Sebastián Valdez, a third-year psychology major, loves UC Santa Cruz, but is frustrated by the high student fees for transportation ($171 per quarter) and the poor bus service students receive. He describes long waits, regular breakdowns and dissatisfied drivers. The 16 campus buses, he learned, are more than 30 years old and are breaking down at a consistently alarming rate. He thinks they are unsafe for drivers, inconvenient and unreliable for students and need replacing. The university’s Transportation and Parking Services, he argues, knows about the issues, has money and is not doing enough to fix the problems.
Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: New Leaf needs to reconsider policies that are not community-friendly
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here. To the editor: Since New Leaf stores are expanding, I hope they reconsider their policies that are not community-friendly and have been started in only the past year. Here are some: 1. No longer allowing consumers to write […]
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why news organizations should rethink social media comments
Santa Cruz digital marketer Cade Wright is tired of all the angry and often toxic comments to articles posted on social media. He has a radical idea — get rid of them. Here, he explains his reasoning about why impulsive reactions can distort information and undermine journalistic integrity. He is sure there is a better way.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Let’s listen to James Baldwin on Israel-Hamas war
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach is undergoing a life change: Her husband is retiring after 40 years at a tractor…
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Homelessness 102: Santa Cruz County needs to spend more on emergency response
In the second of two pieces on homelessness, housing activist and former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane breaks down the differences in the way the City of Santa Cruz thinks about housing people and how the county does. “The city puts much more emphasis on interim shelter,” he writes, “… and spends several million dollars per year here. I believe the county ought to match the city’s commitment.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Homelessness won’t simply go away; here are three possible approaches for Santa Cruz
Homelessness is California’s biggest crisis and a problem Santa Cruz County cannot seem to get a handle on, as hard as it tries. Don Lane, former Santa Cruz mayor turned housing advocate, offers three options and explains the benefits and drawbacks of each. If you are looking to understand this tangled issue quickly, this is your chance. Next week, he’ll focus on solutions and explain how Santa Cruz — city and county — are tackling the issue.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I lived through the last Gaza war; we need to stop the ruthless killing of innocents and stand up for peace
Dana G. Peleg, an Israeli peace activist who lives in Santa Cruz, can’t stop checking her phone. She is worried about her family in Israel, the lives of the Gazans threatened by Israeli bombs and the continued violence that will cause more generational trauma. Peleg served in the Israel Defense Forces, and the Hamas terrorist attacks stunned her and sent her into “the all-too-familiar emergency state of mind all Israelis know and hate.” Here, she lambasts the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and searches for a peaceful end to the conflict.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Our kids accept trans classmates without a problem — why can’t we all be so open?
“I believe listening to your child and honoring their feelings is the kindest and bravest and most loving thing to do,” Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach writes after hearing her 9-year-old grandson’s easy, matter-of-fact mention of a classmate with they/them pronouns. “The folks who are trying to take away the rights of trans people need to get educated.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I’m helping build a Capitola park for kids with special needs. My late daughter Kayla would have loved it.
Lisa Harvey-Duren lost her beloved daughter Kayla nearly five years ago to a genetic condition. During her short life, Kayla radiated joy and fought the odds to survive and thrive, Harvey-Duren writes. Kayla could have benefited from more inclusive playgrounds for children with special needs. Now, the City of Capitola is set to create one at Jade Street Park and nonprofit County Park Friends has launched a $1 million fundraising campaign to help cover the $1.82 million cost. Despite Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, most playgrounds are not accessible for kids with disabilities. “Can you simply imagine how discouraging that is for a child and their family?” Harvey-Duren says.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: The Community Action Board denounces hate groups in Watsonville
New Leaf Community Markets brand manager Lindsay Gizdich said the store is moving from Pacific Avenue in order to have…