District 5 supervisor candidates Martinez, Bradford in spotlight at Lookout forum Wednesday

Santa Cruz County’s District 5, which includes the San Lorenzo Valley, most of Scotts Valley and a small part of the city of Santa Cruz, is in the spotlight Wednesday night as the candidates to replace outgoing county supervisor Bruce McPherson take the stage in a forum hosted by Lookout and moderated by correspondent Christopher Neely.

Christopher Bradford, a software engineer and small business owner moved to run for office by his experiences with county bureaucracy in the wake of 2020 CZU fire, and Monica Martinez, a longtime nonprofit executive and San Lorenzo Valley resident, emerged from the four-person March primary field to face off on the Nov. 5 ballot. They will talk about their platforms and take questions from the audience in the forum at Felton Community Hall, a free event beginning at 6:30 p.m. Click here to reserve your spot.

Bradford told Lookout’s Wallace Baine about his motivation to join the race for District 5 supervisor:

“What drove me was, there were a number of occasions when we would get news from the county specifically, or sometimes from our insurance company, that would grievously hurt my wife, and she would cry for hours and hours, that made it seem like we weren’t going to be able to rebuild – delays, refusals to give permits for something, refusals by the insurance company to fund something until another thing is done,” he said. “All these things are these little bombs that are in the way, right? And they go off, and you have that feeling of powerlessness, like, what can I do here?” 

Christopher Neely got a window into what’s driving Martinez in observing a recent meeting between Martinez and fellow county parks commissioner Alexis Konevich.

“If you’re elected for four years, that’s only four budget votes to make a difference before you run for reelection,” Martinez told Konevich. “That’s not that many for something that could change the trajectory of the county. Time is too valuable and precious to just rubber-stamp and allow things to go the way they’ve always gone. We’re only here for a moment to try and make an impact. That’s how I view everything.”

Wednesday night’s in-person forum is free and open to all members of the public; RSVP here, and watch for full Lookout coverage in the coming days.