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151st Year — No. 15
June 14-20, 2019 For daily news and updates, visit:
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City
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Reductions on horizon for multiple departments
Increasing pension costs, possible loss of Measure G creating deficit By TONY NUNEZ OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
Tarmo Hannula/Register-Pajaronian
The first leg of the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Northern California starts off in Watsonville Wednesday with a team from Watsonville Police Department and Special Olympic members.
Running for a cause
OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
Law enforcement supports Special Olympics
WATSONVILLE — Anyone who drove along Freedom Boulevard on Wednesday morning may have seen several police vehicles, their lights flashing as they slowly made their way northwest. These were surrounding about a dozen joggers – police officers and cadets from Watsonville Police Department – who were participating in the Special Olympics Northern California Law Enforcement Torch Run.
WPD Officer Robert Strong said he appreciates that the event raises funds for the Special Olympics. WPD raised more than $500. “We have a good team, and we get a lot of support from the community,” Strong said. “It’s nice being a part of something bigger.” The route started at the Watsonville Police Department, and went down Freedom Boulevard through Corralitos before ending at DeWitt Anderson School.
By TODD GUILD
From there, the runners passed the flaming torch to California Highway Patrol officers. The Watsonville leg was part of a 31-mile route through Santa Cruz County that ended at Scotts Valley Fire Station at 251 Glenwood Drive. In addition to Watsonville Police Department and the CHP, the run included dispatchers from the Santa Cruz County Regional 911 Center, Capitola Police
Department, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, the county District Attorney’s office, UC Santa Cruz Police Department and Scotts Valley Police Department. The run was launched in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas, and with events in all 50 U.S. states and 170 countries, it has evolved into one of the largest grassroots efforts in the country, said organizer John Hohmann, a retired lieutenant with the Scotts Valley Police Department. See CAUSE, page A14
WATSONVILLE — After a few years of steady growth the City of Watsonville will have to start chipping away at a predicted deficit that could force several changes at multiple departments across the city. Staff at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting presented a somewhat gloomy outlook for the next five years. Growing pension costs, the possible loss of Measure G funds and a “flattening” in tax revenues will all create a deficit between the city’s expenditures and revenues. As a way of offsetting the deficit for fiscal year 2019-20, city staff proposed the freezing of several positions — Assistant City Manager and Division Fire Chief among the biggest — in different departments, restructuring the Contigo Program and Neighborhood Services and funding the Police Activities League entirely through Measure G, a half-cent sales tax that will sunset in 2021, barring an extension by voters. See BUDGET, page A14
Community
Watsonville Community Hospital to be sold Purchase could be finalized Aug. 1
Community
By TODD GUILD
Artist looking for input on ambitious mural project By TARMO HANNULA OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
WATSONVILLE — The largest outdoor mosaic mural project in Santa Cruz County is in the works for downtown Watsonville. In February the Watsonville City Council unanimously approved “Watsonville Brillante,” an ambitious five-year project that will cover the entire exterior of the Civic Plaza parking garage at the corner of Rodriguez and Second streets with mosaic designs. The project is being spearheaded by Kathleen Crocetti, who has headed up about 20 public art projects in Santa Cruz over the past decade. Crocetti said her downtown sidewalk mosaic project, “Celebrating the Dignity of Labor,” has served as a springboard for
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“Watsonville Brillante.” “This project is about patterns that reflect heritages,” Crocetti said. “We want to connect each panel to another to show the familiar relationships and connections of current living people.” Crocetti said she and others have been reaching out to collect demographics at the farmers market, rotary clubs, on the streets, the library and other cultural and service organizations. The project calls for the installation of mosaic pieces over 12,000 square feet of the six-story garage, divided up by 185 panels that measure eight feet wide by three-and-a-half feet tall. In addition, three large walls of the garage will feature a single mosaic See MURAL, page A14
Tarmo Hannula/Register-Pajaronian
This detail photos shows three of eight works by Juan Fuentes that the public is invited to vote on for the garage mosaic project.
Inside •Advice Columnist A9 •Calendar A2 •Classified B7 •Comics C9 •Crossword C10 •Editorial A6
•Movies •Obituaries •Police Reports •Sports •Arts & Culture •Weather
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OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
WATSONVILLE — Watsonville Community Hospital will soon have a new owner, but it is not yet clear whom that will be. Los Angeles-based Halsen Healthcare is a one-year-old organization formed to make the purchase, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Brothman confirmed Friday. According to Brothman, the purchase will be completed on or before Aug. 1, which will make it the company’s only hospital. He said the company wants to run the hospital with a focus on its small community roots. This could come as a relief to Watsonville residents, many of whom have expressed concern about the hospital’s previous owner, Tennesseebased Quorum Health Corporation, which has owned the hospital since 2016. That company has been criticized as a large corporate entity out of touch with Watsonville’s needs. “We believe in working closely with the community, and we’re answerable to the community, not to shareholders,” Brothman said. P ajaro Valley Community Health Trust Executive Director DeAndre James said that organization has the ‘right of first refusal,’ and
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