Last week, local governments took some big votes they had pushed off to the final meetings of the year, a state agency made an unprecedented decision in a decades-old Santa Cruz County controversy, and the county’s Democratic machine picked the people and measures it wants to see succeed in the March 5 primary.
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 inOpinion from Community Voices
Who’s telling an accurate story on Santa Cruz’s Measure M?
Measure M, the March ballot initiative on building height in the city of Santa Cruz, is already causing much debate. Don Lane, who is against the initiative, here refutes a recent Lookout piece by Measure M supporter Frank Barron. “The difference between Mr. Barron’s commentary and ours is that ours is based on verifiable facts and his is based on declarations not grounded in facts,” Lane writes. Voters will decide the ballot initiative’s fate on March 5.
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz plans high-rise living as a fix for sky-high housing costs — and meets opposition
The high-rise push has spawned a backlash, exposing sharp divisions over growth and underscoring the complexities, even in a city known for its progressive politics, of trying to keep desirable communities affordable for the teachers, waiters, firefighters and store clerks who provide the bulk of services.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s not fall for falsehoods: This is what the Housing for People initiative does and doesn’t do
The Housing for People initiative on downtown building will appear on the March ballot in the city of Santa Cruz. Between now and then, voters will need to decide where they stand. Here, retired city planner and Housing for People member Frank Barron pushes back on a Nov. 30 Lookout opinion piece critical of the initiative. The criticism, Barron says, is “full of inaccuracies.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Here’s what they don’t tell you about the Housing for People ballot initiative
“Not a single leading affordable housing group in our area has indicated support for this initiative,” write longtime Santa Cruz housing advocates Diana Alfaro, Don Lane and Elizabeth Madrigal. “To put it bluntly, the Housing for People name is just a political deception – especially egregious at a time when we need genuine affordable housing efforts.
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
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 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 inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz needs to stay a beach town: Let the people vote on high rises
Santa Cruz housing activist Susan Monheit believes Santa Cruz’s iconic status as a beloved beach town is endangered by planned development. Here, she responds to critiques by economist Richard McGahey, who, in a recent Lookout piece, called her advocacy and a petition by Housing for People circulating for the March 2024 ballot “misguided.” Below, she unpacks what Housing for People does and does not do.