Morning Lookout: Narrowing Cabrillo renaming options; keeping Santa Cruz County transit strong

Greetings, Lookout friends. It’s Tuesday, May 2, and it’s looking like another unsettled day weatherwise around Santa Cruz County, with showers possible throughout and highs in the 50s.

No time for the guided tour? Explore at your own pace.
JUMP TO ... Latest News | Opinion | Events | Guides | Puzzles | Obituaries

It’s to Cabrillo College we go first, with Hillary Ojeda bringing an update on the school’s renaming process. The task force of community members has narrowed the list of possibilities from 350 to 85, she reports, and remains on track to present its final three to five names to the public this summer.

In Lookout’s Community Voices opinion section, politics columnist Mike Rotkin writes about the past, present and future of public transit in Santa Cruz County, with a suggestion for one thing county voters can do to help keep pace with changing times.

The day’s headlines also include news of a big Hollywood strike and the latest on California’s snowpack and the so-called big melt, so let’s take a look.

Cabrillo College down to 85 suggested new names for school

(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

A task force of Santa Cruz County community members has narrowed a list of 350 new names for Cabrillo College to 85, with three meetings left before it announces its top three to five choices to the public this summer. Hillary Ojeda has the update.

➤ BACKGROUND: ‘Now that we know better, we do better’: Cabrillo College will no longer be named after Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

The key to environmental stability for Santa Cruz County? Reliable, frequent public transit

(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

A nearly $40 million infusion of state funding for public transit and transit-oriented housing is good news for our community, says Lookout politics columnist Mike Rotkin. It will kick-start needed climate-friendly improvements, including a push to make our buses carbon-neutral and establish a “bus on shoulder” lane for Highway 1. Transit is the biggest cause of greenhouse gasses locally, so getting more people to ride buses and bikes is key. But we can’t be the national leader we want to be — on par with cities like Boulder and Portland — without even more money, he says. He suggests a small sales-tax increase to get us there. Read his Community Voices opinion piece here.

➤ LAST WEEK: State awards more than $40 million to spur Santa Cruz County public transit and housing projects

That’s what I know this first Tuesday morning in May. Well, that and there’s more coming from Lookout, including the latest news and notes from around Santa Cruz County’s food and drink scene. That will arrive later in newsletter form, and you can sign up for that and all of our newsletters, plus breaking news alerts, by clicking right here. Give us a follow on social media, too, to keep up with what’s happening around the county — Lookout is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Our content isn’t possible without community support, so if you’re not already, please consider becoming a Lookout member.

Give yourself a little extra time on those slick Santa Cruz County roads (and beyond if you’re headed farther afield), and I’ll see you back here Wednesday.

Will McCahill
Lookout Santa Cruz