Supervisor deep dive: Profiling the District 5 race to replace Bruce McPherson
Of the dozens of races before local voters this fall, the most high-profile and consequential, in my view, are the two that stretch into the northern and southern corners of our county: the seats representing District 5 and District 2 on the county board of supervisors.
Each seat drew a crowded field in the March primary, and now features head-to-head runoffs between the two most popular candidates. But beyond what you’ve heard on the campaign trail and read on the candidates’ websites, how well do you really know the people behind the names on the ballot?
This week, my colleague Wallace Baine and I wanted to give you that deeper perspective with a pair of profiles on the candidates running for District 5: Monica Martinez and Christopher Bradford.
We each spent time with the candidates to get a better sense of their backstories, and how they connect to their recent forays into local politics. Neither Martinez nor Bradford has previously held, or run for, elected office. And divergent paths have led the two San Lorenzo Valley residents to the same campaign trail.
I will be sitting down with Martinez and Bradford for Lookout’s District 5 supervisor candidate forum on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 6:30 p.m. at Felton Community Hall. If you’re a District 5 voter, the free forum is your chance to hear the candidates talk about their approach to the region’s thorniest issues and ask them questions yourself.
You can find tickets to that event here.
Read the Monica Martinez profile here, and the Christopher Bradford profile here.
OF NOTE
State board greenlights the Cruz Hotel: The California Coastal Commission on Thursday approved the long-discussed and debated Cruz Hotel project proposed at the corner of Front and Laurel streets in downtown Santa Cruz. The project had been appealed to the Coastal Commission, as expected, following the Santa Cruz City Council’s 5-1 approval of the hotel in March.
The 232-room, six-story hotel has been in the works for four years. The developer, SCFS Ventures LLC, has been represented in public meetings by local developer Owen Lawlor. The Coastal Commission’s 8-1 approval came with a bevy of conditions, negotiated largely in lieu of the hotel reserving 25% of its rooms for low-income guests. Instead, the hotel will reserve 20 rooms, or 8.6%, for low-income visitors, lease four affordable housing units to low-income, full-time hotel employees, contribute $750,000 to the city’s affordable housing trust fund and $5 million to help finance a low-cost cabin project at Greyhound Rock County Park on the North Coast.
Prior to his vote in support, Coastal Commissioner Justin Cummings, who also serves as Santa Cruz County’s District 3 supervisor and is a former mayor of Santa Cruz, said he was initially against the project when it first came up during his time on the Santa Cruz City Council. But he said the agreements around low-cost accommodations did much to fulfill the Coastal Commission’s goals of expanding coastal access and amenities to more people.
POINTS FOR PARTICIPATION
District 2 forum: Lookout will be following up the aforementioned District 5 candidate forum with a similar format for District 2 on Monday, Sept. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at Cabrillo College. The candidates, Capitola Mayor Kristen Brown and Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Kim De Serpa, will join me on stage for a free discussion on the issues affecting the Mid County district, which stretches from Pajaro Dunes into the eastern part of Capitola. Find tickets here.
Scotts Valley’s State of the City: Scotts Valley dignitaries will descend upon the city’s new performing arts theater on Thursday, Sept. 19, from 4 to 6:15 p.m. for the annual State of the City address and discussion. Residents will hear from Mayor Randy Johnson, City Manager Mali LaGoe, Cpt. Jayson Rutherford from the police department, Fire Chief Mark Correira, schools superintendent Tanya Krause and Scotts Valley Water District Manager David McNair. The event will also leave time for an audience Q&A.
City of Santa Cruz homelessness response update: Curious how the City of Santa Cruz is making progress on its homelessness crisis? The city will host a virtual state-of-the-issue discussion on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m. City officials will talk about a new three-year homelessness response plan, the point-in-time count and how recent decisions at the Supreme Court and directives from Gov. Gavin Newsom impact the city’s approach. The event will also feature a Q&A portion. Register for the webinar here.
ONE GREAT READ
The Prince we never knew, by Sasha Weiss for The New York Times Magazine
Prince, or, as we called him toward the end of his career, “the artist formerly known as Prince,” thrived as an enigma. His suggestive glares, androgynous sexuality, and absolute mastery as a songwriter and guitarist still draws us in nearly a decade after his death. Yet, the deeply private Prince only ever allowed fans and the public to access his carefully curated facade, requiring us to depend on celebrity anecdotes and his lyrics for anything that might tell us about who he really was.
A new, nine-hour documentary on Prince from Ezra Edelman (“Made in America: The OJ Simpson Story”) set out to go deep into uncomfortable corners to tell the story of Prince’s genius and his many, many faults. However, the documentary might never reach the screen amid a battle between the filmmaker, Netflix, and the Prince estate. Journalist Sasha Weiss is one of a small number of people who have actually seen the documentary, and in this story for The New York Times Magazine outlines what has made the Prince estate so uncomfortable with its release, and why it’s unlikely the rest of us will ever see it.