Quake Relief Is Working Well, Governor Says

Gov. George Deukmejian donned a hard hat Monday and took a look at recovery efforts in three cities hit hard by the Oct. 17 earthquake.

In Watsonville, Hollister and Santa Cruz, Deukmejian viewed the remains of damaged buildings and toured temporary quarters established for residents and businesses.

“I’m very pleased with everything I’ve seen,” Deukmejian said. “Everybody seems to be adjusting as well as could be expected.”

The governor repeated his pledge to do whatever is necessary to help the quake-stricken area return to normal as soon as possible.

Deukmejian said he does not believe there is a need now for more than the $800 million that will be raised by a 13-month quarter-cent increase in the sales tax enacted by the Legislature in a special session. But he said the legislative package needed to be “fine-tuned” to better meet the needs of the quake victims.

In Watsonville, Deukmejian met with a dozen local officials from the region and then visited a just-opened temporary shopping center in the downtown business district.

In Santa Cruz, Deukmejian walked through the devastated Pacific Garden Mall and watched as a giant backhoe tore away at the steel and concrete innards of a building too badly damaged to be saved. Mayor Mardi Wormhoudt showed him the evacuated St. George Hotel, which has 85 units that before the quake housed low-income elderly people.

“These are people who are least able to compete in the housing market,” she said. “They were hanging on to their independence tenaciously but just by a thread.”

The governor finished the first day of his two-day swing in Hollister, where he heard a pitch from local tomato canners who would like the state to buy dented canned goods that they cannot sell.

Jim Weller, a representative of San Benito Foods, said the processors are still sorting through tens of millions of cans that fell in the quake. They hope to sell the dented ones to the state for use in prisons or other institutions.