Reality of soda-tax lawsuit starts to set in
Throughout last fall’s Measure Z soda-tax campaign, the steady message from the American Beverage Association — the deep-pocketed lobby for the likes of Coke and Pepsi — was that the proposed tax was illegal and the city would face a lawsuit of “astronomical” expense to the taxpayers. The line from tax proponents — led by a cadre of sitting Santa Cruz city councilmembers — was that the city wouldn’t be fighting the court battle alone.
Ten weeks have passed since voters approved the soda tax, and no lawsuit has yet been filed; the attorney representing the American Beverage Association recently told me to expect movement “in the spring.” City officials though are not simply waiting around and, as Santa Cruz City Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson told me, are “building our war chest.”
Yet, that courtroom arsenal so far contains too few material commitments and too many IOUs, according to Mayor Fred Keeley. In December, over coffee at Lulu Carpenter’s Pacific Avenue location, Keeley was audibly frustrated with what he perceived as cold feet from organizations such as the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“I have no reason to believe that we’re not going to be all by ourselves on this,” Keeley told Lookout the following day. “Thinking about where we are right now and they can’t make a commitment? They got what they wanted. I have [no] use for these people.”
Kalantari-Johnson sees it differently. She said the city is already working with some national, health-focused nonprofits such as ChangeLab Solutions, and will be well-supported in the looming legal battle, even if commitments haven’t come as quickly as some had hoped.
On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz City Council will vote to form an ad-hoc committee focused on both implementing the 2-cent-per-fluid-ounce distribution tax, set to go into effect on May 1, barring the lawsuit. A community advisory group would also form to recommend how the city spends the projected $1.3 million in annual revenue raised by the tax.
Kalantari-Johnson, who said she hopes to serve on the council committee, said the group would also work to prepare for the challenge from the American Beverage Association.
“I’m confident we’re going to prevail and win this,” Kalantari-Johnson said.
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OF NOTE
Santa Cruz’s housing ballot measure gets real: On the mayoral campaign trail in 2022, Fred Keeley vowed to put a measure on the ballot to fund affordable housing. After some early community meetings in 2023, hopes for that measure reaching a 2024 ballot soon fizzled out. Now, the group behind the long-nebulous funding measure has set its eyes on November 2025 for what it’s calling the Workforce Housing Solutions Act. The group will introduce the petition for the measure on Thursday during a media event outside the Cedar Street Apartments, at 525 Cedar St., downtown Santa Cruz.
Conflicting reports on why three workers were on the wharf when it collapsed: The city, the mayor and a hired engineer have offered different accounts as to why three workers were on the section of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf that collapsed into the ocean during powerful swells on Dec. 23. Brad Porter, a marine engineer, was part of the trio atop the wharf that day, and told Lookout he had scheduled the inspection just days earlier, unaware of the severe weather warnings issued by the National Weather Service. Cal/OSHA, the state agency that oversees workplace hazards, is now investigating the incident.
Capitola will appoint an interim councilmember voters didn’t want: One of two candidates who came up short in November’s race for Capitola City Council will be headed to the dais after the council unanimously voted last week to fill a seat vacated by former Mayor Yvette Brooks by appointment rather than holding a special election.
After learning that a special election would cost the city upward of $50,000, Councilmembers Alexander Pedersen, Melinda Orbach and Joe Clark motioned to move the appointment date to Thursday.
Councilmembers opted to choose between two candidates who ran unsuccessfully for two open seats on the council in November – former councilmember Margaux Morgan and Enrique Dolmo Jr., campus supervisor and athletic director at New Brighton Middle School. The council will interview Morgan and Dolmo on Thursday and decide that same day who will take the vacant seat, along with choosing a new mayor and vice-mayor from among the sitting councilmembers. – Ruby Lee Schembari
POINTS FOR PARTICIPATION
New-look board of supervisors returns: Newly elected Monica Martinez and Kim De Serpa will take their seats behind the dais Tuesday as the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors convenes its first meeting of the new year. The agenda includes appointing a new chair and vice chair, whether to initiate a parking feasibility study for the area near Shark Fin Cove near Davenport, sending a community representative to the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District board of directors, and whether to spend $350,000 on a new bomb squad robot for the sheriff’s office. Tuesday’s agenda can be found here.
Santa Cruz City Council gavels in 2025 with a couple new faces and everyone tied to a district: Except for Mayor Fred Keeley, everyone on the Santa Cruz City Council now represents a specific district following last spring’s election. New councilmembers Gabriela Triguiero and Susie O’Hara will take over representing Districts 1 and 5, respectively.
The marquee issue facing the city council Tuesday is the fallout from the collapse of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. The council will vote to declare a state of emergency (which allows the city, among other things, to seek financial help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency), whether to allocate $155,000 to assist wharf businesses in their recovery, and receive an update on the incident and how the city is responding.
Beyond the wharf, the city council will also vote on the aforementioned soda tax ad-hoc committee, and appointments to council committees and regional agencies. O’Hara seems to be getting off to a fast start: She is listed as either the appointee or alternate appointee to eight committees and boards, leading all city councilmembers.
ONE GREAT READ
The flying maestro by Javier C. Hernández, for The New York Times
Daniel Harding, the renowned 49-year-old classical musical conductor has been leading orchestras since he was a teenager. Since then, he has conducted many world-class musicians, from the Orchestre de Paris to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. For the past few years, Harding has also moonlighted as a pilot for Air France.
New York Times reporter Javier C. Hernández spent some time with Harding as he flew the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia from Rome to Paris, where he would later lead the ensemble at the Philharmonie de Paris through pieces by Debussy, Brahms and Prokofiev.
“I don’t think it’s realistic to say just because you love something, you should do it 24 hours a day, every single day — I just don’t think that’s human,” Harding told Hernández. “In flying, we have to identify all the threats and make sure we don’t go anywhere near them. In music, it’s the opposite: We have to get as close as we can to catastrophe.”