There's a popular bumper sticker seen all over Santa Cruz, California emblazoned with the words "Keep Santa Cruz Weird." But for some local parents, Surf City U.S.A. has gotten a little too weird and run-down and filthy and dysfunctional, from the inside out. So they've fired back with their own bumper sticker - one which points to the challenges facing the home of the mighty UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. Today's Santa Cruz Sentinel has more.

Think the city is a little too weird? Slap a "Keep Santa Cruz Safe and Clean" sticker on your bumper and let people know how you feel. "The bumper sticker was created to give a voice to families in Santa Cruz," said Chris Pineda, who designed the sticker that also urges people to support families. "I think that the town gets painted with a weird label, and I wanted to remind folks that there are families here who need to raise kids. It is a point of frustration with me and I think that others here share the sentiment."

The bumper sticker was conceived as a fundraiser for Westlake Elementary School, and in a few weeks more than 300 have been sold, raising several hundred dollars for the school, where Pineda has two children enrolled. He said the streets around the school are in serious disrepair and are emblematic of what he considers skewed priorities. "Given the investment that families make here," he said, "it is unfortunate that we have roads and sidewalks that are in such a state of disrepair. It makes it difficult for parents to instill pride and respect in our children about Santa Cruz."

...Some parents...think the city's tolerance for transients has a down side — a downtown and parks that are less hospitable to children. Nick Guerrero, who has three children at Westlake, supports compassionate policies toward the homeless, but said he fears for his kids' safety at places like Harvey West Park....."We just want a safe and wholesome environment for our children to grow up in," Guerrero said. "We want people to embrace our wish."

On a corollary track, Santa Cruz will have to allow more business development, recognizing the vibrancy and enhanced municipal revenues that result. Growth does not have to mean malls, but it will have to mean more than utopian visions of a car-less main drag and a burgeoning alternative fuels and renewable energy industrial sector. If alternative fuel and renewable energy companies make the Santa Cruz area home, they will need land for offices, and perhaps in some instances, for actual production. Not to mention......parking lots for employees. All things likely to incite local NIMBYs. Sustainable cool requires an infrastructure amenable to business and families with children.

TECHNORATI TAGS: SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, WEIRD, SAFE AND CLEAN, FAMILIES, HOMELESS, PARKS, STREET REPAIRS, ECONOMIC GROWTH