Hello there, Santa Cruz County. It’s Wednesday, Sept. 17, and after another morning of dense fog, the forecast is for mostly sunny skies and temperatures from the upper 70s to upper 90s – and some chance of showers and thunderstorms Thursday as tropical moisture moves in from the south, per the National Weather Service.
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Santa Cruz County businesses are increasingly turning to special tax districts to fund neighborhood improvements and marketing efforts, Jessica M. Pasko reports, as they face economic headwinds, tighter government budgets and changing consumer habits. Among those with efforts underway locally are merchants in Santa Cruz’s Midtown and wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Jessica’s weekly survey of the local business scene is also among the morning headlines you’ll find below.
“I do have a hard time focusing sometimes,” Omar Dieguez, the Watsonville native now more than halfway through a hunger strike to protest pesticides near Pajaro Valley schools, tells Tania Ortiz. “I am tired. I am moving slower.” He’s taken his message to area schools and spoken with Santa Cruz County’s agriculture commissioner.
The Santa Cruz Police Department released a sketch Tuesday of the suspect in an August sexual assault near Frederick Street Park that left a woman seriously injured, and the image bears a striking resemblance to a sketch of a suspect in multiple assaults on the UC Santa Cruz campus earlier this year. Police are still searching and say they don’t have any evidence to link the two cases.
The lineups are out for next spring’s big music festival in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, and Santa Cruz punk band Drain is among those set to take the stage. The three-piece hardcore act will play April 12 and 19, sharing the stage with the likes of Iggy Pop, Suicidal Tendencies and headliner Karol G.
And in Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, Santa Cruz activist Rick Longinotti laments the loss of what he sees as the public square of downtown’s Lot 4, with the farmers market and its magnolia trees – and says the city also bent fiscal rules, risking public trust by putting taxpayers on the hook for parking debt in moving forward with the library/affordable housing/parking garage development there.
To the headlines …
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Santa Cruz County businesses turn to special tax districts as economic pressures mount and government support shrinks
Facing economic headwinds and shrinking tax revenues for local services, some Santa Cruz County merchants are embracing business improvement districts, opting to tax themselves to pay for extra amenities like street-cleaning, private security and marketing. New districts are in the works for wineries, Midtown and possibly the Westside. Here’s more from Jessica M. Pasko.
Fatigue sets in for Watsonville activist on Day 17 of hunger strike protesting pesticides near schools
Watsonville activist Omar Dieguez told Lookout that he’s feeling tired, but is still motivated and supported to continue the rest of his 30-day hunger strike in protest of pesticide use near schools in the Pajaro Valley. Tania Ortiz has the update.
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Thank you for reading – have a good Wednesday.
Will McCahill