Replant Act Introduced 03-18-21 10:39 S.S.

In  an  effort  to  assist  the  U.S.  Forest  service  in  planting  1.2  billion  trees  in  national  forests  burned  by  last  year’s  wildfires,  bi-partisan  legislation  has  now  been  introduced  to  the  U.S.  Congress.    If approved  and  signed  into  law,  the  Repairing  Existing  Public  Land  By  Adding  Necessary  Trees  Act,  also  known  as  the  REPLANT  Act, would mandate  federal  funding  for the  Reforestation  Trust  Fund.....and  that  could  lead   to  hiring   49,000 people  over  the  next 10  years  to  help  with  that re-forestation. 

Under this act, land in need of reforestation due to natural disasters that is unlikely to naturally re-grow on its own would also be prioritized. 

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Porter Bldg In Wville 03-18-21 10:12 S.S.

Due  to  Assembly  Bill  1486  (aka  the  surplus  land  act)  the  vacant,  city-owned,   historic  Porter  Building  in  downtown  Watsonville  will  neither  be  sold  to  the  Pajaro  Valley  Arts  Council  or  the  Watsonville  Register  Pajaronian  Newspaper....at  least not  anytime  soon.   That’s  because  that  bill,  which  was  signed  into  law  in  2019,  and  went into  effect  on  January  first  of  last  year)  requires  that  all  “surplus”  properties  be  made  available  to  housing  developers  first.   City  officials  now  plan  to  declare  the  property  at  the  corner  of  main and  maple  “surplus”  when they  meet  next Tuesday, and  then  affordable  housing  developers  will  have  60  days  to  state  their  interest. 

The building served as the post office until 1913, and has also served as a dentist office and an army surplus store.

It was one of the few historic buildings in Watsonville’s downtown that survived the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake with minimal damage.

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SC Racial Bias Allegation 03-18-21 08:11 S.S.

The  victim  of  an  alleged  assault  in  Santa  Cruz  said  officers  who  investigated  that  incident  appeared  to  do  so  with  a  racial  bias,  and  so  now  their  investigation  is  being  investigated.    The  internal  investigation  is  based  on  whether  the  Santa Cruz  police  officers  involved  followed  department  policy.  The  case will  be  reviewed  by  the  city  council’s  public  safety  committee  and an  independent  police  auditor,   before  a  synopsis  is  placed  on  the  department’s  transparency  portal. 

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Abandoned Bldg Fire 03-18-21 08:04 S.S.

An  abandoned  building  in  the  Hayes  Circle  area  of  the  former  Fort  Ord  was  damaged  by  fire  yesterday.   The  blaze  was  called  in  around  6  p.m.,  and  safely  extinguished.....although  the  smell  of  smoke  was  noticeable  in  Marina  for  quite  a  while.     The cause  of  that  fire  is  still  being  investigated.  

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