‘Santa Cruz Riverfront Scavenger Hunt’

In the spirit of the May 4 Sentinel column by Mayor Fred Keeley regarding “the state of Santa Cruz,” I would like to propose the first annual “Santa Cruz Riverfront Scavenger Hunt” to encourage fellow citizens to embrace the ambiance and charm the riverfront “esplanade” has to offer. Participants will use cellphones to capture images and points will be awarded accordingly. (Hint: for the best results, I recommend the levee area directly across from Trader Joe’s.)

Images to capture: Drug paraphernalia, pipes, syringes (1 point — limit 20), commercial grade shopping cart (2 points — limit 5), shopping cart with groceries (100 points), unopened Amazon package (200 points), baby stroller (5 points — limit 5).

Baby stroller with baby (250 points), stray pit bull (2 points), dismantled BCycle ride share bike (1 point — limit 10), proper garbage receptacle (200 points), law enforcement officer (500 points — no limit).

First Place: One day free parking downtown SC (or 5 rolls of quarters).

Second Place: Free use of any bike in town, take your pick.

Third Place: Uber ride to the nearest supermarket from downtown (not to exceed 5 miles).

— Mark Kemerling, Santa Cruz

City of Santa Cruz hasn’t shown ‘transparency’

I enjoy reading the Sunday columns of our cities’ mayors and Mayor Fred Keeley’s is no exception. Without detracting from his list of achievements in his May 4 column, I disagree with his claim that “we (the city) are committed to being transparent.”

Last year, two of the Civil Grand Jury’s investigative reports focused on the city of Santa Cruz. One was titled, Housing for Whom? The year-long investigation verified that the city keeps no data on whether local workers and residents are given preference for inclusionary (affordable) housing as required by city law. Such scarce housing could be occupied by UCSC students or people from other parts of the state. The grand jury recommended that the city start gathering data to ensure the Municipal Code requirements are being followed. The city’s response was evasive, claiming incorrectly that gathering such data would violate privacy. The data requested was for numbers not home addresses. Responding to this report and the Report on Rape, the city’s choice was evasion and denial; transparency was not in evidence.

— Gillian Greensite, Santa Cruz

Weed whacking leaves pet-dangerous foxtails

I am a long-time resident of East Cliff in Santa Cruz. I would like to bring to your attention the results of the county’s yearly weed whacking around Moran Lake and the park along East Cliff.

I along with many other residents who walk their dog experience the harm done to our pets when they are walking in cut dried weeds and the resulting fox tails. Every year one of our pets gets a fox tail in their paws or eyes or nasal passage. The pain and damage to our pets due to the foxtail(s) moving along their circulatory system or up their nasal passage or under their skin is not only painful for the dog but extremely costly to the owner.

Please come up with another method for the overgrowth of weeds (such as adding a bag to suck in the cut weeds) the county wants to remove. Your prompt attention to this matter would be appreciated. The health of our pets and our pocket books deserve the county take this seriously.

— Kathleen San Miguel, Santa Cruz

Trump truly delivers on ‘waste, fraud and abuse’

I now understand waste, fraud and abuse in government. This is dear to the heart of the Trump administration. So where is it? Waste! What better evidence is Trump’s announcement wanting to reopen Alcatraz, which would costs millions to merely restore. Another bit of waste is Trump’s birthday present to himself, a huge parade, again reported to cost ten of millions. I guess the money saved by cutting Big Bird and Head Start should cover it.

Fraud, in Trump’s world, is novel. He enriches himself by selling access, and by buying his meme coin for millions. Just know that with bitcoins there is no way to know who is buying his ear. Abuse runs rampant in the first 100 days. Due process is being shredded. Tariffs are beating up the U.S. economy. The stock market is unstable. Fear is the weapon of choice. He certainly has made good on his promise to go after waste, fraud and abuse.

— Christine DeLapp, Aptos