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Former city councilmember Chris Krohn wants us to believe that the redevelopment of Front Street is the result of a shadowy alliance between developers and a subservient city council, portending the end of our progressive era. But the progressive era in Santa Cruz is anything but over.

The real driver behind much of today’s multistory residential development is progressive legislators in Sacramento. Frustrated by wealthy coastal cities refusing to build affordable housing, they passed laws giving developers near-total authority to build, leaving local governments with limited control.

Krohn is right about one thing: Santa Cruz has ceded more local power to the state than necessary. How much effort has our city really put into resisting Sacramento’s housing mandates? Unlike Capitola, Monterey and Carmel, Santa Cruz has not only met but exceeded the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) targets, which gives us a strong case in standing up to state mandates. So where is Mayor Fred Keeley’s widely celebrated Sacramento political muscle when it comes to advocating for our community?

Still, Krohn’s attempt to paint the council as equivalent to MAGA Republicans is both offensive and absurd. Santa Cruz remains one of the most progressive cities in the country – strongly pro-union, investing heavily in social services, giving strong support to public transportation, a sanctuary city for immigrants, strong on diversity, equity and inclusion and LGBTQ+ rights, and leading on environmental protections and climate change. Trumpian? Please. 

Krohn served nearly two full terms on the council and even a year as mayor. In all that time, he didn’t get a single unit of affordable housing built. He and his more-progressive-than-thou allies repeatedly voted against reasonable proposals in favor of their own idealistic, all-or-nothing vision of “a livable Santa Cruz.” But that vision objectively excludes anyone who isn’t already a homeowner or wealthy. If Krohn and his allies were willing to compromise – and were our elected officials advocating for greater local control – we might not be in this situation now, with Sacramento calling most of the shots.

Mark Stephens

Felton