Santa Cruz city planning commissioners Pete Kennedy and Michael Polhamus respond to their colleagues Cyndi Dawson and Sean Maxwell’s contention that the city is not producing enough affordable housing. Kennedy and Polhamus believe demanding unrealistic affordable housing percentages and conditions of approval makes projects infeasible to build. This does not help alleviate the housing affordability crisis, they argue — and it is also against state law. Providing housing for all through the city’s inclusionary zoning and building 100% affordable projects yields the highest proportions of affordable housing possible and helps alleviate pressures in the market, they say.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inEvents, Opinion from Community Voices
Male leaders: We need you to help us imagine a world without sexual violence; join us Wednesday
Longtime activist and former “meat dress” wearer Ann J. Simonton wants to see attitudes about sexual violence change in her lifetime. A survivor of male sexual violence since the age of 14, she believes it’s possible. “In my lifetime, I’ve seen the unlikely turnaround of public action and opinion around the use of tobacco,” she writes, noting, “humans are obviously capable of dramatic social change.” She invites the community to a Wednesday discussion hosted by the City of Santa Cruz’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
FLASH — April 12, 1945: FDR died almost 80 years ago, marking a moment in time for the nation and for my mother
Retired UC Santa Cruz professor and lecturer Wendy Martyna has a packet of her mother’s World War II letters, including one written almost 80 years ago about the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Martyna ponders the letter, the change that has occurred over her lifetime in the news cycle and muses at how the past “inflects our present; it shadows and illuminates.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The rude awakening of a woke Watsonville climate activist
Alex Yasbek thought he was doing everything he could to prevent climate change. He went vegan, rode his bike to work, “was into solar before it was legal.” But, then, four years ago, he started working as an environmental program manager for the City of Watsonville and he realized two things: his own privilege and how the systems we have created make it too hard to make environmentally friendly choices, particularly for front-line communities, like those in Watsonville. And the pace of change is too slow to match the impact. “Real climate action is going to require entirely new systems and ways of living,” he writes. From food to banking to fossil fuels, he says it’s time for a radical rethink.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let the booch loose: Why you should be drinking kombucha (and brewing it, too!)
UC Santa Cruz student Thomas Mahady thinks kombucha solved his long-term stomach issues. He became an avid kombucha brewer because he couldn’t afford to buy the sweet-sour, ancient but newly trendy brew. He cooks it up in his dorm for half the price of buying it — and he thinks you should do it, too.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
How did I get old enough to have dead former boyfriends and a dead ex?
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach once again shares her thoughts and humor about aging. She ponders her “inevitable ‘sell by’ date,” her “Jeopardy!” weaknesses (Tik Tok for $600, anyone?) and how many men she has known in the “biblical sense” who are no longer living. “How am I supposed to feel about these romantic figures from my past at this late date?” she asks. She admits she is too old to have played with Barbie, but finds solace in the relationships that shaped her life.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Where is Live Oak? It’s where the 2nd annual Jack Rabbit run is happening Sunday … and you’re invited!
Ryan Hoffman and his wife settled in Live Oak in 2007, but were concerned about the quality of the schools for their kids when they saw the rankings on a widely referenced school-rating website. That’s why he became an active member of the Live Oak Education Foundation, which fundraises to “ensure Live Oak kids have just as many opportunities as students in the surrounding communities, and enter high school with comparable skills and experiences to their peers.” Now, he’s helping run the second annual Jack Rabbit “FUNdraiser” on Sunday, April 16, at Shoreline Middle School.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The time machine works! We can now settle the Second Amendment question once and for all
In light of the latest unthinkable school shooting, in Nashville, Daniel DeLong tackles the thorny issue of the Second Amendment by bringing the framers of the Constitution forward in time, and asking them for clarity.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We owe it to Pajaro to help: ‘If Pajaro does not exist, what are we going to do?’
Eloy Ortiz, special-projects manager for Regeneración Pajaro Valley Climate Action, has tried to help farmworkers and others in Pajaro recover after disastrous flooding forced thousands to evacuate and left a yet-unknown number of people and families homeless. He recently walked through Pajaro, talking to people and trying to assess their needs. Here, he recreates that walk for us and helps us see the need, the disenfranchisement and the disconnect in aid. “Farmworkers are humble and don’t advocate for themselves and that’s why we at Regeneración do the work,” he writes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Mental illness is not a crime; let’s stop criminalizing it in Santa Cruz County
The Santa Cruz Main Jail is the largest mental health provider in the county. “Let that sink in,” writes Ricki Lee Stautz, a social worker and substance use counselor, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and spent time in jail in 2016. The jail is not a place for healing, she says. The environment exacerbates mental health symptoms and feeds a dangerous cycle of recidivism. She thinks Santa Cruz County can do better and explains how restorative justice and diversion programs work. The programs, many of which already exist in the county, are little known and don’t get the public or financial support they need, she says. She wants to change that.