Voters in the Santa Cruz City Schools high school and elementary school districts will be casting ballots in the November election to decide if the district should issue $371 million in bonds to fund renovating the schools and building workforce housing. If the measures pass, property owners will pay between the equivalent of four cups of coffee per month or one pizza per month, depending on where they live and which of the measures applies to them.
Election 2022
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 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.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz City Council candidates for District 6: Is our council doing well or does it need to change?
Santa Cruz’s two District 6 city council candidates are Renée Golder and Sean Maxwell. Both are parents who want to see the creation of a Westside business organization. Both support clearing the Benchlands homeless encampment and a version of an oversized vehicle ordinance. Golder, the incumbent, is against Measures N and O. Maxwell is for both. Maxwell wants to shake up the city council, while Golder thinks it’s headed in the right direction. Here, each briefly answers two Lookout questions to help voters understand them better.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Who are Santa Cruz’s District 4 city council candidates? None has held public office before
None of the three District 4 candidates — Greg Hyver, Hector Marin and Scott Newsome — has held elected office before. They all acknowledge they have much to learn, and each has a unique vision of Santa Cruz’s needs. Hyver advocates for direct democracy, Marin is a Latino activist who seeks change, and Newsome calls himself a political pragmatist. Here, each briefly answers two Lookout questions to help voters understand them better.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Measure Q keeps growth within Watsonville city limits. Don’t listen to the naysayers; vote yes.
Measure Q is not “against” growth, argues Betty Bobeda, former Watsonville mayor. It’s against growth that would destroy the city’s valuable farmland and for growth that would use existing underused lots for housing. She decries the negativity of the campaign against the measure and insists special interests are driving it. “Can anyone,” she challenges, “name one place where paving over farmland has solved housing problems, reduced real estate costs or addressed homelessness?”
Posted inPolitics & Policy
12 stories? Keeley’s new plan would flip script on controversial Warriors-area downtown expansion vision
Advanced by the Santa Cruz City Council in June, the downtown expansion plan’s proposal for 15- and 17-story towers has found few supporters in the city. Mayoral candidate Fred Keeley has unveiled a new proposal that he vows, if elected, to put on the city council agenda in January. The focus? Lower height, more affordability.
