New era of policing vacation rentals in Santa Cruz County pushes complaints, violations into public view
A new kind of tension filled the Santa Cruz County zoning administrator’s meeting on Friday.
On one side of the room, Jeanell Martin, owner of a Seacliff Drive vacation rental, sat surrounded by a few friends and holding a thick folder of documents. Across the aisle sat a trio of Martin’s neighbors with a list of complaints about how Martin operated her rental. The guests were often loud and disturbed neighbors into the night, they said, and took up too much street parking.
The county had built its own case against Martin: On three separate rental platforms — VRBO, Airbnb and FlipKey — her rooms included unpermitted kitchenettes, she advertised the property as three separate rentals, and offered her top floor as a studio but lacked a license to rent it. That was enough for county staff to recommend fully revoking Martin’s rental permit.
Martin was only one of three vacation rental owners facing a loss of license that day. Typically, these issues would result in fines or citations, addressed privately between county staff and the license holder. However, this year, Santa Cruz County’s policing of vacation rentals entered a new era in which neighbor complaints and violations are more often aired in public hearings, and rental owners must defend against losing their permits.
Of Note
Scrutiny over sweeping: A pilot street sweeping program from the City of Santa Cruz proposes towing cars that don’t comply with parking restrictions during sweeping days. This new level of parking enforcement has drawn scrutiny from houseless advocacy group Santa Cruz Cares, which questioned the city’s selection of streets and claimed the program unnecessarily targets people in their cars.
On Wednesday, the city’s zoning administrator approved the coastal permit for the program, and sent the proposal to the planning commission for another approval. Reggie Meisler, who helps lead Santa Cruz Cares, said he planned to appeal to the California Coastal Commission.
Schiff returns to Santa Cruz: After nearly 30 years in public service from the state legislature down to the city level, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley has built a reputation around his ability to raise money. Next month, he will flex that muscle for Rep. Adam Schiff and his bid to become the next U.S. senator from California. On May 5, Keeley, with Assemblymembers Gail Pellerin and Dawn Addis, former U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, former state Sen. Bill Monning and others, will host a fundraising event for Schiff in Santa Cruz. You might remember Schiff held an event in August at George Ow Jr. and Gail Michaelis-Ow’s Santa Cruz Victorian while seeking support in the Senate primary.
Millions funnel into Santa Cruz for homeless solutions: The City of Santa Cruz announced last week it will receive $4 million from the state’s Encampment Resolution Fund to be used for 20 new interim housing units on Housing Matters’ campus, as well as outreach and support for people living in homeless encampments in the Harvey West/Coral Street areas.
Looking Ahead
Watsonville looks to name interim city manager: Last month, Watsonville City Manager Rene Mendez announced he would leave his post in May to become chief executive for the city of Salinas, leaving Watsonville to scramble for a city manager for the second time in less than two years. On Tuesday, the city will look to Assistant City Manager Tamara Vides to take over the position as interim while the city searches for its next city government chief.
Weekly News Diet
Local: The upheaval in Live Oak School District continued last week after one trustee resigned amid ongoing turnover. The district has had a difficult year, enduring a budget crisis, planned layoffs and the resignation of its superintendent. Hillary Ojeda has that story on the county education beat.
Golden State: How the Supreme Court rules on Grants Pass v. Johnson will likely reset homeless encampment policy throughout California. Justices on Monday examined the case, which seeks the high court’s opinion on how cities and governments address the houseless crisis. Can a government use arrests and fines to deter houseless people from sleeping outside on public land? Is homelessness a constitutionally protected status? Justices are expected to hand down an answer to these questions in June. David G. Savage has that story for the Los Angeles Times.
National: Opening statements began Monday in the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump criminal trial, which centers around hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. The first criminal trial of an American president gets underway as campaigning picks up for the November rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden. Ben Protess and Jonah E. Bromwich have the kickoff story for the New York Times.
One Great Find
A casual stroll through an estate sale is among my preferred ways to spend a Saturday. The opportunity to find rare and novelty items for cheap is certainly one draw (my first stop is always the bookshelves), but far more memorable is the feeling inside the home. Often, estate sales represent one of the final steps after someone has died. In navigating their halls, stepping into their rooms and sorting through their stuff, an image of a personality begins to form and, suddenly, a sense of intimacy develops between you and a stranger from a different time whom you’ll never meet. It’s a kind of uncurated beauty unique to estate sales.
At a recent local estate sale, mixed in with a bag of old matchbooks I brought home, I found this relic: a matchbook supporting the 1968 campaign of freshman Santa Cruz City Councilmember Ernest Wicklund for District 1 county supervisor. Wicklund would try and fail twice for a District 1 supervisor seat; however, elected to the city council in 1967, he’d go on to serve eight years on the city dais (including one as mayor, in 1971) during a time of great cultural change for the city.
According to his 1982 obituary in the Sentinel, Wicklund helped spearhead the development of the DeLaveaga Golf Course, served on the Metropolitan Transit District, and pushed for the creation of the Mayors Select Committee, in which the mayors of Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Watsonville and Capitola would meet with the chair of the board of supervisors to talk through local issues. The Mayors Select Committee eventually became the City Selection Committee, which was embroiled in controversy last year after a Lookout investigation found it had been illegally operating behind closed doors and making nominations to influential government boards.
“Through the efforts of Wicklund,” his obituary reads, “Santa Cruz became a city more prepared to handle the challenges of the future. We continue to reap the benefits of his foresight today.”