None of the three District 4 candidates — Greg Hyver, Hector Marin and Scott Newsome — has held elected office before. They all acknowledge they have much to learn, and each has a unique vision of Santa Cruz’s needs. Hyver advocates for direct democracy, Marin is a Latino activist who seeks change, and Newsome calls himself a political pragmatist. Here, each briefly answers two Lookout questions to help voters understand them better.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz City Council candidates for District 6: Is our council doing well or does it need to change?
Santa Cruz’s two District 6 city council candidates are Renée Golder and Sean Maxwell. Both are parents who want to see the creation of a Westside business organization. Both support clearing the Benchlands homeless encampment and a version of an oversized vehicle ordinance. Golder, the incumbent, is against Measures N and O. Maxwell is for both. Maxwell wants to shake up the city council, while Golder thinks it’s headed in the right direction. Here, each briefly answers two Lookout questions to help voters understand them better.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Measure Q keeps growth within Watsonville city limits. Don’t listen to the naysayers; vote yes.
Measure Q is not “against” growth, argues Betty Bobeda, former Watsonville mayor. It’s against growth that would destroy the city’s valuable farmland and for growth that would use existing underused lots for housing. She decries the negativity of the campaign against the measure and insists special interests are driving it. “Can anyone,” she challenges, “name one place where paving over farmland has solved housing problems, reduced real estate costs or addressed homelessness?”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I’m not a career politician. I will work to restore balance for businesses and families.
California State Assembly District 30 runs along the coast and includes parts of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. It’s a new district configuration, hammered out to take effect in 2022. Lookout asked the candidates running in this race — Dawn Addis, a Democrat from Morro Bay, and Vicki Nohrden, a Republican from Monterey — to submit answers to two questions. Vicki Nohrden’s answers are below.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We need to fix our schools. I’m a 20-year veteran teacher and I know we can do better for our kids.
California State Assembly District 30 runs along the coast and includes parts of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. It’s a new district configuration, hammered out to take effect in 2022. Lookout asked the candidates running in this race — Dawn Addis, a Democrat from Morro Bay, and Vicki Nohrden, a Republican from Monterey — to submit answers to two questions. Dawn Addis’ answers are below.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Vote yes on O to renovate our library where it is and stop the city’s misguided project
Measure O allows us to fully renovate our library at our civic core and dedicate eight publicly owned lots in downtown Santa Cruz to affordable housing, members of Our Downtown, Our Future write. It also secures the best permanent home for the farmers market and prevents debt for a new, environmentally regressive parking garage data shows we don’t even need. Most important, they say, it stops the City of Santa Cruz’s misguided plan to build a new library and parking garage downtown.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Measure O deserves a no; it’s deceptive and will destroy our best shot at a dynamic new library and housing downtown
Measure O is deceptive and its proponents have peddled in untruths to gain community support, write Janis O’Driscoll, Edward Estrada and Matt Farrell. They laud the City of Santa Cruz’s new library/housing project and insist Measure O, if passed, would torpedo the community’s chance to get a cutting-edge library and 124 affordable housing units in the heart of downtown. They unpack what they consider Measure O’s untruths here and explain why no is the best vote.
Posted inEndorsements, Opinion from Community Voices
A Lookout View: Our editorials
Homelessness is California’s biggest crisis and a problem Santa Cruz County cannot seem to get a handle on, as hard as…
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
A Lookout View: It’s 2022; we need to stop spraying pesticides around our children and schools
Editorial: Would residents of Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley or Aptos allow pesticides to be sprayed next to their kids’ schools? It’s time for Santa Cruz County to recognize the health dangers of South County pesticide spraying.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Measure N offers empty promises and invasive oversight: It’s not Santa Cruz’s answer to affordable housing
Measure N, the empty homes tax, is a cruel empty promise, argues Lynn Renshaw, a founder of Santa Cruz Together. She writes that Measure N is not the answer we seek for affordable housing in our community. It creates what she calls “an unelected and intrusive bureaucracy” that requires residents to report how often they live in their homes or face criminal penalties and fines. It distracts from more practical solutions to our real housing challenges. It’s unworkable and wrong, she says, insisting, “we should be able to come and go freely from our property without city government monitoring or control.” Santa Cruz, she believes, deserves better.