The debate over Workbench’s proposed Bright Plaza project has become tangled in misunderstandings about what is actually being proposed, how the city approval process works, what qualifies as affordable housing and where higher-density housing belongs, writes affordable housing advocate and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane. Santa Cruz can disagree about development without letting misinformation, hyperbole and name-calling replace thoughtful debate, he writes. Before we decide what kinds of housing belong in our community, he insists that we should separate preliminary drawings from actual proposals, affordable housing from market-rate housing and legitimate concerns from exaggerated claims.
Don Lane
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We fought over it. Now what will we make of our new library in downtown Santa Cruz?
Santa Cruz’s new downtown library and affordable housing project has hardly been without controversy — but after years of debate, the building is rising, writes affordable housing advocate and former mayor Don Lane. Now the question is less about who supported the project and more about what we want this new civic space to become. With its expanded Life Literacies Center, free resources and room for people to gather, Lane believes the library could become downtown’s living room – and a place to bring a divided community together.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The real cause of gentrification in Santa Cruz isn’t new housing
OPINION: Have we built too much housing in Santa Cruz or not nearly enough? Housing activist and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane reminds us that Santa Cruz spent decades limiting growth.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Getting our housing facts straight before Santa Cruz votes
Housing is taking center stage in Santa Cruz County’s June primaries and November elections, writes housing activist and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane. He worries that community debates are often clouded by misinformation. Here, he argues that many new downtown Santa Cruz developments are in fact affordable and part of a long-overdue housing push. He points to decades of underbuilding as the root of today’s shortage and rising costs. As voters head to the polls, he urges a fact-based conversation about who gets to live in the community.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I hope my UCSC class will help our community conversation on addressing homelessness
Housing advocate Don Lane has invited journalist and author Brian Barth to talk to the community – and to his class of 25 UC Santa Cruz students studying homelessness – to discuss why encampments exist and what we should do about them. He hopes the Feb. 27 event at the downtown library will help deepen our understanding of the issue and involve the next generation in finding solutions.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
No, Measure C isn’t a ‘Keeley project’ — and the City of Santa Cruz is keeping its housing promises
Former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane pushes back on Keven Cook’s recent commentary, arguing that Cook misrepresents the origins and intent of Measure C and ignores the coalition that created it. He points to Santa Cruz’s affordable housing record and rejects claims that the city misuses housing funds.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Yes on Santa Cruz’s Measure C: Let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good
OPINION: Measure C might not be perfect, but it will create needed affordable housing in Santa Cruz, writes former Santa Cruz mayor and housing advocate Don Lane. He refutes a recent op-ed by resident Keven Cook questioning loopholes in the measure and encourages the community to support it.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
A Santa Cruz affordable housing primer – and why Measure C makes sense
Santa Cruz is on track to add nearly 900 truly affordable apartments — well short of what’s needed for teachers, servers, health care workers and longtime unhoused neighbors, writes housing advocate and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane. He advocates for Measure C on the November ballot.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s stick to facts when we talk about our unhoused problem
Don Lane, former Santa Cruz mayor and a longtime community housing advocate, takes issue with a recent Lookout op-ed on the unhoused. Lane acknowledges some points but pushes back on many of the underlying assumptions, particularly that the city is a “magnet” for people from other places seeking housing.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Finger-pointing at Coral Street – here’s why a homeless encampment lasted for so long in Santa Cruz
An encampment of about 40 to 60 people popped up on Coral Street in the spring and lasted for months before Santa Cruz police cleared it. Why did it take so long? Housing activist and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane unpacks the complex reasons.
