Two Cabrillo College trustees say they experienced incidents of harassment because of their support for changing the name of the college. Adam Spickler says he was the subject of a transphobic petition. Steve Trujillo says he has been the target of homophobic emails, and that Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora told him to carry pepper spray and had officers escort him home from dinner because of a tip that someone was following him.
Civic Life
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Can licensed tent villages ease California’s homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Taking people off the street and into tents is a new twist on homeless shelter being explored by the San Francisco-based Urban Alchemy in two tent villages operating in Los Angeles and Culver City.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz needs to stay a beach town: Let the people vote on high rises
Santa Cruz housing activist Susan Monheit believes Santa Cruz’s iconic status as a beloved beach town is endangered by planned development. Here, she responds to critiques by economist Richard McGahey, who, in a recent Lookout piece, called her advocacy and a petition by Housing for People circulating for the March 2024 ballot “misguided.” Below, she unpacks what Housing for People does and does not do.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
With no insurance deal in Sacramento, when will California’s homeowners get relief?
The deadline for a deal to address the home insurance market came and went in the California Legislature, but the problem persists.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Panel aims to explore censorship, American-style
With book bans having been enacted in 37 U.S. states — the vast majority of them having to do with the lives of people of color and LGBTQ+ people — a group including educators and advocates will convene Oct. 6 at the downtown Santa Cruz public library to attempt to address the rising threat.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
This week in Santa Cruz County business: Doug Erickson Q&A, Arrow Surf’s move, Ambient Photonics funding
In her weekly roundup of news and notes from the Santa Cruz County business community, Jessica M. Pasko hears from Santa Cruz Works founder Doug Erickson on the local tech scene, AI and more, delivers updates on a temporary change of scene for Arrow Surf & Sport and what’s new with Scotts Valley’s Ambient Photonics, plus local events and recommended reading.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz County will again push to release sexually violent predator Cheek elsewhere in state
With efforts to find a suitable property in Santa Cruz County for convicted rapist Michael Cheek proving fruitless, Judge Syda Cogliati on Tuesday asked stakeholders to move toward allowing a state contractor to begin searching outside of the county for housing.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz City Council votes to restore two-way traffic on West Cliff Drive; work to begin next week
The Santa Cruz City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to restore two-way traffic on West Cliff Drive by the start of next year, ending a pilot project that has seen a stretch of the scenic road reduced to one-way traffic since January. While many residents told the city they want to see one-way traffic remain, some Westsiders say they are fed up with increased traffic in their neighborhoods and welcome a return to a two-way West Cliff.
Posted inEducation
624-bed joint Cabrillo-UCSC housing project closer to reality as state financial fix heads to Newsom
After months of uncertainty about funding, Cabrillo College and UC Santa Cruz say they’re ready to move forward with a 624-bed student housing project on Cabrillo’s Aptos campus. If all goes as planned, officials say they’ll start construction in September 2024 and students could move in by fall 2026.
Posted inEducation
Both sides of Cabrillo College name-change debate disappointed after board votes to delay renaming until 2028
Some who support renaming Cabrillo College say they feel the governing board’s 6-1 vote Monday to delay the name change until at least 2028 is a sign trustees are caving to threats made by donors to take their funding away if the school changes its name. Meanwhile, some name-change opponents say they think the board should have instead voted to scrap the renaming process entirely.