PAMF Urgent Care closure being handled badly

A 10-year-old could probably handle the flooding better.

The door sign today just said “Urgent Care closed.” Nothing else.

The lab is appointment ONLY.

As four elderly ladies and one elderly man showed up without appointments at 1 p.m. hoping to get the blood draws, the charming young woman told them the policy was on the internet. Why would anyone who has been coming for years to a facility check the internet first?

I called urgent care at Dignity and they will not draw blood for anyone not using one of their doctors.

Apparently a janitor/ building worker showed up at 5:30 a.m. last week to find the flooded first two floors in the building with ceilings falling down. Wherever they could, they moved the functions. X-ray is still open, the lab is a makeshift set of screens in a dimly lit area near the original pharmacy on the third floor.

The future: I questioned a number of staff and was told a range of a few weeks to six months.

Total screw up.

— Johanna Bowen, Santa Cruz

Habitat CEO responds to letter disparaging group

I was disappointed to read the Letter to the Editor of Jan. 7, disparaging the important work of Habitat for Humanity and the incredible (unpaid) volunteer efforts of the late President Jimmy Carter.

Habitat for Humanity builds homes, communities and hope locally, nationally and internationally, providing affordable homes for local qualifying families. Families who purchase Habitat homes contribute 500 hours of sweat equity helping to build their future homes.

As a not for profit, we raise our own funds and we do indeed pay taxes, locally and nationally. We rely on an incredible volunteer base, where last year alone, over 600 local volunteers donated their time and talents to support our cause of affordable housing. Last year our core construction volunteers were recognized at the annual Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz “Be the Difference Awards.”

For those who would like to pay tribute to the late President Carter and his legacy, we have a condolence table at our Watsonville ReStore, and all are welcome to write a note in recognition of his legacy, service and grace.

— Catherine Stihler, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay

Baby Boomers key to shaping SC’s future

Hey Baby Boomers! Perhaps we’re too soft, too content, too repetitive, too stuck in our ways. Perhaps we hesitate to give up any of our wealth, status or comfort. We may be too smug, selfish, too complicit and ironically positioned to gain by the exploitation and corporate collusion we give lip service to opposing.

We appear to repeatedly pursue the same failed strategies to quell Santa Cruz’s obvious runaway development. Perhaps we can’t thwart the problem of runaway development and housing costs in Santa Cruz because we are the problem!

Perhaps Boomers are over the hill. Perhaps we stand to profit by SC’s runaway and unsustainable development. Perhaps younger folks are correct when they quote a mantra something like: “They have theirs, and that’s all they care about.” Maybe many have surrendered, accepted that there is no stopping what is marketed to us as “change” and “progress.”

But Boomers are unequivocally key to shaping the future of SC, and whether this development is good for SC, Boomers must accept their responsibility and involvement, and act now!

— Stephen G. Bare, Santa Cruz

An ‘invitation’ to take a perilous bike ride

Dear Santa Cruz County supervisors,

I’d like to invite the five of you to join me on a bicycle ride around our beautiful county on our paved roads. We could break it up into five separate rides, one for each district.

By riding in the five districts on a bicycle you’ll get an idea what a typical bicycle ride is on our county roads.

You’ll get to discover and experience pot holes, trash, poor patch work, broken sidewalks, indented holes poorly patched and other obstacles that a typical bicycle rider experiences on a ride in our county.

Please reach out to me when you are able to ride.

Thank you,

— Leonard Foreman, Santa Cruz