How to Rebuild What’s Been Lost

By Jondi Gumz

With so many local landmarks in pieces after January’s epic storms, the question is how to go forward.

Some say: Build back what was.

President Biden said: Build back better. Yet another approach is the strategy of Impact Launch, a local nonprofit co-founded locally by Megan Joseph, formerly with United Way, and Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson.

Aptos Times asked Kalantari-Johnson, midway through her term on the Santa Cruz City Council, how the transformation leadership process of Impact Launch might apply to the question of how to rebuild.

The situation creates the opportunity to ask: “What do we want for our community?”

In Santa Cruz, which lost a huge chunk of the West Cliff Drive walkway to a cave-in, Kalantari-Johnson is asking herself: What do we want for West Cliff in five years, 10 years, 20 years? What do we envision for ourselves?

The wide West Cliff walkway next to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary — the top attraction in Santa Cruz according to TripAdvisor — gives tens of thousands of people an opportunity to walk, bike and run in fresh ocean air — and appreciate this special connection to nature.

But it is so close to the bay, it is prone to break down and crumble after being repeatedly battered by ocean swells.

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Cement Ship: The Memories

Photographer Mike Ross snapped this image of the famous Cement Ship at Seacliff State Beach about eight years ago, long before January’s storms destroyed the pier and made it disappear.

When he posted his photo of the S.S. Palo Alto on NextDoor, sharing plans to frame it for his home, he got 380 comments from admiring neighbors, some sharing their own memories. n

To see his work, go to www.shotsbyross.com or www.instagram.com/mike_ross_everything.