After five years of development, a local nonprofit developer broke ground Wednesday on 57 units of affordable housing in Live Oak. Said MidPen CEO Matt Franklin: “This was remarkably hard to bring all of this together.”
Grace Stetson
Grace comes to Lookout from just over the hill, originally from Sunnyvale but with a variety of journalism experience from across the country.After doing her undergrad at Seattle University, Grace earned a master’s in journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School, where she focused on housing and gentrification issues via roles with The Chicago Reader, Illinois Public Media, and WNYC.In 2018, she moved to Brooklyn, where she joined the team at Dateline NBC as a full-time program coordinator. In this position, she balanced reporting work for the show’s online Cold Case Spotlights vertical with assistant production on special episodes, and connected with the Story Development team in preparing daily briefs on news-of-the-day.Since returning to the South Bay Area in Sept. 2020, Grace has freelanced for local publications such as San Jose Spotlight, Metro Silicon Valley, and The Six Fifty. Having lived in many places across the U.S. and worked for small, mid-tier, and larger markets, Grace is excited to delve back into community journalism with Lookout Santa Cruz.“This team and endeavor is such an exciting opportunity, and an exciting vision for what the future of local news can look like,” she says. “I can’t wait to have the chance to serve this community with high-quality, in-depth journalism.”
Posted inPolitics & Policy
A new challenge to Santa Cruz’s downtown mixed-use library building
The downtown mixed-use library project has been in motion for development since 2016, with construction of the new library planned to begin as early as next summer. Opponents — forming the group Our Downtown, Our Future — now aim to put a ballot measure before city voters this fall to block it. Lookout tackles the questions voters will likely consider.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
John Hall on downtown library initiative: ‘We are not about blocking things’
As the Our Downtown, Our Future group waits for approval for a voter measure for November to challenge the current new downtown library proposal, one of its leaders explains its opposition.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
People call the fire department for everything: A Q&A with new Santa Cruz fire chief Rob Oatey
Climate change. Drought. More public needs of every kind. We asked new city of Santa Cruz fire chief Rob Oatey what motivates him, and challenges him, in his new role.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruzans react quickly to threat of Roe v. Wade overturning
On six hours’ notice, more than 200 people met at the Santa Cruz county courthouse Tuesday, protesting fast-moving restrictions across the country on abortion access — and the news that the U.S. Supreme Court is about to strike down the decision that has assured a women’s right to choose for 49 years.
Posted inHousing & Development
Housing numbers 101: Santa Cruz County has been told it must build 12,979 more units by 2031. Is that even possible?
Regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) numbers are a fancy way of putting a metric to an area’s need to build a certain number of additional housing units; the state is poised to tell Santa Cruz County that it will need to build nearly 13,000 more housing units by 2031. Local leaders past and present explained to Lookout that it’s more of a guideline than a mandate.
Posted inHousing & Development
Affordable Housing Month gets into the affordability nitty-gritty
Fifteen events in May focus on what it will take to put a dent in the affordability crisis in Santa Cruz County.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The future looks electric: City of Santa Cruz committed to more updated EV charging stations, with county set to follow
With California aiming to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, the race is on to build the infrastructure Santa Cruz County needs to keep up with the burgeoning fleet of electric options.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Lookout Update: Santa Cruz will provide more design details on the new downtown library
On Thursday, the city will present its most recent design updates to plans for the new downtown library, one part of the downtown library mixed-use project. Groundbreaking for the development is expected for the latter part of 2023.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Rise Together adds 11 new members, looks toward the future of equitable access and representation
Organized in June 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd, the Rise Together Coalition has focused its collective efforts on advancing racial equity throughout Santa Cruz County. With the additions of 11 new members, the group hopes to expand its reach even further.