As an English and health teacher at Delta Charter High School, Jamie Cutter has her hands full. Students and other education leaders say she’s made a difference in Santa Cruz County by helping youth develop healthy and critical decision-making skills in and outside the classroom.
Housing
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Unsung Santa Cruz: As the navigator in chief, he’s helping steer county’s most vulnerable into housing
John Dietz is not your average 85-year-old riding out his golden years. He and his team at the downtown Santa Cruz library work diligently to help house folks who might otherwise be deemed off-limits by landlords. They help find important paperwork, fill out forms and prepare for housing interviews. Once those clients are in, the team helps them remain stable. If and when they lose that roof overhead, Dietz and his team try, try again.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Need a quick stocking-stuffer? Nothing beats a book
Books often make the best gifts. Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach offers some tips for new and classic reads, including a few that either take place in Santa Cruz or are written by local authors. All would make swell stocking-stuffers, she writes. Maybe even throw in a battery-operated book light for those stormy evenings when the power leaves us reading by candlelight.
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Uncensored: Local realtor explores who Santa Cruzans are through Census data
Keep Santa Cruz Weird… a phrase coined by locals to concisely describe our unique community. The “keep” in the phrase can be seen as a protest against change. Change is, of course, inevitable. Santa Cruz has seen an influx of change since its official inception in 1791. Presently, this change is only accelerated as more […]
Posted inCoast Life
Pleasure Point sustains: Neighborhood group celebrates compromises made for Portola Drive’s future growth
Though they’re “not gloating,” Save Pleasure Point made enough sensical noise to 1st District Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig, who helped make the group’s case to the planning department and other supervisors to limit development density on large parcels along the neighborhood’s main commercial artery.
Posted inCoast Life
‘Yeah, I’m pretty lucky’: Santa Cruz’s new public works director loves to play where he works
Nathan Nguyen is the City of Santa Cruz’s new public works director, taking over for the retired Mark Dettle, who held those reins for 21 years. When the new leader isn’t wrangling a complex stable of civic projects, you’ll probably find Nguyen out on one of his many favorite mountain bike trails.
Posted inCoast Life
With fentanyl ODs still surging, fear of increased drug use among Latino youth has county leaders concerned
A survey conducted among high school youth in Watsonville earlier this year suggests that a growing number of kids are experimenting with substances beyond alcohol and marijuana on a regular basis. Leaders hope a Spanish-language town hall Monday night will help illuminate the problem more broadly — and affirm to parents the danger fentanyl presents. The number of deaths the synthetic opioid has caused in Santa Cruz County in 2022 will set a new high, Lookout has learned.
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Your home awaits: Rent this spacious Seabright cottage in Santa Cruz
Fulfill your dreams with this quaint vintage two-bedroom. Boasting a stunning structure built in 1910 as well as…
Posted inPolitics & Policy
How blue is Santa Cruz? Republicans in Santa Cruz County certainly look like a permanent minority
For local Republicans, blue is the color of ice, and they’re trapped in a deep freeze. But, Wallace Baine wonders, is the gradual but inexorable phenomenon of Americans clustering geographically to reflect their political orientations really good for Santa Cruz County? Good for America?
Posted inCoast Life
Kevin Reed’s radical ride: Legendary anti-hero of Santa Cruz surf, skate scene getting his belated due
Born into a troubled home life, the Santa Cruz legend dubbed ‘Mr. Radical’ threw himself full speed into the natural playgrounds that surrounded him in the 1970s and 80s. His acumen and fearlessness gave him early notoriety, but he says that fame, fortune and accolades were never what he sought. Nonetheless, he was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame on Thursday night. He and his wife drove to the ceremony in the van they live in near Steamer Lane.