“Profound moment” as Santa Cruz County suffers climate change’s other impact: debt
From Carlos Palacios’ perch as the chief executive of county government, Santa Cruz County has entered a “profound moment” in its history. County Supervisor Bruce McPherson said he’s “never seen anything so dire” in his nearly 12 years as a local elected official.
The county is scrambling to figure out how it will persevere through another fiscal year of limited funding and forecasted deficits in the years to come. Facing steep financial woes is not new for Santa Cruz County. What is new is the source of those woes: climate change.
Since 2017, the county has suffered seven president-declared disasters, including the 2017 storms and floods, the CZU wildfire, COVID and the multiple emergencies endured last winter, including the New Year’s Eve floods and the Pajaro River levee breach in March. Over the past seven years, the county spent $250 million of its own funds just responding to those disasters. The federal government, which is supposed to cover the local costs of disaster response, still owes the county $144 million.
Because it has been funding its own climate disaster response, with the federal government slow-rolling its repayment, the county is now running out of money. Last week, budget manager Marcus Pimentel told the board of supervisors that it might need to take out an $85 million loan, on taxpayer credit, just to finance some of the storm repairs to completion. If so, it would be the largest debt the county has ever taken on for infrastructure repairs, and it won’t even cover half of the damage still awaiting fixes.
The still-uneven track toward passenger rail in Santa Cruz County
More than 70% of county voters said no in June 2022 to Measure D, a proposal to take a sharp detour from the dream of passenger rail and transform the old Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line’s footprint into a hike and bike trail. Many understood the resounding rejection of the “Greenway” proposal as enthusiastic support for passenger rail. Yet, as the community pushes forward in its trek toward a train, division and uncertainty around the rail plans continue to boil up.
In a deftly reported and written story to be published tomorrow, my colleague Max Chun answers a question that has regularly reared its head over the past several months, especially during the election: What is the state of the community’s coastal rail and trail dream?
As Max writes: “Nearly two years after the June 2022 election, many in the community remain split on how to proceed with the rail, the trail, and whether or not the plan will even work as the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) sets off on the near decade-long path toward a hopeful 2032 groundbreaking, finally putting local passenger rail service in sight, even if you still have to squint to see it.”
This piece is the must-read update many of us have been looking for regarding the state of rail in Santa Cruz County. Be sure to check back on our website tomorrow morning.
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Of Note
Watsonville puts the kibosh on Zoom participation: In October, the Watsonville City Council was targeted in a coordinated and anonymous effort to hijack the public comment section of its meeting with racist, antisemitic and hateful speech via video call. The attacks, which also hit the Capitola City Council, were part of a larger national trend of “Zoom bombing” local government meetings with hate speech. Now, after taking a few months to stew over what to do, the Watsonville City Council voted 5-2 last week to eliminate the option for residents to comment on public business from a remote line. Mayor Vanessa Quiroz-Carter and Mayor Pro Tem Maria Orozco voted against canceling remote public comment.
Cruz Hotel clears planning commission, heads to Santa Cruz City Council: The 232-room, six-story Cruz Hotel proposed for the five riverfront lots from 302 to 328 Front St. in downtown Santa Cruz received a unanimous green light from the city’s planning commission Thursday and will now head to the city council for final approval. The hotel would be the first to come to the city’s downtown in nearly a century. The planning commission’s unanimous vote came with several conditions of approval, including $50,000 donations each to the Santa Cruz Hostel Society and the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Cruz County.
The Week Ahead
Public debrief on the Capitola Wharf: The extreme surf from the 2023 storms in January and December ruined the Wharf House Restaurant and the boat and bait shop on Capitola’s wharf, and now both buildings are set to be demolished. However, the city will hold a town hall Wednesday to discuss its plans for the wharf and take feedback from the community. The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Capitola City Hall, will also stream on the city’s YouTube channel.
Weekly News Diet
Local: Santa Cruz County has been called on by the state to perform an in-depth analysis of its vulnerabilities to sea-level rise and how coastal erosion will impact the local economy. Last week, the county hired a consultant, Integral Consulting, to oversee and guide the study; however, Integral Consulting was the lone bidder for the contract, which raised red flags for some coastal property owners with a lot at stake in the county’s future sea-level rise policies.
Golden State: Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, who represents a large swath of Santa Cruz County, has proposed a bill that would ban “deepfake” political ads 120 days before an election and up to 60 days after. Deepfakes are artificial intelligence-generated videos or voice recordings made to mimic a real person, and the rapid advancement of the technology has made them increasingly difficult to spot. Pellerin’s bill, according to Lookout partner CalMatters, is one of four proposals aimed at minimizing deceptive political content.
National: With each damning report from the United Nations on the acceleration of carbon emissions and rising global temperatures, the obstacles to a renewable energy revolution become fewer and fewer. However, the question over how the development of solar panels and electric car batteries impacts the environment has been overlooked. In an investigation published by the New York Times this week, reporter Catrin Einhorn explores the environmental ripple effects of where we locate this new generation of renewable and clean energy infrastructure.
One Great Read
Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me’s Santa Cruz moment
The news quiz game show “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me” has been airing during weekends on National Public Radio for 26 years. On Saturday, Santa Cruz’s own farmers markets got their 15 seconds of fame over nationally syndicated airwaves during a segment in which panelists describe three news stories, two of which are completely fabricated, and a guest contestant has to choose which one is true.
I’d rather not spoil it, but the segment begins at the 11:40 mark, and wraps in Santa Cruz’s political leanings, highly regarded farmers markets and the community’s love of probiotics and gut health.