Quick Take
Santa Cruz launched construction on its flagship downtown library and affordable housing project Wednesday, though protests erupted as Food Not Bombs founder Keith McHenry disrupted the event before being arrested by police.
Beneath clear skies and the smoky aroma of the nearby grill inside Jack’s Hamburgers, more than 100 people gathered at the corner of Cedar and Lincoln streets Wednesday to ring in the start of construction for Santa Cruz’s downtown library and affordable housing project — an emblem of the city’s rapidly changing urban core.
Yet, not everyone brought a celebratory mood.
As the crowd of local dignitaries, affordable housing champions and government staffers mingled before the event, Keith McHenry, the proud civic antagonist and founder of nonprofit Food Not Bombs, paced the parking lot with a megaphone, loudly maligning city officials for selling the soul of Santa Cruz to housing developers.
As Mayor Fred Keeley took the microphone to kick off what would be a series of remarks by 17 different speakers, he was suddenly flanked by McHenry, who continued yelling to the crowd as fellow protester Elise Casby blew loudly into a kazoo.
“This guy is so corrupt and he’s a scumbag, he’s destroying our beautiful town,” McHenry shouted. “It’s really sick what this guy is doing and that you’re all complicit.”
Keeley calmly tried to speak over McHenry, but the latter continued until he was forcibly removed from the podium. Then, still raining epithets onto the crowd, McHenry was arrested by Santa Cruz police officers, who stuck him in a squad car and drove away. According to an emailed statement from police spokesperson Katie Lee, McHenry was booked into the county jail for “disturbing a public meeting.”
“The city of Santa Cruz fully supports the right of community members to peacefully protest, disagree and express their views,” the statement read. “Our priority is always to ensure the safety of participants and maintain an environment where public events can proceed peacefully and as planned.”
Many people remarked, often beneath a smile, how the scene felt straight out of “old-school Santa Cruz.”
Lookout inquired several times with the Santa Cruz Police Department to see whether McHenry was actually charged, however, the department did not respond.
Construction on the development began with the demolition of the old Toadal Fitness building last week. The library/affordable housing vision is widely viewed as the City of Santa Cruz’s flagship project. It will sit upon the old Lot 4 — the longtime location of the Wednesday downtown farmers market — at the center of the city’s urban core. The city and its development partners, Eden Housing and For the Future Housing, were up against an Aug. 21 deadline to begin construction, tied to a federally funded $55 million low-income housing tax credit.
Along with 124 income-restricted apartments, the project includes a new downtown library. For city officials, the vision for the library is more than a repository for books; it will provide a much-needed “third space,” an urban design term for a free, public gathering spot outside of the home and the office. The development will also have a child care facility and new commercial space.
The project will arrive in two phases: the affordable housing and parking garage comes first, followed by the library. City spokesperson Erika Smart told Lookout that officials expect construction to end by February 2028.
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FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story misidentified the woman standing next to Mayor Fred Keeley in the lead photograph. It is Sara Smith, not former mayor Cynthia Mathews. Lookout regrets the error.
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