Locally Owned Santa Cruz County Bank • Singleton Leaves Business Council Amazon Pays $2 Million to Settle False Advertising Allegations • Reflections of 2020: People’s Choice Winners in Capitola Art Contest

COMMUNITY NEWS Amazon Pays $2 Million to Settle False Advertising Allegations

On March 25, Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell announced Amazon.com, the online retail giant, will pay $2 million in penalties, costs, and restitution to the state’s Consumer Protection Trust Fund to settle a consumer protection lawsuit alleging false advertising involving discount prices.

Amazon.com commonly uses “former price” advertising to communicate to consumers that the price on its platform is discounted.

Some advertised “former prices” were misleading in that the “former price” was not timely nor supported by sufficient number of sales, and that “former prices” in which the product is sold by a manufacturer, supplier, or other seller, insufficiently disclosed that the “former price” was not necessarily the prevailing market price or regular retail price at which the product could be purchased.

The state’s Business & Professions Code says the former price must be the prevailing price over last 90 days, and Amazon faced challenges in trying to meet that standard, Doug Allen, who heads the Santa Cruz County Consumer Fraud Unit, where the case originated.

He said he and his wife Francisca Allen, who worked in the Santa Clara County Consumer Protection Unit before joining the Santa Cruz office, were contacted by a third party watchdog about the Amazon problem. “We worked for several years on it,” he said. “We sampled products in the hundreds.” Attorneys in Santa Cruz worked with District Attorney offices in San Diego, Alameda, Santa Clara, Yolo, and Riverside on the complaint.

Some of the $2 million will go to reimburse the prosecutors for their time.

According to Rosell, Amazon worked “promptly and cooperatively” throughout the investigation, improved its system to validate “former pricing,” and improved disclosures to shoppers.

Amazon has already made changes in pricing disclosures required by the stipulated final judgment. These changes include a hyperlink to bring the consumer to clear definitions for the referenced pricing terms.

Rosell said, “Our office is committed in the protection of consumers, even against the largest companies in the world, by ensuring they are not being misled and have the information needed to make informed purchasing decisions.” n •••

To file a consumer complaint, go to https://datinternet.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Home/ ConsumerProtection.aspx

Reflections of 2020: People’s Choice Winners in Capitola Art Contest

People’s Choice winners in Capitola’s Reflections of 2020 art competition are: • Professional Division: “Walk

Through The Darkness“ by

Staci Rodriguez

• Novice Division: “Guided“ by

Polly Herold

• Youth Division “The Mask” by

Ila Bonney

Digital gallery winners were displayed outdoors in a social-distancing friendly manner on Saturday, March 6, at Esplanade Park, for members of the public to view and vote on their favorite pieces in each category.

Digital gallery winners are posted at www.cityofcapitola. org/recreation/page/reflections2020-digital-gallery-winners

“The Capitola Arts and Cultural Commission was pleased to partner with Capitola Recreation on this art contest,” said Laurie Hill, a member of the arts and cultural commission. n Staci Rodriguez

Walk Through The Darkness Polly Herold

Guided Ila Bonney

The Mask

“Snelling” from page 22

I hope a lot of that lasts. I live in Capitola, I walk to the village all the time, you see pedestrianized outdoor areas. To do that, we had to give up parking spaces, isn’t it worth it?

What’s your impression of the local housing market? The median home price was $1.1 million in January and February with listings historically low.

All I’ve been hearing is it’s tough out there right now. Houses are selling really quickly, multiple offers, low inventory. I’ll be entering the fray this summer … It’s kind of stressful. It’s great for the seller. Sacramento is seeing the benefit of a lot of Bay Area people coming in — tech people.

What is it like being a successful career woman in banking — not so long ago considered a man’s world with deals made on the golf course?

Ihave been given a lot of really great opportunities in the banking community. I have had lot of really great mentors, but I’ve never had a woman as a mentor.

I’m pleased to say anyone who works around me will not have that experience … I look forward to mentoring women and men in the future.

Can you give an example of mentorship that made a difference?

I’ve lived in Sacramento my entire life, and I have mentors and friends and colleagues and confidants in this network. When this opportunity came up, I said, OK, team, circle around. Everyone was so supportive.

My son is going to college in the fall, but my daughter is still in high school, I can’t imagine making a life change without having that network to advise me. With COVID and remote school for my teens for 9 months, their lives were not the same. When people hear they’re moving to Santa Cruz, they say, “Oh, you’re so lucky!”

How does having a woman in top bank leadership make a difference in the community? Can you give an example from your experience?

At Five Star Bank, I started a group of all women customers of the bank, either business owners or decision-makers, executives. We would get together. The group got really big, 40 people from C suites … A lot of these women had spent a lot of time being the only woman in the room — seeing the energy and positivity in the room, it was amazing.

And people got business out of it. A woman who owns recruiting firm, one with an employee benefit company, and a CPA met each other at this event, and they hired each other. We met three times, then COVID happened. I would like to start something like that here … It’s one of things I’m most proud of.

With state law mandating women on corporate boards, do you foresee another woman joining the board at Santa Cruz County Bank? How can banks encourage women to move into leadership positions?

The bank is always looking, always looking for great people, communityminded, high impact, to join the board.

Encourage women to step into leadership roles that get offered and to be ambitious and ask for what they’re worth. Any mentor should do that for you. It’s really meaningful for a woman to have another woman give that kind of encouragement.

I was so happy when I announced I was moving here, two women at my old bank got promoted into the C suite. I had helped them and mentored them. They were ready, so ready. n