Contact City and Seaside Company to Halt Destruction in Beach Flats Garden

From: Pam Stearns, member of the Beach Flats Community Garden Coalition

To: Martin Bernal, Santa Cruz City manager, mbernal [at] cityofsantacruz.com

Subject: Beach Flats Community Garden

Dear Mr. Bernal,

By the despicable destruction that took place at Beach Flats Community Garden this morning, Mauro Garcia has proven his incompetence to hold the position of Director of Parks and Recreation of our city.

You, sir, must also bear responsibility for this tragic betrayal shown to the jardineros who have borne repeated disappointments and insults throughout the ordeal of losing garden space.

I have seen many photos of the destroyed trees and perennials and other plants laid waste by the heavy machines. Those were living organisms gathering nutrients in their tissues that would have nourished the jardineros and their families and neighbors.

I visited the garden this afternoon and witnessed the harmful compaction done by the machinery to the soil that was once so full of life and will now take years to recover.

The city has added injury to insult.

What can you and your staff and the city councilors do to regain trust from the citizenry of Beach Flats and of the wider city?

Sincerely,
Pam Stearns

Dear City Manager Bernal and City Council Members,

[ ... ]

If there is any trust to be reestablished, the City must make an immediate apology for this destructive action!
And take steps that will begin to amend the apparent “mistakes” made by the Parks & Rec staff.

If this does not happen quickly I am certain that the City will be exposed as complicit in deceiving the public and working on behalf of the Seaside Co to break agreements.

In addition, I am sorely pressed to support Mauro Garcia as even the interim Park Director. Either he is acting as the scape-goat for convert intentions on the part of the City and the Seaside Co. or he is incompetent as the steward of our City Parks!

The City’s insensitivity to the management of this job site is beyond comprehension!

Sincerely,
Lynne Cooper
Beach Flats Garden Coalition

Hello City Council,

Today I was sad and disturbed to hear from many different comrades about the destruction, using a city owned bulldozer run by City employees in uniform, of a large part of the Beach Flats Community Garden. Many people had the understanding that all efforts would be taken to save the fruit trees and cactus. Sadly this was not the case today. Not one person I had spoke to knew this was going to occur and that it was in violation of what others had heard in meetings with City staff. I am very disappointed in these actions today and the lack of action to preserve the garden over the past several months. The community puts up with so many negative impacts of the Boardwalk and it's operations and it's actions like today that make it seem that they, and the City, don't care about the residents of this neighborhood.

Furthermore, I am very confused why we the city taxpayers, in a time of budget crisis, would be spending public money to clear privately owned land on behalf of the Seaside Company? Yet another subsidy to the almighty Seaside Company, eh? Actions like this fly in the face of the vast majority of the public comment that you have heard on this issue and make me question the truthfulness of your claims and votes that the City wants to save the garden. It is bad enough that you're taking the land from the farmers on behalf of the Seaside Company but doing their dirty work for them brings this to a whole new low. You can clearly see the city logo on the bulldozer and the uniformed employees in the photos provided.
https://beachflatsgarden.org/2016/day-bulldozers-came/

I also understand the city has not signed a lease with Seaside yet to preserve the rest of the garden and in fact today moved the fence further into the area of the garden that was promised to be preserved. What is the status of negotiations with Seaside on this issue and who is responsible for doing so? What progress, if any, has been made towards an eventual purchase or leasing of the land? I also understand the city has not signed leases with the individual gardeners as well. Is this true?

I would appreciate an answer as to why the city thought to do this themselves instead of requiring the Seaside Company to do so? Will the City come and landscape and terrascape any private resident's property if requested or is that special kind of favor only for the 800 pound company gorilla in the room? The Seaside Company long neglected this patch of dirt and before the community adopted it the space was a dumping ground and eyesore. It was only through the hard work of the community and the farmers that nurtured this space for the better part of two decades that this became the space that it was. If Seaside wanted it back so badly, they should have done it themselves. They even claim they want to use it "for landscaping purposes". Seems like a fine thing for them to do themselves. Why make yourselves even more of the villain in this scenario?

