UC Santa Cruz 2008-09 salary database

Downtown restaurants might charge more for late-night beers and shots after city leaders approved higher fees on restaurants that morph into weekend nightclubs.

[Rose Colored Glasses]

How in the hell is this going to deal with the Gang problem or the Perverts and the Rapist .
The City Council not addressing the Problems in this Town everyone is Mad about , going after Drunks is a total cop-out .

[Skiros13]

Its a matter of where the priorities are in the budget! Don't we all ready pay taxes for Police, Fire etc. Did they budget enough for Police or did the council have it wrong by allocating money to some pet project?

[Cruzer]

While raising fees on nightclubs is hardly a complete solution, it is a reasonable step to take. There is no doubt that these establishments draw more than their share of problematic people and therefore they should pay more to police those people. What's so hard about that?

[Santa Cruz Citizen]

Wait! Is this even a legal tax?

Current City Management has pattern in such matters including the 911 illegal tax fraud perpetrated earlier last year - which voters still voted against when it came needlessly to elections - which managers still went ahead and kept billing anyway.

Seems City Council Mayor is playing role in some kind of Freddy Freeloader. Ehw yuck.

[Xanthippe]

Cruzer wrote:

While raising fees on nightclubs is hardly a complete solution, it is a reasonable step to take. There is no doubt that these establishments draw more than their share of problematic people and therefore they should pay more to police those people. What's so hard about that?

Agreed. Looking at the police media release logs, it's apparent that late night Santa Cruz downtown requires a lot of police resources. Those businesses that help to create the problems ought to pay more. Why should the rest of us have to subsidize it?

[Xanthippe]

The Sentinel needs to get it together on proper linking for Topix. Once again, the headline on the comments is completely wrong.

New fees approved for downtown Santa Cruz nightclubs to pay for police

not UC Santa Cruz 2008-09 salary database

[laslo toth]

"come as part of a crackdown on violence following a stabbing death, double shooting and rape in the downtown area and on the Westside last month."

What do these crimes have to do with restaurants? or bars? or restaurants that morph into dance clubs? Not only is it a disservice to those of us who live in Santa Cruz, but a real insult to the victims of these crimes to obfuscate the real issues. Judging by all the empty spaces in Downtown Santa Cruz, could it be that the powers that be are picking the pockets of those that remain to balance their budgets?

[Wood]

It seems wrong to me to penalize the downtown establishments who are just trying to keep their doors open in these tough economic times. And yes, this does not even address many of the issues that have shaken the community lately. Gang issues and home invasion sexual attacks have nothing to do with this action!

[laslo toth]

Xanthippe wrote:

<quoted text>
Agreed. Looking at the police media release logs, it's apparent that late night Santa Cruz downtown requires a lot of police resources. Those businesses that help to create the problems ought to pay more. Why should the rest of us have to subsidize it?

There is no doubt that Downtown requires a lot of police resources. But are these resources being taxed by Downtown businesses? Or by a large and significant homeless population? Have you seen the shanty town on the levee, right behind businesses on Front Street? A careful look at the media logs reports that the vast majority of incidents involve the homeless.

[GMA]

cop`s make $148.000 yearly??

[Joe Citizen]

How about a fee to all the bums sitting on benches?

[Publican]

This is absurd. The council has no good ideas about taking back its own streets from the criminals, so it falls back on the tired trope that the bars are to be blamed for all crime downtown.

This is a cynical way to cover up the fact that the City Council has no idea about how to make Santa Cruz safer, and does not know how to use its police force wisely. It is easy to scapegoat bars, and this will raise more tax revenue, but has no true effect on crime.

Another colossal waste of time by the council, and exemplifies the lack of effort and true intelligence in our leadership.

[More of the same]

Punish everyone for a few. Again, judges and lawyers and right to carry would cure this situation.

[Sum Dim]

Is that you, jimi?

fukyou sc leaders wrote:

another stupid law passed by city leaders to keep business from growing in this shittie town. we havent had any decent nightclubs in town since palookaville and catalyst were competing. I have an idea why dont why turn over city cousil to a bunch of ultra liberal tree hugging hippys so santa cruz doesnt harm the salamanders. oops i forgot that happened along time ago... have any of the city leaders lloked around lately this town is dying of gangrene, only a matter of time before the bubble pops here. work is slim in bay area and real estate values are still very high in this area, why would people want to stay in this lifeless town if they cannot afford to get ahead because city leaders approve laws that only hurt the community.

[Jane]

Don't tax the drunks. They never cause any problems. LOL

[Food For Thought]

Typical city council reaction.

We can't solve the real problem, so lets raise fees on business.

[Xanthippe]

laslo toth wrote:

<quoted text> There is no doubt that Downtown requires a lot of police resources. But are these resources being taxed by Downtown businesses? Or by a large and significant homeless population? Have you seen the shanty town on the levee, right behind businesses on Front Street? A careful look at the media logs reports that the vast majority of incidents involve the homeless.

Both, certainly.

Part of the cost of having Homeless Services in Santa Cruz is a result of the magnet effect that Homeless Services advocates claim doesn't exist, but anyone paying attention can clearly see it does.(I'd love to see a residency requirement enacted on receiving benefits.)

I have not seen the shanty town on the levee. How long has it been there? That sounds dreadful.

[palmspringsbum]

fukyou sc leaders wrote:

another stupid law passed by city leaders to keep business from growing in this shittie town ... why would people want to stay in this lifeless town if they cannot afford to get ahead because city leaders approve laws that only hurt the community.

I couldn't agree more.

[palmspringsbum]

recall time wrote:

We would be better off with nobody in office then these fools.

I couldn't agree more.

[5genSC]

It seems to me that it would make more sense to tax late-night alcohol sales to raise money for increase public transportation in the early morning hours to avert drunk driving than to add one extra police officer. As previously stated, many of these crimes did not originate from clubs on the mall. Also, why only tax the clubs? Why not tax anyone selling alcohol in the city? I wonder how many of these calls originate from Bonesio's?