In a letter to the editor, a Watsonville resident outlines his opposition to Flock Safety cameras.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
What does a $950 bus ride have to do with Jack O’Neill’s Santa Cruz legacy?
Jack O’Neill believed every child should have the chance to experience the ocean. Land-use attorney Monica Hammer, who sits on the planning commission for the City of Santa Cruz and the board of O’Neill Sea Odyssey, learned about the ocean’s power from her Danish father, an avid sailor. Once we form a relationship with the natural world, we have a reason to care for it, she writes. Today, a lack of transportation – about $950 in school bus fare – is keeping some classes of local children from making that connection, and from discovering an ocean that is waiting less than an hour away. O’Neill hopes to change that by providing up to 85% of the transportation costs.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Suddenly Seabright? Where has Ryan Coonerty been on development all this time?
Ami Chen Mills, running for mayor of Santa Cruz, pushes back against the assertion by her opponent, Ryan Coonerty, that she has taken a stance “too late” on the project proposed at Seabright and Soquel avenues. She presents the politics behind the Seabright project, criticizes Coonerty’s record on development and local control and explains her own evolving approach to the housing crisis. She argues for truly affordable housing, tenant protections, neighborhood-scale development and stronger local oversight.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Check the lake like you check the weather
Menlo Park student Amanda Lee-Shen’s experience with dangerous water at Pinto Lake sparked a mission to help others stay safe on Santa Cruz County’s waters. Here, the 11th grader at Castilleja School explains why checking lake conditions for harmful algal blooms should be as routine as checking the weather. She shares what to look for, how California’s warning signs work and why pets and wildlife face risks, especially from now through October. Her message is simple: Before you head to the lake, check the water.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
A Lookout View: California’s rules for public office need a second look – especially on school boards
California rightly does not treat every criminal conviction as a lifetime ban on public service. But the standards might need to be different when an elected position carries responsibility for children. The Pajaro Valley school board race has exposed gaps in both eligibility standards and candidate verification. Lookout’s editorial board believes AB 2691 should pass — and that lawmakers should keep working to get the balance right.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Made in Santa Cruz: Why Art Matters | Mattie Leeds
“Made in Santa Cruz: Why Art Matters” is a video series, published every other Sunday, exploring the artists who shape Santa Cruz County’s creative landscape. Each episode offers a peek into an artist’s practice, the places and experiences that inform their work, and the ways creativity helps us see our community differently. Today’s artist is Bonny Doon potter and painter Mattie Leeds.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
If nobody goes to downtown Santa Cruz, who are all these people?
Downtown Santa Cruz isn’t empty — and both the numbers and the visuals prove it, writes Matt Huffaker, the city manager. New businesses are opening, vacancies are falling and millions of people are showing up to shop, eat, study and spend time downtown. Maybe, he writes, it’s time to stop asking what’s wrong with downtown and start noticing what’s working.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz mayoral candidates need a ‘Mamdani moment’ on housing policies
Santa Cruz calls itself the “leftmost city,” but the mayoral race is exposing a sharp contradiction: progressive politics and resistance to new housing. Economist Richard McGahey argues that candidates Ryan Coonerty and Ami Chen Mills need a “Mamdani moment” on housing – and points to their opposition to a proposed Seabright project as a troubling example. With Santa Cruz-Watsonville again ranked the nation’s least affordable rental market, McGahey says the city needs more housing supply, not more barriers to it. The part-time Santa Cruz resident and author of “Unequal Cities” asks whether the city’s progressive values extend to actually building enough homes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: I applaud Santa Cruz for clearing Coral Street
In a letter to the editor, a Soquel resident praises Santa Cruz officials for clearing Coral Street homeless encampments.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We fought over it. Now what will we make of our new library in downtown Santa Cruz?
Santa Cruz’s new downtown library and affordable housing project has hardly been without controversy — but after years of debate, the building is rising, writes affordable housing advocate and former mayor Don Lane. Now the question is less about who supported the project and more about what we want this new civic space to become. With its expanded Life Literacies Center, free resources and room for people to gather, Lane believes the library could become downtown’s living room – and a place to bring a divided community together.
