Pajaro levee repair delays raise concerns as crews work to beat the rain
When federal, state and local officials gathered to formally start repairs of the Pajaro River levee in late August, they made their announcement a few feet from the levee’s bank as tractors and bulldozers roared in the background. It was as if to say: See? The work is happening.
Holly Costa, emergency management chief for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the work would wrap up by the end of November. That was deeper into the rainy season (October through March) than many had hoped, but at least the people and livelihoods around the Pajaro River could lean on a repaired levee for most of the approaching wet months.
Now, the people and businesses around the river will have to wait a little longer, or possibly much longer, before the levee is reinforced. The location of the main levee breach was completed last month. Everyone agrees that was the highest priority, with the biggest impact on life and livelihood. However, repairs at two other sites could take until early January or February.
Or, both projects might take until the spring and summer, said Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency. It will all depend on the weather.
This creates an unfortunate paradox for the region. A mild rain season makes the repairs less consequential but would allow crews to stay on site and more likely hit those early deadlines. A reinforced levee would be absolutely critical if the winter is packed with atmospheric rivers and heavy storms; however, such weather would likely force crews to halt construction and leave the levee incomplete until June or July.
How did this happen?
Of Note
Santa Cruz County cracks down on Highway 9 parking. The city soon will, too: The county is poised to ban parking on Highway 9 along a 1.1-mile stretch south from the Powder Creek train trestle to the Santa Cruz city boundary after unanimous support from the board of supervisors last week. As Gine Johnson, an analyst for District 5 Supervisor Bruce McPherson, tells me, the move is aimed primarily at discouraging homeless camps in the area’s redwood groves, which she says have attracted criminal activity — primarily related to drugs and firearms — and wildfire risk, related to the open campfires seen at the camps. The proposal now goes before state highway agency Caltrans for a final approval.
Santa Cruz City Manager Matt Huffaker tells me the city plans to propose a similar parking ban, starting from the city/county boundary to a little more than a half-mile south. The city plans to make an exception for daytime parking at the Sycamore Grove entrance. If approved by the city council and Caltrans, the city’s ban would work with the county’s to make a continuous, nearly 2-mile stretch of Highway 9 where no parking is allowed.
Democratic Women’s Club endorsements (Saturday): Campaign pageant season is officially in session, as candidates pursuing political power make their plays for major endorsements ahead of the March 5 primary. On Saturday inside the Santa Cruz Police Department, we watched candidates from three county supervisor races and four Santa Cruz City Council seats stand, with wide smiles, before members of the Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz County and make their pitch for the group’s endorsement.
The club stayed true to its name, endorsing a slate of women for six of the seven seats and decided against endorsing in the Santa Cruz City Council District 5 race between Joe Thompson and Susie O’Hara. The club’s chosen ones include: Lani Faulkner for District 1 Supervisor; Kristen Brown for District 2 Supervisor; and Monica Martinez for District 5 Supervisor. (Martinez also received retiring Supervisor Bruce McPherson’s endorsement over the weekend.) For the city council, the club got behind Gabriela Trigueiro for District 1; incumbent Sonja Brunner for District 2; and incumbent Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson for District 3.
The morning’s most memorable moment came during the panel of District 2 supervisor candidates. Before everyone’s eyes, a four-person race for the endorsement suddenly became a two-person race between Capitola Vice Mayor Brown and Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Kim De Serpa. Candidate Bruce Jaffe’s chance at an endorsement dissolved as soon as he told the group of mostly women to decide whether being a man should be held against him. The other candidate, Tony Crane, filed for candidacy right at the Friday, Dec. 8, deadline. He admitted to being “unpolished and unprepared” before telling the crowd they should just endorse Brown or De Serpa because it has been painful for him over the years to see an all-male board of supervisors.
This Week Ahead
California Coastal Commission comes to Santa Cruz: The state agency overseeing every aspect of land use along the California coast is set for a showdown with a homeowners association in Rio Del Mar that has been accused of commandeering a public walkway for its own private use. The Coastal Commission, which meets for its three-day monthly meeting at the Dream Inn starting Wednesday, will hold a hearing on whether to not only issue a cease-and-desist order against the homeowners association, but to hit the group with $4.7 million in fines as well.
Democrats make their local picks: On Friday, the window closed for candidates filing to run for local public office; thus, the March 5 primary ballot is set. Now, the civic community readies itself for a storm of endorsement announcements and candidate forums. On Wednesday, the Democratic Central Committee of Santa Cruz County, the local arm of the state’s Democratic Party, will host its candidate forum and endorsement event for three Santa Cruz City Council seats and three county board of supervisor seats. The committee, whose votes will be public, will also determine support for or opposition to four ballot referendums: the Housing for People petition and the sales tax increase in the city of Santa Cruz, the Watsonville Community Hospital bond, and the county’s sales tax increase. The event will be hosted at the Mid-County Senior Center, 829 Bay Ave. in Capitola at 7 p.m.
State gives City of Santa Cruz housing plan a green light: The City of Santa Cruz has developed a plan to fit 3,736 new housing units within the city boundaries over the next eight years. The plan, known as a housing element, is mandated by the state for every city and county throughout California. Ahead of a final Santa Cruz City Council vote Tuesday, the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development gave Santa Cruz’s plan a thumbs-up, clearing a path for final certification.
A pair of hot issues return: At the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, the contentious Felton Pump track will seek final approval. We covered that saga earlier this fall. Over at the Santa Cruz City Council, the police will again seek approval to buy new license plate readers, a technology which sent dystopian chills down the spines of some residents last month.
Weekly News Diet
Local: The UC Santa Cruz housing development Student Housing West has been the subject of lawsuits and protests, as well as hopes for making a dent in the housing crisis. As my colleague Hillary Ojeda wrote last week, the project is set to break ground on its East Meadow phase in spring 2024.
Golden State: The debate over how best to teach children reading skills has raged on for years. Supporting phonics (matching sounds to letters) or balanced literacy (recognizing whole words by sight) has become as fraught a choice as deciding between political parties. In 2020, California invested $53 million in a phonics-based approach to reading education for some of the state’s most at-risk students. A new report by CalMatters says the program has made an impact faster than many experts and government officials expected.
National: When European Union officials hammered out a deal on the A.I. Act, it was lauded as one of the first attempts to regulate the use of artificial intelligence. The rules require transparency by companies that use AI chatbots and image generators, as well as restrict the use of facial recognition software by governments and law enforcement agencies. Companies that violate the rules could be subject to penalties of up 7% of global sales. However, the policy, which still needs some final votes before approval, could take up to two years to implement. As the New York Times reports, given the speed at which AI has continued to evolve since the release of ChatGPT last year, two years amounts to an eternity.
One Great Read
The inside story of Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, by Charles Duhigg for the New Yorker
Of course I have to plug a new longform piece by Santa Cruz’s own Charles Duhigg, especially when the topic deals with the company much of the world is curious about these days, OpenAI.
The story of CEO Sam Altman’s firing, the company’s revolt, Altman’s rehiring and the overhaul of the board of directors was one of the year’s juiciest stories, and unfolded in only a matter of days. Since releasing ChatGPT, OpenAI and Altman have transcended the trade pages of Silicon Valley to become household names across the world. So much of how artificial intelligence accelerates seems placed, rightly or wrongly, on the mind and actions of Altman.
And yet, we watched him and his company nearly crumble last month amid a power struggle and leadership crisis at OpenAI. As Duhigg explains, Microsoft, which has invested billions into OpenAI and quickly hired Altman for a couple of days between his firing and rehiring, played a central role in rescuing the company from pushing itself off a ledge.