In his weekly newsletter covering Santa Cruz County politics and policy, Christopher Neely previews a pair of Lookout election forums this week, digs into what Measure M might and might not mean, talks to voters in the Santa Cruz Mountains about what they’re looking for in their new District 5 county supervisor and more.
March 5 primary 2024
Coverage of the March 5, 2024, primary election.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Measure M — Santa Cruz’s height limit and affordability measure — is the Measure of Much Debate, Many Questions and Murky Answers
We won’t know the true impact of Measure M unless it goes active. Here’s what we do know on its key questions: height, affordability and the possible dilemma of the 7-foot fence. On March 5, voters in the city of Santa Cruz will have to decide how to cast their ballots.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Measure M: We need to trust voters to decide about building heights
Retired urban planner Frank Barron makes the case for Santa Cruz’s ballot Measure M. “The voters should be allowed to have a say when developers want to build high-rises taller than the already generous height limits under current zoning,” he writes. He refutes arguments against M by progressive economist Richard McGahey, who studies cities and equality and is a senior fellow at the New School’s Schwartz Center.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Election 2024: In the post-CZU Santa Cruz Mountains, rugged individualism meets bureaucratic red tape
As District 5 voters prepare to cast their votes for a new county supervisor, no issue stands more prominently than Santa Cruz County’s failure to shepherd through a more efficient rebuild after the 2020 CZU fire. Voters in the Santa Cruz Mountains say it’s time to fundamentally change government.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Gail Pellerin declines to comment on Big Oil investments, but maintains strong support from Santa Cruz
Assemblymember Gail Pellerin held financial stakes in Big Oil and other companies that conflict with her strong environmental stance, a Los Angeles Times investigation showed. However, Santa Cruz’s support for Pellerin, who declined to speak on the subject, appears to not have wavered.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Roads, climate, mental health, CZU rebuild fuel county supervisor hopefuls in Districts 2 and 5 during forum
In Lookout’s first candidate forum of the 2024 election season, those who would represent South County and the Santa Cruz Mountains discussed road maintenance, climate change response, improved mental health facilities and cutting red tape to speed recovery from 2020’s CZU fire. The primary election is set for March 5.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
What you need to know from the high-stakes U.S. Senate debate
The four leading candidates for Dianne Feinstein’s former U.S. Senate seat faced off for the first time Monday. Democrats Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff clashed over earmarks and the Gaza war, then ganged up on Republican Steve Garvey over his support for former President Donald Trump. But will the debate change the dynamics of the race before the March 5 primary?
Posted inInside Lookout
Meet the candidates: Lookout’s primary election forums are here
Lookout is hosting three candidate forums, on Jan. 22, Feb. 5 and Feb. 8, focusing on county and city races along with Measure M. The forums are free and each will run from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Hotel Paradox.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Measure M will make housing affordability in Santa Cruz worse
Economist Richard McGahey, who has held federal, state and local leadership roles and is regarded as a national expert on urban and regional economic development, is against March ballot Measure M. The part-time Santa Cruz resident says Measure M will mean less affordable housing for Santa Cruz and less housing justice for the community. Research, he says, proves his point. It shows that voters who show up for votes outside of regular election cycles are “whiter — and wealthier — than their communities as a whole. And they tend to oppose housing development, perhaps in part to protect their existing house values.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Propaganda or propaganda? Yet another response to Santa Cruz’s dangerous and senseless ballot Measure M
“If you run around crying ‘fire’ through the neighborhood after the fire department has already put out the fire, you are probably unnecessarily scaring people. One might even call that a ‘scare tactic,’” Don Lane writes in his latest piece decrying the upcoming Santa Cruz ballot initiative Measure M and refuting its chief proponent, Frank Barron, a retired environmental planner.