Eavesdropping: Has Santa Cruz Gone Republican?

These two Santa Cruz street musicians were surprisingly earnest Wednesday night.

They were singing "Riverside," by the band America. I always thought the lyrics were: The world is living a daydream.  No idea why. Just one of those 'Scuse me while i kiss this guy moments.

But these guys had it right: The world don't owe me a living, they sang repeatedly.

And I thought: what, have street musicians become Mitt Romney followers? Can't say I ever heard that lyric in town before.

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Some Lighter Political Moments

During Wednesday's Ice Cream Social at Kuumbwa in which candidates for city council answered questions suggested by people online at Civinomics.com, I thought I was hearing things.

Candidate Steve Pleich, a nice guy and legal expert who hangs with the Occupy Santa Cruz folks, was talking about ways to better the city's economy.

He suggested that the city work closer with UCSC to share resources.

I always thought the Occupy people, or OOcupy as the unspellchecked version of their early sign said, thought UCSC was the enemy and should be run out of town. They certainly seem to favor not letting the university build on its forest land, even if it is done tastefully, in small volume and will help bring green jobs.

But Pleich seemed to buck that constituency by agreeing to work with them and not take over any buildings.

Then there was Micah Posner, the bicycle advocate who sounded liike a Republican during the meeting. You know of course, there are no Republican candidates running for office in Santa Cruz.

Anyway, Posner's thoughts about how to help the economy here was to get government off the backs of small businesses. He was particularly disturbed by the fact that businesses that had customers arriving by car are required to have a $40,000 parking garage or parking space for the customers, even if they are in a home.

He said were he elected, he would find ways to "cut corners" or relax the rules somehow for people with businesses in their garage. "No one parks a car in their garage, right?" he asked the audience.

This was a more relaxed forum than some, with ice cream and beer for the listeners and some questions answered by the raising of hands by candidates and the audience. Many of the questions had a tech bent with sponsors including Civinomics, Local Geeks, Cruzio and Local Geeks.

Some of the quesions confused everyone. Is homelessness an economic or moral problem was one of them. Are those the only two choices?

You will be able to see the forum on Community Television soon and Patch will link to it. It's highly recommended and will give you some real ideas about who the people are that are seeking your votes.

Cece Pinheiro started the ball rolling with the first question. What would she do to better business in Santa Cruz?

"Bacon," she said, and repeated the joke later. She also showed off her grandson in the room, noting he's half black and half white like Barack Obama and she was proud to be on the same ballot as the president.

Surfer and carpenter Jake Fusari complained about crime and how tools had been stolen from his truck recently. He said he didn't like the roundabout and complained about the city's website.

If he were on the council, he said, he would tweet about his activities and keep people informed.

Fusari, meanwhile, apologized for not yet having a website of his own, the only candidate who doesn't.