Victoria Tatum has spent more than two decades fighting for services for her autistic son, Eliot. As her son became a teen, his anxiety made him increasingly violent. She thinks Santa Cruz families need better intervention, sooner, for families with special needs.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Opinion: Vote no on Measure D
Measure D will hurt our community by permanently ending the rail + trail plan connecting Santa Cruz and Watsonville. Measure D undermines decades of public planning and hurts commuters, the environment and our future economy. That’s why numerous elected officials and more than 30 local organizations oppose Measure D. It deserves a no vote.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Opinion: Vote yes on Measure D
A trail-only option is the best, most realistic option for our Santa Cruz community. It will preserve our natural landscape, can be built now and doesn’t depend on imagined future funding. Measure D makes sense and is the logical way forward.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I want to talk about Ramadan, but everyone wants to know why I wear a headscarf
It’s generally easy to be a Muslim in Santa Cruz, except when it’s not, Erica Aisha Charves writes. People often look at me strangely because I wear a headscarf. Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, which ended Sunday, reminds me to be patient and empathetic, and to continue to educate our community about Islam. It’s easier when I have coffee first.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
It’s election season: Let’s respect our public figures and their privacy at home
Donna Meyers spent a year as mayor of Santa Cruz and had angry protestors surround her house and scream profanities at her family. She wants the public to be more respectful of the public-private divide and remember that our behavior reflects our values as a community.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Justin Cummings for 3rd District Supervisor: Santa Cruz needs diverse and experienced leadership
Justin Cummings wants to be the first Black person on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. A former Santa Cruz mayor and a member of the Santa Cruz City Council since 2018, he believes he has the experience, dynamism and personality to get the job done. He says he will bring needed diversity and scientific expertise to the role.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Ami Chen Mills for 3rd District Supervisor: We need new ways of thinking and climate expertise
Ami Chen Mills wants to “bring climate and resiliency leadership” to Santa Cruz County. She is a climate advocate, mental health educator, social justice and pro-democracy radio show and podcast host, author of three books, journalist and mother of two. She says she can bring new forms of dialogue to our political processes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson for 3rd District Supervisor: The times call for an immigrant’s tenacity
Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson says the compassion, courage and resilience her Iranian family instilled in her, combined with her tenacity and experience, make her an ideal candidate for 3rd District Supervisor. It’s time, she says, for a woman to serve.
Posted inInside Lookout
Today, we launch Community Voices
It’s Lookout’s opinion section for the many challenges of the 2020s. Let’s meet them squarely, rounding up and debating the best ideas among us.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Ernestina Saldaña knows Santa Cruz can do better
Ernestina Saldaña thinks Santa Cruz County needs to do more for people with disabilities. Here, in Lookout’s inaugural opinion video piece, she invites us to join her in her wheelchair for a five-minute experience navigating her Live Oak neighborhood.