Max Chun

Max Chun is the general-assignment correspondent at Lookout Santa Cruz. Max’s position has pulled him in many different directions, seeing him cover development, COVID, the opioid crisis, labor, courts and much more.Having grown up on the Westside and attended Santa Cruz High School, Max earned a bachelor’s degree in politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles in 2019. While there, he discovered an unexpected but welcome passion for journalism. While in college, he worked as part of the distribution team for the Culver City-based nonprofit documentary film company Brave New Films. During and after the pandemic, he worked at Verve Coffee Roasters’ Seabright location, blessing locals and tourists alike with top-tier latte art while getting his start in a professional journalism setting with Lookout.

Max joined Lookout in its early days and became our first home-grown local reporter more than a year ago. His community connections and savvy have served us as his hometown undergoes multifaceted change.
Posted inPolitics & Policy

Greg, Hector and Scott for District 4: A new face for a quickly changing district

by Max Chun

Santa Cruz City Council’s new District 4 will greet a novice officeholder after November’s election. Greg Hyver, Hector Marin and Scott Newsome bring varying levels of knowledge on the issues, and bring both commonly held and unusual solutions to the table. They will debate as part of Lookout’s next candidate forum, slated for Monday at 6 p.m.

Posted inPolitics & Policy

Measure N’s empty home tax: Is new tool aiming to boost affordability handy or flawed?

by Max Chun

If residents of the city of Santa Cruz vote to pass Measure N, residential property owners would be liable for a new annual tax of about $3,000-$6,000 if they don’t have their properties occupied for at least four months each year. It’s a new idea to get more housing units into play — and it has generated lots of controversy about how well it could work.

Posted inPolitics & Policy

West Cliff assisted living project passes by slim margin; affordability main concern among ‘no’ votes

by Max Chun

Does affordability apply to assisted living facilities? Not according to city regulations, but two Santa Cruz planning commissioners voted against the plan, citing those concerns. The proposal for a 76-unit senior living facility is moving forward, with issues including traffic and preserving monarch butterfly habitat part of the plan.

Posted inUncategorized

Lookout Update: Senior living facility planned along West Cliff Dr. returns to public hearing Thursday

by Max Chun

Rescheduled from its initial Sept. 1 date, the 76-unit senior living facility proposed for a site along West Cliff Drive will go to the City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission on Thursday at 7 p.m. for presentation and public input. Are size, traffic, unit affordability and environmental impacts still a major point of contention as the project was downsized from its 2020 iteration?

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