Speaking of Villains, I would also like to express my EXTREME disappointment in the vote to keep the references to sleep and sleeping in the current camping ban. Thank you Council members Lane and Posner for your leadership on this issue and I hope the rest of you sleep a little less comfortable in your beds every night knowing that you helped make it so that the poor, houseless, and most vulnerable among us don't have that luxury. Shame on you for voting to preserve such a mean spirited and ineffective law. People have to sleep, not anywhere and everywhere, but somewhere. It is surely a most basic human right and an absolutely necessary biological function. I look forward to the inevitable lawsuits that will challenge such an unjust law and hope that the 5 of you who voted how you did will find it in your hearts to change your perspectives on the matter.

Finally, I understand that Pamela Comstock flipped off the crowd on her way out of council chambers after the vote. Is this true? If so, I would hope the council has enough decency to censure her for her unprofessional and contemptuous actions towards the general public. If we are going to censure Micah for his unprofessionalism for trying to provide housing in the midst of an affordability crisis, I surely hope we can apply a similar standard to all council members in all of their interactions and dealings with the public, especially in trying and difficult times when leaders are expected to be their best.

I mean no disrespect to any of you personally. I'm just extremely disappointed in you as politicians and council members and too often don't feel represented by your actions. I do appreciate your willingness to serve and know it is for the most part a hard and thankless job. We all want a better Santa Cruz, we just obviously have different ideas about what that should look like.

I welcome any answers you'd like to give and look forward to working with you on these issues to address legitimate community concerns about the safety and well being of all residents regardless of who they are, what resources they may (or may not) have, and where the come from.

To a better future for all,
Sandino Gomez

Cynthia Mathews (Queen Regnant) and her well-trained, subservient city council once again has bowed and bent over forward to the power of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk also known as Charlie Canfield’s Seaside Corporation. Last Thursday March 24 bulldozers tore up the Beach Flat Gardens.

So far I have seen only one color photo in the Sentinel, no article, no words, no reporting at all of this cruel and approved deed.

Michael Gasser of the Beach Flats Community Garden Coalition wrote this NEWS release…

City Bulldozes Agreement With Beach Flats Gardeners

For Immediate Release: March 24, 2016

Contact: Michael Gasser
bfgc.outreach [at] gmail.com
(812-219-2296)

A bulldozer rumbled into the Beach Flats Garden early Thursday morning, tearing out mature fruit trees and nopales plants that city staff had earlier promised would not be touched, and damaging an already strained relationship between the City and community. Parks workers ripped out stakes and string marking out garden plots that had earlier been marked out by parks workers and gardeners. An orange plastic fence dividing the community garden from land to be taken over by the Seaside Company was moved some 30 feet back from the line originally promised to the gardeners.

If this action is allowed to stand, a total of 5 garden plots originally promised to the gardeners under a 3 year lease agreement will be ceded back to the Seaside Company, including one that would have served as a children’s learning garden. The Seaside Company had previously committed to leasing 60% of the garden and this change would be going back on that agreement.

When contacted by garden advocates, interim Parks and Recreation director Mauro Garcia claimed the destruction of fruit trees and other plants was a ”mistake” due to “miscommunication.” Emilio Martínez Castañeda, a longtime gardener involved in the talks with city staff, was appalled by the destruction and blatant violation of trust on the part of Garcia. ”The city is going back on their word by moving the fence and removing plots,” Don Emilio said, through a translator. “As for the fruit trees, Mauro’s asking for forgiveness, but what good is forgiveness after they’ve been destroyed?”

Garden advocate Irene O’Connell expressed disbelief that the destruction was the result of “miscommunication.” Frankly, I feel it’s an insult to be asked to believe that,” said O’Connell. “The latest actions make it apparent that the city never had any intention of true collaboration with the gardeners”.


Former Santa Cruz Mayor and city councilmember Chris Krohn wrote this…

This is incredibly bad news I feel compelled to share with you. The City of Santa Cruz, led by an interim out of control parks and rec director, Mauro Garcia, and Charles Canfield, aka Seaside Co./Boardwalk has bulldozed fruit trees and other plants at the Beach Flats Community Garden that they had previously said they would not touch. It is considerably more than the 40% they initially said they were going to take back. But more importantly, they had worked out an agreement with the gardeners not to bulldoze or take out any trees, nor take out fruit trees in particular until they had been harvested this year…but, they lied and came in this past week and clear cut the garden. Please let city officials (below) know that this is not acceptable. It breaks an agreement and brings real hardship to the gardeners.

