“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.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Cannabis burglaries are increasing in Santa Cruz County: Law enforcement must pay more attention to these crimes
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here. I am a licensed cannabis business owner here in Santa Cruz. I’m writing to inform our community about an active group of criminals who have perpetrated at least 11 armed burglaries of licensed cannabis facilities in the county of […]
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 inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter remains committed to community’s shared values, even in challenging times
The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is indeed experiencing a 50% rise in animals since two years ago and is overburdened, say shelter board members Jon Bush and Emily Chung. But that is mainly because the shelter won’t give up its open-door policy and refuses to turn needy pets and families away. It’s one of the few shelters in the region to hold these values and to practice socially conscious sheltering, they write: “Even in these difficult times, we will not waver from these values.” Shelter workers and volunteers wrote a Nov. 9 Lookout op-ed complaining about the conditions for animals and a shortage of staff. The board members say they have made four hires since 2020 and have hired a full-time veterinarian to start Nov. 28.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We can end unsheltered houselessness quickly and cheaply — here’s our five-step plan
With one-time funds that are unlikely to be replenished running out for the City of Santa Cruz’s homeless services, Reggie Meisler and Jasmeen Miah advocate for a five-step solution that will stop the up-and-down funding cycle and avoid a return to criminalization as a primary policy tool. The first step, they write in a Community Voices opinion piece: Purchase 900 to 1,000 recreational vehicles and give them to unsheltered people to live in.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We have to do more to tighten pesticide regulation in Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz County holds an unwanted and embarrassing title, says organic agriculture activist Woody Rehanek: “No other county in California has such a high proportion of fumigant gases to overall pesticides applied.” In short, we continue to use far too many pesticides, he writes. And the state Department of Pesticide Regulation’s draft plan for the use of pesticides for 2024-28 falls short of what we need to protect farmworkers and ourselves.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz County’s plan to tackle homelessness is seeing results
Santa Cruz County’s three-year plan to combat homelessness is coming to an end and Carlos Palacios, the county’s administrative officer, offers an update on what the county has achieved and the work still to be done.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
My husband is retiring: What will it do to our marriage when he realizes I eat cookies for breakfast?
Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach is undergoing a life change: Her husband is retiring after 40 years at a tractor dealership. She works from home and is uncertain what it will mean to share the space all day. “First thing on my worry list is that he will judge me,” she writes. He’ll also find out she sometimes sleeps until 10 a.m. and eats Tate’s chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter has too many pets and too little staff; we need action now
The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter population is exploding with mistreated, unwanted, abused and abandoned pets and too few staff members and volunteers to care for them, volunteers and staff write. Most of the issues, they say, stem from bad shelter management and inaction. Volunteers and staff, united here under their union, insist they are burned out and frustrated by poor leadership choices. They have created a petition to get action for themselves and the animals in their care.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Can we please check our slogans and ‘insist on complete respect toward both Palestinians and Jewish Israelis’?
Local teacher and self-declared lefty Michael Levy is troubled by responses he is seeing across the world and in Santa Cruz in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. On Halloween, in downtown Santa Cruz, he felt a “gut punch” when he saw one of his lefty friends joining in with a controversial Palestinian slogan. As a Jew, he felt offended and angry and wanted to “smack him.” He decided to unpack his anger with research. Here, he makes a plea for others to do the same.