For more than 25 years, parents, physicians, researchers and farmworker advocates have warned about pesticide exposure in the Pajaro Valley. So why haven’t Santa Cruz County’s healthcare institutions taken a stand? Local activist Kevin Norton asks why major hospitals and healthcare organizations have remained largely silent on an issue affecting many of their patients — and argues that preventing disease should begin long before someone enters an exam room.
Kevin Norton
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Housing Santa Cruz County should disclose its ties to Workbench: the public deserves transparency
Who builds affordable housing in Santa Cruz County — and who decides which projects and policies deserve public support? After examining tax filings, annual reports and public records, local activist Kevin Norton says he uncovered organizational relationships that many residents may not know exist. He argues the findings raise important questions about transparency, governance and public trust in a housing system under enormous pressure.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz County shares 911 and libraries. Why not housing?
Santa Cruz County is losing its young families with children — and local activist Kevin Norton says our fractured, agency-by-agency approach to housing is why. Here, he offers up a new, collaborative approach to housing that he thinks will help families, teachers, first responders and others stay in our community. He believes we need to follow Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley and create a “joint powers housing trust” that allows cities, agencies and the county to work together – and reduces the bureaucracy of applying for low-income housing. We coordinate for book lending and emergency services, he argues. Why not housing?
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Could Santa Cruz’s neighborhood microgrants bring back community life?
Local activist Kevin Norton says the City of Santa Cruz might be onto something much bigger than initiating a neighborhood microgrant program. He says the program – approved May 12 – could help rebuild neighborhood connection, an urgent and underreported issue in our community. Norton points to the high levels of dissatisfaction among American parents, and argues that rising loneliness, car-centered development, economic stress and declining social trust have quietly eroded the “village” Americans once relied on. He believes immigrant communities may hold important clues for how to rebuild and argues that rebuilding neighborhood connection is urgent.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
If Santa Cruz County wants to hike sales tax above 10%, here’s what we need fixed first
Santa Cruz County might soon be asking voters to pay more in taxes – but what, asks local activist Kevin Norton, should residents expect in return? The county has a growing budget deficit and taxes are often the quickest fix. But is the money being well spent? Norton questions the county’s reliance on highly paid, outsourced consultants and suggests some of that funding might better go toward investing in local staff and initiatives that build community.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s design streets for people, not cars – Vision Zero can’t wait, too many in Santa Cruz County are dying
After losing his 19-year-old friend in a crash — and surviving one himself — local activist Kevin Norton argues that traffic deaths aren’t accidents, but the result of street design prioritizing cars over people. In Santa Cruz County, deaths and serious injuries happen every two days, yet real safety fixes like protected bike lanes crawl forward. Santa Cruz County has the deadliest streets for cycling in the state, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. The uncomfortable truth, writes Norton, is that saving lives will be inconvenient for drivers, will remove parking and anger some. But he believes protecting feelings matters less than protecting lives. He calls on both elected leaders and the community to move faster on Vision Zero.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz houses 73% of homeless shelter beds in the county. That has to change.
Santa Cruz shoulders an outsized share of the county’s shelter beds, safe-parking sites and day services, despite making up less than a quarter of the population, writes local activist Kevin Norton.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz looks like paradise but we’re the most distressed county in the Bay Area – I blame housing
OPINION: Public health data show that Santa Cruz County leads the Bay Area in rates of serious psychological distress and need for mental health or substance-use services. Mental health advocate Kevin Norton believes the real culprit isn’t our lifestyle — it’s our housing costs.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Don’t wait for tragedy: Santa Cruz County must tackle e-bike danger today
Local activist Kevin Norton and surgeon John Maa warn that e-bikes are far more dangerous than most realize — especially for children. In California, e-bike crashes have surged nearly 19-fold since 2018 and were up 177% in Santa Cruz County in 2024, with some injuries resembling motorcycle wrecks.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why do UCSC students have the worst mental health in the UC system? Let’s start with housing
UC Santa Cruz students report the worst mental health in the UC system, citing stress, anxiety and housing insecurity. Activist Kevin Norton calls on UCSC to provide more on-campus housing, slow enrollment growth and establish stronger ties between students and the wider community.
