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NO
MORE SURFING LESSONS!
Today, May 12, 2008, Shoreline Surf Shop received
a Cease and Desist Letter from the City of Santa Cruz,
regarding surfing lessons.
The City now demands -
1. A $500 permit "application fee"
(Five times the cost of a business
license?)
2. A $1,000,000 liability insurance policy
(Against what? Meddling City
officials?)
3. Licensed instructors (By whom?
Special city-selected agencies, who ALSO pay off the
City?)
4. A Santa Cruz business license
5. Only foam boards must be used - Students must wear
vests.
6. Surf schools must provide worker's compensation
insurance.
7. All instructors must provide CPR AND first aid
credentials.
8. Other oppressive requirements, designed to obstruct the
smaller local lesson providers, and favor just one.
Therefore, after 17 years, we regret that we can no longer
provide surfing lessons to our customers at this time.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience that this may
cause.
Webmaster's
Opinion -
For 17 years, we have provided many hundreds of surfing
lessons, without a single problem. Our instructors are
excellent surfers, and our customers have always been very
pleased with the experience. Santa Cruz surf lesson
providers are the victims of ever-more-intrusive city
government actions, designed to limit our freedoms, and
extort onerous, oppressive fees. Now they want to regulate
the Pacific Ocean. Not Maverick's. Cowell's sand bar.
To reiterate an oft-heard
quotation, this is a classic example of "Too much
government". There you have it. The City of Santa Cruz has
decided to limit Surfing Lesson vendors to a select few, who
pony up the big bucks, to "pay off" the city. No problems
for "Club Ed", who pays the city $20,000 each year. Is it
starting to make sense now? Not too hard to figure out, is
it? Eliminate the competition. Did a whale die? There is a
bad smell in the air. One customer observed -
.
. . Club Ed is trying to prevent all other surf schools from
having access to Cowell's by pandering to city officials and
trying to rewrite local laws--shame on
you!
Currently, Cowell's Beach
surfers can go into the water, without paying an "insurance
premium". But, if they enter the water with a knowledgeable,
experienced surfer, the situation suddenly becomes more
dangerous? Huh? Santa Cruz can now add "oppressive" to its
list of new-age attributes. Previously, a release of
liability form was all that was needed, and that worked just
fine. Now this. "Just give us 20 grand, baby, and you won't
have any problems." Apparently, the City fathers have, in
effect, sold Cowell's Beach exclusively to Club
Ed. It is always about the money. The "safety" issue
is just a red herring.
Parking fees are already
exorbitant, as well as parking fines. Local merchants must
suffer, so the City can fill its coffers. What's next? A
beach tax? One dollar a head. Two bucks, if you go into the
water. They would do it, if they thought they could.
Articles
Why has the Santa Cruz Sentinel
PULLED EVERY SINGLE ONLINE ARTICLE on this topic? You tell
me. I believe it is because they don't want any informed
discussion on this topic. Wipe out all the negative comments
from Santa Cruz residents, by wiping out the articles. Case
closed, by government fiat. Like it or lump it. Take it or
leave it.
Santa
Cruz Surf Schools Score a Win Against City
Council - Aug. 31, 2006 - Global
Surf News
New
Rules for Santa Cruz Surf Schools
- 2007, date removed - Surf City Live
City
Lays Down the Law on Surf Schools
- April 3, 2007 - Surf City Live
Some
Instructors Oppose Santa Cruz Crackdown on Surf
Schools - April 3, 2007 - San
Diego Union Tribune
The
surfing kook in a vest in Santa Cruz will be an
instructor - April 11, 2007 - San
Diego Union Tribune
"Surf
schools were getting in the way, staggering on the bluff,
and making it difficult to
walk." - April 19, 2007 -
CHP
"We were trapped. We couldn't move! Thank God, it's so much
easier to walk now." Great Jumping Jehosaphat!
Victims
Who are the other victims of the Santa Cruz City
Council?
Richard
Schmidt School of Surfing - Santa Cruz,
California
Santa
Cruz Surf School - Dylan
Greiner
Cowell's
Surf Shop - Lessons
The Proof
The City of Santa Cruz has been
PROMOTING Club Ed, a private operation,
to the EXCLUSION
of all others.
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/pr/parksrec/mainbeach.html
The URL has now been broken, but I was able to take a screen
shot from the Google cache, from May 7, 2008 -
The City just missed getting rid of the evidence by a few
days.
CASE CLOSED! CITY
COUNCIL
GUILTY!
There is
nothing like CASH to promote favoritism, and eliminate
competition.
I thought that public entities were supposed to be
even-handed. Not in this case. They have promoted a single
private enterprise, and are actively working to exclude all
others. And what about the Santa Cruz Sentinel? They are NOT
a media entity - they are a POLITICAL entity, as is clearly
demonstrated with this issue. They are arguably a city
council lapdog. I have compiled evidence of the Sentinel
acting this way in the past, on 2 other issues.
Where was the discussion? Where was the compromise? This was
a case of "Line 'em up, and shoot 'em."
"Our minds are made up, don't confuse us with the facts."
Reminiscent of 1943 Germany.
Can we see an accounting of that $20,000? Or would that be
just a tad too messy?
.
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