Hospice forms grief support group in Watsonville
WATSONVILLE — Hospice of Santa Cruz County recently started a Grief Support Drop-In Group at its Watsonville office, open to anyone in the community grieving the death of a loved one.
The group meets every Friday from noon–1 p.m. at 65 Nielson St., Suite 121 in Watsonville, on the campus of Watsonville Community Hospital.
Pre-registration is not required. For information, call 430-3000.
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Veterans to recite poems
SANTA CRUZ — The Veterans Poetry Circle of Santa Cruz will recite poems from their new anthology, “Voices of Veterans,” on Thursday from 7-9 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 846 Front St. in Santa Cruz.
Eight veteran poets have been meeting weekly with circle leader Ruth Mota to write and share their verse.
The recital will include live music with drums, mandolin and Tibetan bells. Local award-winning poet Ellen Bass will join the circle as a special guest and read from her collected poems.
Mota has taught poetry to men at the Rountree Correctional Facility in Watsonville. Anthologies of their work collected by Mota can be found in the Santa Cruz and Watsonville Library System. Her poetry has been published in local literary journals and will soon appear in a national anthology of poems by teachers working in the U.S. jail and prison systems.
Bass is the author of eight poetry collections, the most recent of which is “Like a Beggar” (Copper Canyon Press, 2014). She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2017 and is the recipient of fellowships from the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Lambda Literary Award for Poetry, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, and three Pushcart Prizes. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Pacific University.
Admission to Thursday’s event is free for veterans and the general public is asked to donate $10. Proceeds benefit the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building.
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METRO CEO awarded Transit Professional of the Year
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) CEO Alex Clifford is the 2017 Transit Professional of the Year as recognized by the California Transit Association (CTA) Small Operators.
The Transit Professional of the Year Award honors an individual that has provided strong leadership and vision. Clifford joins a long list of California transit leaders who have received this annual award in past years.
When presented with the award, Clifford received accolades by the CTA for his leadership role at METRO in helping the agency resolve a $6 million fiscal structural deficit. The process involved numerous board workshops and an extensive public outreach process that helped the METRO Board achieve a more stable financial footing.
“I am humbled by this award from my peers and public transit colleagues and want to thank the METRO Board for their leadership, METRO’s management and employees for their dedication and commitment and the public and community stakeholders’ for their participation in the process that resulted in a successful outcome,” Clifford said. “There is much work yet ahead as METRO works to identify the capital funding needed to replace 62 high-mileage buses. Together, we have faced METRO’s financial struggles head on. Today we have a solid foundation to continue our efforts to stabilize METRO service and work toward a brighter future.”
The Transit Professional of the Year Award was presented on Nov. 9 at the Small Operators Program and Awards Breakfast during CTA’s 52nd Annual Fall Conference held in Riverside, which brings together more than 700 public transit professionals from all over the state.
Clifford joined METRO in 2014. Prior experience includes serving as the CEO of Chicago Metra, one of the nation’s largest commuter rail agencies; general manager of bus service in southeast Los Angeles with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA); and a city councilman in Riverside for eight years.
