By Friday afternoon, Santa Cruz County had received only 22,000 early ballots, “less than for a usual primary,” County Clerk Tricia Webber told Lookout. With no presidential decision on the ballot, will polarizing Measure D and key county supervisor and State Assembly races drive up the numbers?
Mark Conley
Follow Mark Conley on: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Mark joins Lookout after 14 years at the Mercury News and Bay Area News Group, where he served as Deputy Sports Editor on a staff that covered three World Series, three Super Bowls, five NBA Finals, a Stanley Cup Final, six Olympic Games and three U.S. Opens over that span. He led enterprise coverage and special projects, and guided the Merc’s premium NFL and MLB magazines to five straight years of top APSE honors.Mark chaired a digital innovation committee and partook in the Table Stakes program that led to the newsroom’s establishment of a digital subscription team and a product development approach to coverage. He helped build brands around Pac-12 and high schools coverage via robust newsletters, social engagement, promotional deals and targeted audience content. Both coverage areas became top digital subscription drivers in the sports department — and the newsroom as a whole.Mark has lived in Santa Cruz County — Westside, Eastside, Midtown and now Capitola — for more than 20 years and has a passion for seeing journalism restored in the place he lives and loves.“This county is such a special place, and it’s as much about the people who choose to live here as the magical geography,” he says. “I’m looking forward to helping tell the stories of Santa Cruz County.”
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The Measure D middle man: RTC lead Guy Preston must drive down two sets of tracks, neither without its perils
The Regional Transportation Commission is the entity tasked with letting us move about Santa Cruz County in smarter and more efficient ways. The man leading the exploratory charge as the nonpartisan director of RTC staff has had the most difficult task of his professional life with both sides of the Measure D issue digging in deep with win-at-all-costs attitudes. But Guy Preston vows to block out the noise and keep plowing ahead with clear eyes, arming the RTC voting board with the best information he can provide. First he wants to arm voters.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
A cheat sheet for your Measure D migraine: We asked both sides to cut the rhetoric and explain the issues
Leaders of both Yes Greenway and No Way Greenway provided detailed answers to a range of questions. We asked for their best succinct closing arguments on time to build, cost, equity and environmental impact, among other core issues in the rail-trail debate. With voting set to close in Santa Cruz County on Tuesday, here is a side-by-side look at those arguments.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Meet the No Way Greenway leaders, Mark Mesiti-Miller and Melani Clark
Longtime civic leaders Mark Mesiti-Miller and Roaring Camp president Melani Clark have taken the lead in trying to defeat the controversial Measure D. Who are they, and what has led to their high-profile involvement? Just as the leaders of “Yes” say, they explain the fight has turned more vitriolic than expected.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
A knowledgeable ‘undecided’ on Measure D? Those folks are hard to find, but we tracked one down
Ron Goodman, a software engineer and bike advocate, shares his valuable rail/trail insights. The former director of Bike Santa Cruz County knows lots more than most voters about the many grays in what advocates paint as a black-or-white issue. What can we learn from his fair-minded assessment?
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Looking to lead ‘the Highway 1 District’: Who is best for a swath of California’s most pristine coastal geography?
The newly configured State Assembly District 30 stretches right along the coast from San Luis Obispo to Monterey and into a large section of Santa Cruz County. Jon Wizard and Dawn Addis have some extensive experience in the 831, both having attended Cabrillo College, while Vicki Nohrden, Zoe Carter and John Drake know it mostly from visits. There are no Santa Cruz County residents among the five candidates.
Posted inCoast Life
‘We love you, Bucky’: Surf community mourns iconic board shaper swallowed up by addiction at 41
Tyrone “Buck” Noe was a second-generation surfboard shaper in Santa Cruz who followed in the footsteps of his father, for both good and bad. Like his father 18 years earlier, he was memorialized at Lighthouse Field and Steamer Lane on Saturday. His sister, Meara, tells his story achingly well.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Spotlight on the new District 28: Assembly candidates weigh in on housing, climate, education and fentanyl
The candidates for the newly created State Assembly District 28, who spoke at a Lookout-moderated forum last week, elaborate on who they are, why they’re the right person for this position and the kind of focus they will put on key topics.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Local cred in the spotlight: Takeaways from Tuesday’s South County candidates forum
While Assembly District 30 contenders spent much of their time showing that they know this place where none of them resides, the homegrown District 4 county supervisor hopefuls differed mainly on their priorities and truly diverged on only one big issue. Hint: It involves the future of train transportation in Santa Cruz County.
Posted inCOVID 2022
LOOKOUT PM: Forum fireworks, sweet vegan treats & Cabrillo music festival
Good evening, everyone. My friend Max, who has been driving this PM Train quite admirably in recent weeks, needed a breather. So I am back to say hello. And to welcome you to primary election crunch time. Maybe it’s the old sportswriter in me, who likes to seek out metaphorical meaning in all competitions, but […]