As residents in two Live Oak mobile home parks await a final Regional Transportation Commission report regarding who is responsible for paying to remedy encroachments along the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, County Supervisor Manu Koenig’s office has requested that the commission focus on working with the parks’ owners and not the residents.
Coastal Rail Trail
Posted inLatest News
Lookout’s most-read stories of 2024
2024 In Review What a year it’s been for Santa Cruz County. From an election that was consequential both for the county and the nation, to the return of nature’s dramatic flourishes in the form of tornados, tsunami warnings and catastrophic waves, 2024 kept our 10-person newsroom busy. As we wrap up this rollercoaster of […]
Posted inLatest News
Carmageddon: Public input sought on South County train station project
More public input opportunities are on their way for the future of passenger rail in Santa Cruz County and beyond, with sessions planned for Nov. 20 on a potential station set to serve Watsonville and Pajaro.
Posted inLatest News
Public input sought on Santa Cruz County transportation spending
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is inviting the community to provide input on how it will invest voter-approved revenue from Measure D, a transportation improvement tax that was approved by voters in 2016 to provide funds for highway, trail, rail, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and transit programs in Santa Cruz County.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Roads, rail trail, managed retreat emerge as flashpoints as District 2 hopefuls Brown, De Serpa spar at forum
District 2 Santa Cruz County supervisor candidates Kristen Brown and Kim De Serpa have spent years in elected office and public service, and seek to bring that experience to the board of supervisors come 2025. The two discussed everything from roads and managed retreat to the tight county budget and the divisive Coastal Rail Trail project Monday evening at a Lookout candidate forum.
Posted inLatest News
Carmageddon: RTC provides options for mobile homes in way of rail trail, but says it won’t pay for relocation
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission has completed a first draft of an analysis of mobile homes encroaching on the right of way for a new rail trail project along a section of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line in Live Oak. Residents have been told that their homes need to be shifted or relocated by June 2025. Officials with the commission said they’re not sure who will be responsible for paying, but it won’t be the RTC.
Posted inLatest News
Carmageddon: RTC hashes out Highway 1 cost overruns, discusses South County projects in latest meeting
Last week’s Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission meeting had a full agenda with topics ranging from a new executive director and Highway 1 cost overruns to a South County Coastal Rail Trail segment and other projects in the Watsonville area.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Diversions and deceptions – in the rail-trail debate, Santa Cruz County is getting more rail and less trail
Transportation activist Jack Brown remains skeptical about the rail trail’s development after looking at the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s June design plan. “There simply is not room for a rail and a trail as has been promised by rail groups for over a decade,” he writes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Who is now deceptive on rail-trail reality?
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here. In 2022, the message of Greenway’s Measure D was straightforward: “Trail now, train when it makes sense.” Many who voted against it believed the opposition’s hype: “Save the tracks, build the trail – we can have both!” Well, […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
After residents told to move their mobile homes for Coastal Rail Trail, some mull legal action
Residents in two Live Oak mobile home parks directly beside the rail line fear they could be displaced by the Coastal Rail Trail project, specifically, Segments 10 and 11 that run right between the two parks. As the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission prepares to consider options for the residents, those living in the parks have begun seriously weighing legal action.