Avid biker Dan Arias takes issue with a recent Lookout op-ed criticizing balusters on Soquel Avenue as dangerous for cyclists. On the contrary, he says, officials should be praised for finding ways to separate bikers from traffic. He makes a plea for more such efforts, particularly on Soquel Avenue.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
It’s time to bust the four top myths about farmworker health and pesticides
Ann López, executive director of the Center for Farmworker Families, takes on four pervasive “deceptions” about pesticides in our community. California does not have the most rigorous regulations in the world; far from it, she writes – and in Santa Cruz County, where only 23% of crop report value is from organic farms, we can and must do better.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
What PIT count says about county homelessness numbers: We are making progress amid uncertainty
Robert Ratner, director of Housing for Health for Santa Cruz County’s human services department, and Larry Imwalle, director of Homelessness Response & Community Programs for the City of Santa Cruz, interpret the point-in-time count numbers, which were released last week.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Talk of train leaves out those of us who don’t drive
In a letter to the editor, a Palo Alto resident takes issue with a recent story about passenger rail.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Why not use rails to move people from Seabright to 7th Avenue?
In a letter to the editor, a Corralitos resident suggests using a rail vehicle to move pedestrians across the rail bridge over the Santa Cruz Harbor while the parallel Murray Street Bridge is closed.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Boycott 3CE’s silent support of lithium battery energy storage in our neighborhoods
Local activist Becky Steinbruner says the public needs to boycott Central Coast Community Energy because its leadership refuses to be transparent or answer public questions about the company’s embrace of hazardous lithium battery energy storage facilities.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Gabriel Medina’s leadership undermines PVUSD’s mission
In a letter to the editor, a Santa Cruz resident takes issue with Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Gabriel Medina’s performance on the job.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Construction hasn’t started on Santa Cruz’s downtown library – why isn’t the city answering our questions?
Transparency activist Marv Lewis believes the City of Santa Cruz might have missed a key deadline for the downtown library project, jeopardizing $53 million in tax credits. He raises concerns about transparency and public accountability.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
CPUC: Don’t saddle Monterey Peninsula ratepayers with unnecessary, expensive desalination project
This week, the California Public Utilities Commission will make a key decision about a desalination project proposed for the Monterey Peninsula. Marina Mayor Bruce Carlos Delgado urges the CPUC to reject the proposal, citing old data, high costs to ratepayers and severe environmental risks.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s stick to facts when we talk about our unhoused problem
Don Lane, former Santa Cruz mayor and a longtime community housing advocate, takes issue with a recent Lookout op-ed on the unhoused. Lane acknowledges some points but pushes back on many of the underlying assumptions, particularly that the city is a “magnet” for people from other places seeking housing.