Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach has been spending time bobbing in a Florida pool, thinking about Ye — the artist formerly known as Kanye West — and getting angry. Her aging, widowed mother-in-law, now in her 90s, lives in a mostly Jewish senior community and Sternbach sometimes flies down to visit her. Sternbach is frustrated and appalled by the recent rise of antisemitic rhetoric and worries for our country and for people, including her mother-in-law and her friends, who have faced discrimination their whole lives.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I support Measure O’s long game: Keeping downtown city-owned lots for affordable housing
Josh Brahinsky is a friend and UC Santa Cruz colleague of Lookout columnist and former Santa Cruz mayor Mike Rotkin. He supports Measure O, while Rotkin opposes it. In this Community Voices op-ed, Brahinsky explains his decision and focuses on our community’s dire need for affordable housing.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Our mostly white and wealthy community should stop patting its own back for its ‘diversity’ and ‘liberalism’
Ami Chen Mills and Lynda Marín disagree with Lookout’s endorsements and insist we need more emphasis on diversity. They say the Santa Cruz community needs to do more to elevate progressive voices and openly discuss “issues of class, wealth, poverty and the forces of gentrification that create a homogenous, increasingly wealthy and, therefore, mostly white society.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Pajaro Valley Health Care District needs solid, continued leadership of Pimentel and Nájera
The fledgling Pajaro Valley Health Care District — cobbled together to protect the bankrupt Watsonville Community Hospital from closing — still has a momentous task ahead to reach stability for our community and its staff. A group of 10 well-respected public service professionals argue for the election of two current health care board representatives. Marcus Pimentel and Jasmine Nájera, both appointed by the board of supervisors to the jobs last year, are pivotal to the district’s future success, they write.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Vote yes on Measure N: The tax probably won’t apply to you, but the benefits will
Housing is a fundamental human right, writes UC Santa Cruz student and union organizer Joe Thompson. Measure N takes a bite out of the whale that is the affordable housing crisis.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Downtown businesspeople oppose Measure O with unanimous vote of Downtown Association board
After a unanimous vote against Measure O by the governing board of the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz, business owner Zach Davis explains his and others’ opposition to the ballot proposition before voters in the city of Santa Cruz centered around the mixed-use library project.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Soquel Creek Water District: Three incumbents intent on Pure Water Soquel project vs. two newcomers calling for change
Soquel Creek Water District’s election has five candidates battling for three seats and comes at a pivotal time, just as the ambitious, $145 million Pure Water Soquel project takes shape. The project puts 8 miles of pipes from Santa Cruz to Capitola and has disrupted traffic throughout the area for months. The incumbents want to see the project to its end in 2023; the newcomers insist water costs and district salaries are too high. Lookout asked the five candidates for statements. Read the four responses we got here.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We are voting for Justin Cummings; Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson’s policies are detrimental to the unhoused
Santa Cruz Cares is against the choices the Santa Cruz City Council has made on dealing with our community’s unhoused. This includes the clearing of the Benchlands encampment and the oversized vehicle ordinance — both of which, its members write, they believe harm the unhoused unfairly and don’t offer viable, lasting or empathetic solutions to their plight. They feel Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson’s record of voting for these policies make her a poor candidate for Santa Cruz County 3rd District Supervisor. They have endorsed Justin Cummings.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I was the first biracial mayor of Santa Cruz; why has Santa Cruz ignored my race?
Martine Watkins, vice mayor of Santa Cruz, is perplexed. She is biracial — her father is Black, her mother white — and she was the first biracial woman to serve as the mayor of Santa Cruz. She thinks it’s a misrepresentation of local history to call Justin Cummings — who is currently a candidate for District 3 county supervisor — the first Black mayor of Santa Cruz.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We have businesses in downtown Santa Cruz and we support Measure O
Six downtown Santa Cruz business owners, including the current and future proprietors of Gabriella Cafe and Soif, support Measure O. They want a downtown commons, more affordable housing and a home for the farmers market, they write.