Quick Take
Gayle Ortiz, owner of Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria for 47 years and a former Capitola city councilmember, worries that a plan backed by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission to divert sections of a trail from the historic rail corridor and onto public streets bypasses voters’ Measure L wishes. She sees this as a violation of trust that has repercussions for all voters. “This isn’t just a Capitola issue,” she writes. “If the RTC can pressure a city to violate its own voter-approved law, it sets a dangerous precedent for the entire county.”
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Capitola is in the middle of a political and legal crisis with consequences far beyond its small city boundaries. At stake is public trust, voter integrity and whether local agencies are accountable to the people they serve. Decisions made in the coming weeks could shape the future of Capitola for generations.
In 2018, Capitola voters passed Measure L to ensure that the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail (MBSST) would stay in the rail corridor and not be rerouted onto Capitola streets. That measure became Capitola Municipal Code 8.72. The intent was clear: protect the historic corridor, preserve the trestle for trail use, and prevent the city from spending resources on a street detour.
The community spoke with conviction.
Yet the Capitola City Council and staff are entertaining a proposal — pushed by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) — that does precisely what the voters prohibited. The so-called “Park Avenue detour” would divert the trail off the rail corridor, onto public streets, bypassing the trestle altogether. To many in Capitola, this is more than a betrayal of Measure L; it feels like the city is being manipulated by the RTC into acting against its own laws and its residents’ will.
This isn’t just a Capitola issue. If the RTC can pressure a city to violate its own voter-approved law, it sets a dangerous precedent for the entire county. Capitola residents fought to preserve the integrity of the corridor—a linear park and transportation route that benefits the entire region. A fractured, on-street trail alignment will diminish the entire MBSST, breaking continuity and compromising safety in the most constrained and historic part of the corridor.
Making matters worse, the RTC got state grant funding by promising the trail would stay in the corridor. Now, they seem to be using the threat of losing that money to push Capitola into accepting a detour — one that may not even meet the grant’s original terms. If so, this isn’t just a legal problem — it raises serious questions about fairness and trust in the public process.
MORE ON THE RAIL AND TRAIL: Lookout news coverage | Community Voices opinion
Agencies shouldn’t pressure cities to break their own laws just to protect funding.
The RTC has had over a decade to develop the corridor. But with freight service long abandoned and passenger rail still a distant, underfunded dream, it’s become increasingly clear that the corridor’s best use right now is for the trail. Railbanking would preserve the right-of-way and finally allow the trail to be completed directly in the corridor, including over the trestle. Instead, the RTC has delayed that decision, putting cities like Capitola in the crosshairs of a costly, controversial workaround.
Capitola’s city council must recognize the stakes.
Capitola’s residents passed Measure L. Capitola’s streets cannot absorb a regional trail detour. Capitola’s future as a walkable, connected village depends on honoring the corridor, not sidestepping it. And Santa Cruz County as a whole must watch closely. Capitola may be the test case, but the precedent will shape the fate of the entire trail.
The voters have done their part. It’s time for our elected officials and agencies to do theirs.
Gayle Ortiz, owner of Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria in Capitola for 47 years, served on the Capitola Planning Commission, the Capitola City Council and helped raise funds for the Capitola Library and the new Capitola Wharf. She has also served on several committees and commissions in Capitola over the years.