Quick Take:
Twenty-two local writers share their own shared, and distinct, experiences as the new group hosts an evening of poetry...
Good morning, Lookout friends! It is Monday, Sept. 19, and after a decent weekend soaking, Santa Cruz County should continue to see showers on and off for the next couple days, with some sunny patches and highs in the 60s and 70s.
Rather start the week by exploring Lookout on your own? By all means.
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There’s much to tell you about as we kick off the workweek, so thanks for reading along.
Mark Conley is first up, checking with residents of Pleasure Point as the area heads into a stretch that could see rezoning and development make over the notoriously independent neighborhood.
If you live in the city of Santa Cruz and wonder where the food scraps you’re now putting out on garbage day are going, we’ve got you covered with the latest in our Ask Lookout series, with Thomas Sawano charting the path some 40 tons of food waste takes each week.
Meanwhile, Wallace Baine previews an upcoming poetry and music event put on by the group Writers of Color Santa Cruz County — whose stories many of us might never hear otherwise.
And in our Community Voices opinion section, recent UCSC grad Megan Kalomiris writes about how, as a person with autism, she flourished in the early stages of the COVID pandemic and her hopes that we can find a new balance that accommodates those like her who find in-person interactions trying.
Plenty to get to with Monday’s headlines, including the outrage that has greeted a developer’s proposal to build a surf lagoon in the desert town of La Quinta, so let’s delay no longer.
As Pleasure Point braces for change, its development issues resonate all over Santa Cruz County
With Santa Cruz County’s sustainability plan moving toward approval, one notoriously independent surf-centered neighborhood sits in the crosshairs of future change. How fast things along the Portola Drive corridor are disrupted, and how many new units of housing are involved, are among the unknowns. The issues in Pleasure Point mirror much of the housing-related controversies now happening in downtown Santa Cruz, along the city’s corridors, in Soquel, and soon, more widely across the entire county. Read Mark Conley’s story here.
➤ RELATED: Santa Cruz pushes off weighty discussions on ‘corridors,’ affordable housing and rezoning (Lookout)
Ask Lookout: When I scrape my plate into my new food scraps bin, where does it go?
Follow the pathway of 40 tons of meat and vegetable pieces, pits, bones and coffee grounds per week — and learn the anti-warming science behind the City of Santa Cruz’s new food scraps collection program. Thomas Sawano has the goods.
➤ RELATED: Composting questions answered: What you need to know about the new statewide mandate
A solid start to the week, I’d say. There’s plenty more coming, as usual, and a surefire way to make sure you don’t miss anything is to bookmark Lookout and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also sign up for breaking news alerts and our other newsletters — including Lily Belli on Food, hitting inboxes Tuesday — by clicking right here.
If you’re not already, please consider becoming a Lookout member — we can’t do all this without community support.
Be safe on those wet roads, turn on your headlights in the rain and otherwise be good this Monday!
Will McCahill
Lookout Santa Cruz