Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
I wonder how Paul Lee, Page Smith and Rowland Rebele, who were the three key architects of homeless services in Santa Cruz, going back to the mid-1980s, would react to what has happened to what they created. Each was a key player in the creation of the Homeless Services Center, now known as Housing Matters.
Their campus has gone from providing meals twice a day to anyone who was hungry, along with bathrooms, showers and mail, to no more meals for the public, a gate and security kiosk preventing access, and now no more bathrooms, showers and mail service, starting April 1, 2026. And to top it off, a new building on their campus is being partially funded by an organization (UnitedHealthcare Group) that is under criminal and civil investigation for its Medicare reimbursement practices, while their CEO is in line to collect $60 million in stock bonuses, as they cancel 1 million subscribers next year.
As they are now all deceased, there is no way to know if they would approve of what their legacy has become.
David Davis
Santa Cruz