Travel Advisory for Santa Cruz Visitors

Magical Urbanism is pleased to welcome Liam O’Donoghue as it’s first guest commentator.

Without IndyMedia I would probably still think of Santa Cruz as a cozy little beachfront utopia. Situated among the redwoods along a perpetually sunny strip of Pacific shoreline, Santa Cruz evokes images of golden-haired surfers and hip, skater dudes, of pony-tailed baby-boomers tending to their organic gardens, and of lusty college students frolicking drunkenly for MTV campus reality shows. With a population of only 55,000, Santa Cruz is practically a village compared to the other metropolitan giants spread along the Golden State’s precious coastline and it isn’t typically associated with any of the ills of these big cities, either.

Playing on its roots as a utopian dreamland during the 60′s when hippie school buses converged upon the town in droves, Santa Cruz seems to strive to maintain it’s image as a fun and friendly tourist destination. Rollercoasters and carnival games dominate the boardwalk. Trendy boutiques, renowned restaurants and art galleries line the boulevards of downtown. But maintaining this fanciful image has proven to be a double-edge sword for the business elite and developers running the show, because rich white families with cash to burn aren’t the only ones who’ve come to town.

At this point, I should disclose that I’ve only been to Santa Cruz a few times, and I’m certainly no expert, but I have been keeping up with the headlines on the all-volunteer website Santa Cruz Independent Media Center, and one major trend seems to be quite obvious: the police are trying to keep everyone who is not rapidly spending money out of downtown. This situation was highlighted most creatively this week during the 4th of July holiday festivities when unknown persons posted and distributed 4,500 copies of the following handbill:

Over the past few years, the City Council has passed a flurry of laws aimed at keeping out the riff-raff by criminalizing everything from panhandling to “lingering” in parking lots. The police have taken it one step farther by infiltrating radical organizations, including a rag-tag group who decided to spearhead a “DIY” parade last New Year’s Eve. However, this latest authoritarian directive plastered across the town for all to see draws an accurate line in the sand, regardless of its satirical origin:

If at all possible, avoid downtown areas unless you are visiting merchants with the intention of buying. If you must visit downtown area, make your purchases and leave quickly.

From the prissy language (“If at all possible”), to the fact that they lump all non-shoppers in the same “undesirable” category to the simple foolishness of ordering people to avoid downtown - it would be easy to believe that the Santa Cruz downtown association actually wrote this.

But it’s hard not to be disturbed by the message “If you’re not shopping fast, get the fuck out” presented so nakedly and with such fervor (leaflets were left under windshield wipers of parked cars, passed out to beachgoers, etc.), especially in California, birthplace of countless national, cultural trends. Although this year the handbills were made by an anonymous crew of activists, it’s not inconceivable that the idea will be co-opted by the actual authorities next year or the year after. Considering the headlines I’ve been seeing on Santa Cruz Indymedia lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if this action was more of a preview than a satire.

Liam O’Donoghue is a writer and activist based in San Francisco, and was one of the founders of Faultlines, San Francisco IndyMedia’s print newspaper. He can often be found loitering and blowing bubbles in public places. Photos courtesy of Bradley Stuart.

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