Quick Take:

For the latest installment of the How I Got My Job series, Santa Cruz native Tina Somers — a self-described science...

Howdy, Santa Cruz County. It’s Monday, May 1, and a mostly cloudy day with highs in the upper 50s is ahead, with the showers that could linger through Wednesday showing up overnight.

Prefer a solo trek through the headlines as we kick off a new month? Trek this way.
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Mondays at Lookout means the latest in Santa Cruz County politics and policy in the form of Christopher Neely’s In the Public Interest newsletter, and this Monday is no exception. You’ve likely read his coverage of the fourfold increase in housing units the City of Santa Cruz is required to permit by 2031, and now he looks at where UC Santa Cruz fits into that equation with the student housing projects it has in the pipeline.

Max Chun is in the mix, too, delivering an update on the overhaul of the county’s public library system voters approved in 2016 via Measure S. Many of the upgraded branches are open, three more are on track to reopen by fall, and the much-covered downtown library mixed-use project aims to break ground next year.

Mondays also mean How I Got My Job, Lookout’s series on working in Santa Cruz County. This week the spotlight finds artist Tina Somers, a Santa Cruz native who has charted a winding path to opening her own studio.

The day’s headlines also include Wallace Baine checking in with our county’s poet laureate, opinion from Ami Chen Mills in our Community Voices section and more, so let’s get crackin’.

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Is Santa Cruz’s housing plan too dependent on UCSC’s new development?

Rendering of primary site of UCSC's proposed Student Housing West project.
Rendering of primary site of UCSC’s proposed Student Housing West project, which would replace and significantly expand existing housing on Heller Drive. Credit: UC Santa Cruz

In this week’s edition of In the Public Interest, Christopher Neely examines how projects at UC Santa Cruz fit into the equation of the number of housing units the City of Santa Cruz is mandated to permit by 2031. Read it here.

➤ MORE: As Santa Cruz County faces a mandate of fourfold increase in new housing, all stick, no carrot from state

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Santa Cruz County’s library buildout is almost done; here’s a quick guide to where the branches stand

READ THE STORY: Community hub of the future: New Capitola Library a stunning step forward in design and utility

Six years ago, Santa Cruz County voters invested in a total upgrade of the public library system. Now, with the downtown library expected to break ground in 2024, with a hopeful 2026 completion, the new buildings — and programs and services — are almost all done. Take a quick tour with Max Chun.

➤ PREVIOUSLY: Santa Cruz’s downtown library mixed-use project gets final green light from city council

How I Got My Job: For Tina Somers, art is all about the connections How new Santa Cruz poet laureate Farnaz Fatemi navigates her twin heritages, American and Iranian The political is personal: Teen mental health and why it feels like ‘the end of the world’ Test your newsy knowledge with this week’s Lookout news quiz Case of the Mondays? Check our BOLO events calendar for things to do all over Santa Cruz County

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Plenty to sort through as we kick off a new workweek, to be sure. And with more coming from Lookout, you’ll want to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay current with Santa Cruz County goings-on. Our other newsletters and breaking news alerts via text and email are more great ways of doing that, so click right here to sign up.

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May your Monday be a good one!

Will McCahill
Lookout Santa Cruz

A veteran jack-of-all-trades journalist who is Lookout’s copy editor, writes and compiles Morning Lookout newsletter and produces Lookout’s other editorial newsletters and helps run Lookout’s social...