March 3, 2013

Alternate Site to See Memorial and Transportation



The Santa Cruz Police Department recognizes the change in venue for the Memorial Service honoring Sergeant Butch Baker and Officer Elizabeth Butler has created challenges for some members of the community.   To help mitigate this, we have developed alternative viewing opportunities and transportation options:

Live feed of the service:

Kaiser Permanente Arena (Home of the Santa Cruz Warriors)
140 Front Street
Memorial Service starts at 12:00 Noon. 
Doors open time to be announced
 
There will be no tickets and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

In addition, Community TV and local television networks have said they will carry the procession and service on their stations. KSBW has indicated they will stream the service live on their Website.  

The second local viewing opportunity will be of the memorial procession to the HP Pavilion, by Santa Cruz County agencies that include criminal justice agencies, fire and EMS.  The procession is scheduled to depart at 8:45 AM and travel up Ocean Street from the beach area, onto Highway 17.  The procession will travel over Highway 17 and may be joined by other agencies in Santa Clara County.   

Limited transportation will be provided by the City of Santa Cruz via Metro buses to the HP Pavilion.  Transportation will be offered for those who want to attend but could not otherwise transport themselves.  Further details will follow on how to access this transportation option. 

We are also calling on and encouraging service organizations, neighborhood groups and our faith community to organize carpooling of their memberships. 

While the change in venue poses challenges, it provides benefits that far outweigh the difficulties.  The Baker and Butler families issued a statement saying, “We are extremely pleased we were able to locate a venue that would allow all supporters to have an opportunity to honor these officers together under one roof” 

“We are humbled by the number of people that want to come together and honor our fallen heroes” Police Chief Kevin Vogel said. “We all wish we had the local capacity to serve the thousands of people throughout the country that have said they want to attend. This simply wasn’t possible, so we’re asking that people either commit to driving less than a mile for every year that Butch and Elizabeth served our community and join us at the HP Pavilion or participate in the simulcast at the Kaiser Permanente Arena. These past few days have been very difficult and organizing a memorial that honors Butch and Elizabeth and accommodates the large-scale interest has been challenging. But we are pleased to offer a local option as well.”

Please note that the local viewing at the Arena and the memorial procession will cause some traffic delays. Our department will provide additional traffic impact information in the coming days.