s kind spirit and the elf giving out cocoa and cookies.
Several people inquired about the motivation behind Santa and the elf, assuming there was an organization or cause seeking publicity and donations. However, the motivation was solidarity and mutual aid within the community, and it was accomplished through direct action. There was no involvement, or ulterior motives, from any charity, non-profit or civic organization. Read More and View Photos
by Peter M
The website 
A memorial rally and bike ride took place in Santa Cruz on August 16th. At Bay View Elementary School, Takashi Yogi rode his bicycle to generate power for an amplified sound system. Speakers addressed the crowd, composed of mostly cross-town type bikers, about the need for safer transportation conditions for people commuting without automobiles, such as students that walk and bike to schools. 
On July 23rd, as the California budget bill moves to the state legislature, local residents, some dressed as jelly fish and a sea anemone, held an afternoon demonstration in front of the Chevron on Ocean St. in Santa Cruz to oppose a plan to open the Central Coast to new drilling for the first time in 40 years. Demonstrators, including the staff of Save Our Shores, a non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz working since 1978 to prevent oil drilling in the Monterey Bay, are calling on the legislature to oppose new drilling off the California Coast, and instead pass an oil severance tax which would reportedly raise $1 billion a year from existing leases. 
On July 3rd, a busy pre-holiday afternoon in downtown Santa Cruz, numerous stores were displaying a declaration printed by local homeless rights advocates. The pledge reads, “This business does not discriminate. We support Human Rights for the homeless community, including the right to sleep at night–not anywhere and everywhere–but somewhere.”