With hope that we can preserve this community garden…

Don’t Mourn — Organize! Here’s what you can do:

1.) Share this post on social media.

2.) If you are on twitter, tweet your thoughts to @beachboardwalk, @CityofSantaCruz and @jardindelaplaya, include #savethejardin

3.) Call Seaside Company representatives and ask them if they approved the bulldozing of trees and going back on the promise to lease 60% of the garden. Emphasize that the Beach Flats Community Garden needs a permanent home!

The City is complicit in the intended ethnic cleansing of the Beach Flats neighborhood. First it was the Beach Flats mural and now this. The City has declared war on the Latino residents of the Beach Flats.

The council members and business people that gleefully abuse and destroy could be removed from power and influence. What would it take? Boycotts? Lawsuits? Shunning?

I wonder how many Canfield would deploy if Proposition 13 were repealed! Just imagine, all those absconded property tax revenues back in circulation, increasing the velocity of capital, generating an economic recovery.

Dear Constituents,

After months of stalemate, change has once again come to the Beach Flats Community Garden. This is not a good thing. Today, March 24th, the City of Santa Cruz bulldozed 40% of what had been the garden, and would have bulldozed another portion, including space for a children's garden, if activists and gardeners had not protested. The way the bulldozing occurred, including the unexpected removal of fruit trees and nopales cactus, added to the mistrust already in evidence between the gardeners and the City. "The City is going back on their word by moving the fence and removing plots," said longtime gardener Don Martinez Castaneda. Activist Michelle Glowa asked, "Why is the City's doing the Boardwalk's dirty work?" and Irene O'Connell asserted that, "The latest actions make it apparent that the city never had any intention of true collaboration with the gardeners." To get the perspective of the gardeners and their advocates go to beachflatsgarden.org, or to their Facebook site.

I understand both the motivations of City staff and the outrage of the gardeners. The City staff are trying very hard to enact a 3 year lease with the Seaside Company for what was described as 60% of the current garden, which now looks closer to 50% and does not include an educational plot for the children of the Beach Flats. The Seaside Company, which owns the Boardwalk, has not signed the lease as of this email. Aside from the circuitous logic of using City staff to bulldoze part of the garden to 'save it', I don't think that a 3 year lease is good enough. We need to ensure that this property continues to be used for the community for the foreseeable future. And the City Council could save the garden via the use of eminent domain, which would legally allow the City to acquire it from the Seaside Company at full market value. There is no other obvious location for a Beach Flats community garden as the Seaside company owns almost all of the land comprising the neighborhood.

Outrage and confusion on the part of the gardeners is understandable in the context of the City's past decision. On October 27th the City Council unanimously directed staff to "(1) negotiate with the goal of acquisition of the current Beach Flats Garden property to allow it to continue permanently as a community garden operated by the City." A conversation on weather or not the Council is serious about their attempt to purchase the garden is scheduled to occur in City Council Chambers on April 26th. If you want the City to act to protect this community garden, mark your calendar.

In the meantime, the Friends of the Beach Flats Garden are asking people to pitch in and raise money to buy the garden. I agree with them that raising money from a broad spectrum of the community could have an influence on how seriously the City views their October decision. According to the website, beachflatsgarden.org, "Your donation goes beyond meetings and marches to inspire the City to fulfill its promising resolution to buy the property and make the garden a permanent part of the Beach Flats neighborhood. Every donation, no matter how big or small, shows a vote of support for vital and permanent urban agriculture in the Beach Flats neighborhood." To donate or pledge, go to beachflatsgarden.org.

The City had the money for the Warriors Basketball stadium. It has more than enough money to buy a permanent home for the Beach Flats Garden. It's a question of motive and priority. The City works for moneyed interests not for common people. This is what Occupy was about. Don't allow the minions of the 1% to snow you again.

If you want to liberate the land.
Occupy. Government isn't going to do it for you. .
An economic boycott of the boardwalk would be very effective
the tourist season is coming up.

Save the Beach Flats Community Garden!