The Pajaro Valley Health Care District board will vote Wednesday on whether to ask voters to support a $105 million bond measure to help Watsonville Community Hospital buy the hospital buildings and the land they sit on and to help fund health care services. The district currently pays about $4 million a year to lease […]
March 5 primary 2024
Coverage of the March 5, 2024, primary election.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz doesn’t need taller buildings; it needs a vision for sustainable affordable housing
Longtime Santa Cruz resident Laura Lee believes the Santa Cruz downtown expansion plan “moves us in the wrong direction.” She thinks the boom will impair views, cause traffic congestion, overwhelm public services and detract from the small-town way of life she cherishes. The expansion plan, she writes, has caused “a substantial portion of city residents” to lose confidence in city leaders: “We see them placing corporate profits above resident priorities.”
Posted inLatest News
Petition to limit building height in Santa Cruz officially qualifies for March ballot
City of Santa Cruz voters will likely get the chance to vote in March on whether they want a say before developers build taller than the city’s existing height limits. The citizen-led effort to put the question on the ballot has citywide implications, but is inspired by a city vision for a 1,600-unit downtown expansion to south of Laurel Street.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Sheriff Jim Hart makes decision on District 5 county supervisor race
What Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart might do was a big unknown in the race to replace the retiring Bruce McPherson in District 5, which stretches from north of the city of Santa Cruz to the Santa Clara County line. Nonprofit CEO Monica Martinez announced Oct. 30 that Hart had endorsed her candidacy, giving her a boost in a three-person field that also includes Christopher Bradford and Theresa Bond.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
Against the odds, Watsonville Community Hospital survived bankruptcy. Will it survive the next few years?
While Watsonville Community Hospital recently celebrated a year since its rescue from bankruptcy, it continues to face enormous challenges. Hailed as a success story in how to save a distressed California hospital from closure, the hospital’s leaders point to the changes they are making to keep the doors open. But the hospital’s financial woes still loom large.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Petition to cap Santa Cruz building height has enough signatures to qualify for March ballot, organizers say
Organizers of a petition to give voters the power to approve tall buildings in the city of Santa Cruz say they have gathered enough signatures to place a measure on the March primary ballot. The initiative from the group known as Housing for People would require voter approval for proposed new developments that exceed current zoning limits and would enforce affordable housing requirements in large multi-family projects. The initiative comes in response to a downtown expansion plan that sparked controversy with its proposal for 12-story buildings.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
New CEO Gray says he plans to make Watsonville Community Hospital ‘one of the best in the country’
Watsonville Community Hospital’s new CEO, Stephen Gray, says he aims to transform the facility into one of the nation’s top health care institutions. Gray, who takes over Nov. 1, said Thursday that he plans to address the hospital’s financial struggles and prioritize the happiness of staff and patients. He believes the hospital has the potential to make a significant impact on the health outcomes of the surrounding communities, which rank among the least-healthy populations in the country.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
District 1 county supervisor race raises specter of Measure D’s battle over Coastal Rail Trail
The 2024 elections are more than a year away, but the race for District 1 Santa Cruz County supervisor is already heating up. Incumbent Manu Koenig and challenger Lani Faulkner both accuse the other of being single-issue candidates. That single issue? The long-envisioned coastal passenger rail line connecting Davenport and Watsonville, known as the Coastal Rail Trail project.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Anti-density stances are bad for Santa Cruz — so are ballot initiatives on building heights
Economist Richard McGahey responds to Housing for People activist Susan Monheit’s Sept. 15 Lookout piece. The two have been engaged in a lively public debate about changes to downtown Santa Cruz and the usefulness of a ballot initiative on tall buildings Housing for People is trying to get on the March ballot. McGahey, whose 2023 book on inequitable cities was nominated for a National Book Award, is against the initiative. “Not only do we voters not know enough, but such voting actually is anti-democratic, favoring wealthier people and homeowners,” he says.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz city leaders look to sales tax measure to fund homeless services as state grant set to run out
The Homelessness Response Action Plan has been the City of Santa Cruz’s working policy document on homelessness since March 2022, and has guided its approach to connecting people on the street with services, shelter and permanent housing. However, the plan was largely shaped around a $14 million state grant that will run out next July, leaving funding for one of the region’s more successful homelessness strategies in question just as its momentum is beginning to build.