Defending the Sacred Path at Holy Cross
Rae Ellen Leonard and her service dog, Neil,
are now blocked from using the pathway that
they have enjoyed for over 20 years.
Because every pathway is sacred to People Power, we are currently engaged in a struggle to help save the path behind the Santa Cruz Mission at Holy Cross Church.
Several months ago, neighbors of the Holy Cross Church on Mission Plaza discovered that an out-of-town landlord, John Mahoney, had acquired the rights to the historic pathway behind the Mission from Holy Cross Church, in order to close it down and subsume it into his property, which is adjacent to the pathway.
On Sunday, April 29th, People Power held a bake sale and historic walk to protect the path. Local historian Ross Gibson led the walk with over 35 participants, as we learned about the area surrounding the Mission and the role it has played in Santa Cruz history. Ross pointed out that much of the community spirit of Santa Cruz comes from the fact that the town was laid out for pedestrian interactions with horses and buggies used mainly for travel into and out of town. It is this historic community network of trails that is under attack from landlords seeking more and more control over the areas near their properties.
The pathway behind the Mission,
now blocked off by the landlord.
In the past couple years, People Power has fought against the closure of three pathways. We kept a path open that was threatened by the Oceanview Condominium Association; struggled to open a gate to the river levee at Kennan Street (so far, to little avail), and now have joined with neighbors of Mission Plaza to preserve this longstanding route behind the Mission. We are fighting for each of these pathways in order to protect community access by foot and bicycle.
The tasty part of this particular action came from the dozens of baked goods that neighbors brought to the Bake Sale table, staffed by People Power interns, Dominic, Sammy, and Alejandro. The $164 that we raised from passers-by and members of Holy Cross Church headed into and out of services will go towards legal fees to keep the path open.
Our goal is to challenge the path closure under the rules of prescriptive rights. Laws around prescriptive rights are intended to protect pathways that have been in the public use for 10 years or more. The closure of the path can only be challenged in court, which means that we will need a lawyer to secure enforcement of these rights.
Activists challenge the barricade of the pathway.
At the end of Sunday's walk, 25 people between the ages of 1 and 51 crossed over the "No Trespassing" postings at both ends of the walkway, exercising our right to use the path. As the landlord did not enforce his easement, this further helps our eventual case in court.
Ultimately this path should be owned by the city and held in the public trust. The city attorney has been asked by Mayor Emily Reilly to look into how this could best be accomplished. To keep up with this issue contact activist/neighbor Joan Hoglund at 466-9014.