Hello there. It’s Wednesday, Aug. 26 – looking like it could be the warmest day of the week around Santa Cruz County, with highs nearing 100 in the toastier mountain spots and into the mid-80s by the bay.
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The City of Santa Cruz has fenced off a large portion of sidewalk along Coral Street, blocking an area long used by unhoused residents, Max Chun reports — and initially posted signs that cite a section of city code that doesn’t appear to apply. The city now says the signs are wrong and should instead cite a state law governing when people can be ordered to leave private or restricted property. The fencing itself, meanwhile, has left homeless advocates asking what the legal basis for closing off the sidewalk actually is.
In Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, affordable housing advocate and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane writes about the library and affordable housing development rising downtown. “The new library won’t solve all of the challenges facing downtown, and it shouldn’t be expected to,” he writes of the project that was the subject of a ballot measure fight. “But it can help give the new downtown something it will need: a center of gravity, a place of connection, learning and welcome.”
Tuesday brought word of a new CEO for Watsonville-based berry giant Driscoll’s, with Lily Belli reporting that Brie Reiter Smith, vice chair of Driscoll’s board of directors and granddaughter of the company’s founder, has replaced Soren Bjorn.
Tuesday also saw the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors put aside until January a discussion on potential changes to how supervisors’ salaries are determined, Tania Ortiz reports, following concerns from several board members.
The morning headlines also include a big 2027 coming from Santa Cruz Shakespeare – let’s proceed.
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Santa Cruz fences off Coral Street sidewalks, initially citing wrong law
The City of Santa Cruz recently fenced off sidewalks along Coral Street near homeless services provider Housing Matters, blocking access to the area. Signs on the fences initially cited the wrong code — a city spokesperson said they should have referenced a state penal code. Homeless advocates question the legal grounds for this move, calling it a tool to discriminate against unhoused people who were already subjected to frequent sweeps in the area. Read more from Max Chun.
OPINION: We fought over it. Now what will we make of our new library in downtown Santa Cruz?
Santa Cruz’s new downtown library and affordable housing project has hardly been without controversy — but after years of debate, the building is rising, affordable housing advocate and former mayor Don Lane writes in a Community Voices op-ed. Now the question is less about who supported the project and more about what we want this new civic space to become. With its expanded Life Literacies Center, free resources and room for people to gather, Lane believes the library could become downtown’s living room – and a place to bring a divided community together. Read his opinion piece here.
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Thanks for reading, and have an excellent Wednesday.
Will McCahill