Staff of Life & Parking, Smoking Ban

Staff of Life & Parking
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The same is true of New Leaf (westside), the new Safeway (westside) and now Staff of Life (east side):  building more parking.  (The 2 new Whole Foods  used strip malls, already with too much parking.)

One of the recommendations from Santa Cruz Master Transportation Study (2003?) was to reduce parking on new development, from current 3.3 spaces (per 1000 sq ft of retail) to 2.75 spaces.   According to recent Sentinel article, the new Staff of Life will have 150 spaces (21,000 sq ft), which is 7 spaces per 1000 sq ft.  Moreover the Staff of Life is on several bus lines.

Not trying to pick on Staff of Life, a local store known for good service and reasonable wise policies (although they did do away with the excellent and slightly eccentric vegetarian restaurant in about 2000).

Safeway boasts its new westside location has adequate public transportation:  did anyone check?   And, I couldn't even find the entrance to the westside New Leaf because all  the entrances are in the parking lot.  I showed up at intersection on foot - no entrance.

But where is the City leadership?  Where is the will to emphasis alternative transportation over the automobile?  Friendly communities over sprawl?  To follow the recommendations the City paid half a million for?


Santa Cruz Bans Smoking
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What took so long?  After all, the American Lung Association gave us a rating of 'D'.
And if the issue is really health why not ban smoking in all interior places?

To those who live here, we know the probably reason is related to situation on Pacific Street, where there is abundant pan-handling, perhaps some drugs and an increasing uncomfortable situation for many.

Like all the other ordinances to combat this, let see how the smoking ban is enforced.


Full article in Sentinel:
Staff of Life

Smoking Ban

Santa Cruz - Solar compactor; Land Use meeting

Solar Compactor

Do you use the Solar Compactor (also known as BigBelly TM ?)  There are a couple in downtown Santa Cruz and Capitola and one at UCSC.

What's a Solar Compactor?   It is a self-contained trash barrel that also uses solar power to compact the trash contents when the weight reaches a pre-set number.  (UCSC has it sent at 70 pounds.)    The idea is to reduce frequency and labor needed to cart away trash, especially useful in busy areas.

One unit is near the Del Mar Theater; it has no special label, except  "Pitch In."   The solar panel is on the back, under a tree with no problem, but on a Sunday morning I found the the front trash bin full of trash, with red light flashing (meaning time for compacting).

A nearby downtown merchant said the nearby unit worked very, very well, but added it has been a target of vandalism.

UCSC has one, near the Bay Tree Bookstore.   It compacts when the total weight is 70 pounds.  UCSC paid for its unit, about $3-4k, with grants, and has had few maintenance problems.  

Background:

• http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/gobbling-up-trash-with-suns-power/
• (Santa Cruz) http://wasteage.com/mag/waste_crunch_time_2/
  
• http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=636

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Land Use and Transportation

When it comes to sustainability, the two - Land Use and Transportation - are very closely tied together.

Rick Longinotti  has organized a working group through Transition Santa Cruz to study the issues related to land use, transportation, affordable housing and to study current legislation or initiate new legislation that will improve the sustainability of our neighborhoods.

Here are the details:

Sept 9 Agenda
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19473653/Agenda-Sept-9-Land-Use-Transportation-Transition-Santa-Cruz

Transition Santa Cruz
http://transitionsc.org/