Josh Brahinsky is a friend and UC Santa Cruz colleague of Lookout columnist and former Santa Cruz mayor Mike Rotkin. He supports Measure O, while Rotkin opposes it. In this Community Voices op-ed, Brahinsky explains his decision and focuses on our community’s dire need for affordable housing.
Downtown Santa Cruz library/affordable housing project
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Downtown businesspeople oppose Measure O with unanimous vote of Downtown Association board
After a unanimous vote against Measure O by the governing board of the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz, business owner Zach Davis explains his and others’ opposition to the ballot proposition before voters in the city of Santa Cruz centered around the mixed-use library project.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Measure O offshoot: The new ruckus over Santa Cruz’s plan to remove Lot 4 trees
Could the timing have been any worse? As Santa Cruz voters go to the polls Tuesday to vote up or down on the controversial multiuse library/housing/parking structure downtown on Lot 4, all of sudden the trees on the parcel were tagged for removal. Was it all a plot, a clumsy move — or just part of a long-planned process that protestors find objectionable?
Posted inEvents, Politics & Policy
Eight lots: Debating the parking lots that Measure O would mandate for housing
The battle over Measure O is many things to many people, but at its base, it is an attempt by residents to push through their own vision for urban planning, one that contrasts against that of city staff. Sharing the stage in this struggle are a well-known library mixed-use project proposal and a broad outline of affordable housing on eight city-owned parking lots. Where are these lots? How large are they? What do they look like? Could housing realistically be placed on these sites as the measure promises? Lookout examines what we know.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We have businesses in downtown Santa Cruz and we support Measure O
Six downtown Santa Cruz business owners, including the current and future proprietors of Gabriella Cafe and Soif, support Measure O. They want a downtown commons, more affordable housing and a home for the farmers market, they write.
Posted inEvents, Politics & Policy
New Library vs. Renovated Library: What would Santa Cruz get?
Let’s do a side-by-side comparison. The new downtown branch library will make a statement, and for a long time, about downtown Santa Cruz. Whether built new on a current parking lot or renovated where it’s sat since 1969, it’ll cost more than $40 million for the best possible of each. Wallace Baine talks with architect Abraham Jayson, giving us a virtual tour of what each would be like.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
We’re housing experts: This is why Measure O’s logic doesn’t add up
Four Santa Cruz community members with 75 years of experience insist Measure O doesn’t make sense if we really care about creating affordable housing. Stopping the city’s project will add years of planning and bureaucracy, they write, and might not yield any new housing. “The proponents (of Measure O) lack sufficient knowledge of the affordable housing development process,” they say. They explain why here.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Measure O deserves a no; the rest is magical thinking and pixie dust
The opposition to the proposed new downtown Santa Cruz library began with parking — specifically people opposed to ever adding any parking downtown. Over time, Mike Rotkin writes, others found reasons to oppose the project and joined the effort in support of Measure O. But nothing changes the fact that the proposed library will be bigger and better for less cost than rebuilding a library on its current site.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Measure O and parking in downtown Santa Cruz: Counting the spots and the money
A 243-space parking garage is at the heart of the Measure O debate. Here we look at all the moving pieces on the lots all around downtown Santa Cruz, and the dollars-and-cents questions that surround them.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Following the money: Final campaign finance receipts provide clues to Nov. 8
The final round of fundraising and expenditure reports for Santa Cruz County candidates were due late Thursday. Lookout dug in to see what stories they told. Here’s what we found.