With the final vote count certified on Dec. 3, Lookout’s On the Campaign Trail delivered Election 2024 results, reaction and analysis from across Santa Cruz County and beyond.
Measure M 2024
Lookout’s news and Community Voices opinion coverage of 2024 Measure M, a ballot initiative on building heights and affordable housing requirements in the city of Santa Cruz.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Measure M: Height-limitation measure defeated by 60%-40% vote
Measure M, a ballot initiative in the city of Santa Cruz on building heights and affordable housing, has been soundly defeated.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Will we vote from a place of light and empowerment or a place of darkness and fear?
In a letter to the editor, one of the leaders of Measure M writes about her hopes for what the Santa Cruz ballot initiative could accomplish.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The votes are in: Santa Cruz wants growth. But why does it now take so long to count ballots?
Lookout politics columnist Mike Rotkin weighs in on what the early election results say about Santa Cruz County. For him, one message is clear: “Don’t do anything that stands in the way of constructing more housing in Santa Cruz.” He also looks at why it’s taking so long to get full results.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Few citywide votes would be triggered by Measure M
In a letter to the editor, a Santa Cruz resident expresses support for Measure M.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We have to say no to M to keep local control of how we build; a primer on state affordable housing law shows why
Lookout politics columnist Mike Rotkin unpacks the deluge of state affordable housing laws passed in recent years and uses them to buttress an argument against Measure M. He says if M passes Tuesday in the city of Santa Cruz, the state will get even more control over local building projects.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz for sale: Growth at what price? Measure M is a wake-up call about overbuilding
Laura Lee, who supports a yes vote on Santa Cruz’s Measure M, believes developers want to turn the city into a profit center at the expense of quality of life. She cites articles outlining how hedge funds and sports franchises distort community livability by overdevelopment. “Are justice, diversity and caring for others and our environment secondary to winning?” she writes.
Posted inHousing & Development
With housing at the heart of Santa Cruz’s election wrangling, a question: How do we make room for others?
The affordability crisis has long been the elephant in the room in all aspects of Santa Cruz County politics. At the core, all voters must ask themselves, how much are they willing to sacrifice for others?
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Labor’s big blitz leads third-party spending in Santa Cruz County races
Service Employees International Union Local 521 has spent big in Santa Cruz County supervisor and Santa Cruz City Council races this cycle. Santa Cruz Together and the owner of a local pedicab also jumped into independently advertising local candidates ahead of Tuesday’s primary election.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Fact check: Will buildings in Santa Cruz’s downtown expansion plan be only 7 to 8 stories tall?
When the Santa Cruz Warriors announced their opposition to Measure M, the organization shared a letter written by former Santa Cruz mayor Hilary Bryant and United Way of Santa Cruz County CEO Keisha Browder that included a statement that no buildings in the Warriors development project would exceed 85 feet — about seven or eight stories. Is that true?