Thursday’s first meeting of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission board after the drubbing of Measure D showed signs of reconciliation while the public commenters illustrated much of the same politically charged rhetoric. The rail and trail question remains: Where do we go from here?
Measure D coverage (2022)
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
What does Measure D have in common with your neighbor’s barking dog?
Elections offer an excellent time for reflection, and Tenzin Chogkyi, a Buddhist monastic who teaches courses on compassion, says we all can do better at handling conflict. She works at the Conflict Resolution Center of Santa Cruz County and offers several examples — from a barking dog to Measure D — to showcase how we can reduce animosity in our lives.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Election 2022 results: Vote counting is slow going with still 50% left to be tabulated
Just released voting totals — with 33,569 votes now counted by the County Clerk’s office — tells us more about what is decided, and what the November ballot will look like. And there are at least two possible cliffhangers in Measure F and the 4th District Supervisor race.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Will ‘D’ deliver voters? Turnout is light so far, but key issues could drive bigger Election Day balloting
By Friday afternoon, Santa Cruz County had received only 22,000 early ballots, “less than for a usual primary,” County Clerk Tricia Webber told Lookout. With no presidential decision on the ballot, will polarizing Measure D and key county supervisor and State Assembly races drive up the numbers?
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The Measure D middle man: RTC lead Guy Preston must drive down two sets of tracks, neither without its perils
The Regional Transportation Commission is the entity tasked with letting us move about Santa Cruz County in smarter and more efficient ways. The man leading the exploratory charge as the nonpartisan director of RTC staff has had the most difficult task of his professional life with both sides of the Measure D issue digging in deep with win-at-all-costs attitudes. But Guy Preston vows to block out the noise and keep plowing ahead with clear eyes, arming the RTC voting board with the best information he can provide. First he wants to arm voters.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
A cheat sheet for your Measure D migraine: We asked both sides to cut the rhetoric and explain the issues
Leaders of both Yes Greenway and No Way Greenway provided detailed answers to a range of questions. We asked for their best succinct closing arguments on time to build, cost, equity and environmental impact, among other core issues in the rail-trail debate. With voting set to close in Santa Cruz County on Tuesday, here is a side-by-side look at those arguments.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: I love trains; I still support D
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here. To the editor: I love trains … in the right place. Such is not the case in our small community. That’s very clear by the Regional Transportation Commission’s own 2015 study that showed a passenger train between Watsonville […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Meet the No Way Greenway leaders, Mark Mesiti-Miller and Melani Clark
Longtime civic leaders Mark Mesiti-Miller and Roaring Camp president Melani Clark have taken the lead in trying to defeat the controversial Measure D. Who are they, and what has led to their high-profile involvement? Just as the leaders of “Yes” say, they explain the fight has turned more vitriolic than expected.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Who is Bud Colligan?
The leader of the Measure D campaign has cut a big swath in Santa Cruz County as a high-profile philanthropist on big projects in housing, health care, science, education and the arts. As he’s become the point man for a trail-only option on Santa Cruz County’s coastal rail corridor, he’s also become a lightning rod in what’s become one of the most polarizing votes in memory.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Measure D: The latest on who’s funding each campaign, visualized
With a surge in the past month, No Way Greenway closed the gap in its fundraising. Lookout details the whos and the how manys behind the numbers as the June 7 vote nears.