Landscaper Laura Leroy got jolted awake during a lightning storm that started the CZU fire on Aug. 16, 2020. She then spent 10 terrifying days wondering if her house was among the 900 that burned. She has read that lighting brings revelation, but she felt nothing divine about the tragedy until she returned to her intact home and started to help her 97-year-old client and friend resuscitate her parched garden and fruit trees. Amid the charred remains, she found something extraordinary.
Opinion from Community Voices
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz County Asian Americans support Cabrillo College name change: Let’s empower the next generation
Local Asian American activists write that they believe changing the name “Cabrillo” to one of Indigenous origins is a positive step toward a stronger, more inclusive future. “Standing in solidarity with the Indigenous community,” they write, “we state that this name change is a small but crucial step toward righting a grievous historical wrong.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Time for a Prop 13 haircut — we need to better support K-12 schools in California
California’s public schools are in trouble and the key problem is inadequate funding, writes Lookout political columnist Mike Rotkin. Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color feel the sting most acutely, he says. His answer? Reform of Proposition 13, the 1978 property-tax relief law. He says increased revenue could bolster school funding and not harm homeowners who receive Proposition 13 tax relief.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why do other communities have better transportation options than Santa Cruz?
An equitable transportation system is a matter of political will; other communities have better transit and safer streets, writes Rick Longinotti of the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation. In a Community Voices opinion piece, he outlines how the likes of Boulder and San Francisco have succeeded and invites Santa Cruz County residents to the Transportation Justice Conference on Aug. 26 in Aptos.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Can we in Santa Cruz please get a grip on the Cabrillo name change issue?
Everyone needs to relax about the Cabrillo issue, says former Santa Cruz mayor and longtime housing activist Don Lane. “While there are some very real concerns on both sides when it comes to the name change, it feels like many folks in the community have exaggerated these issues,” Lane says. He dismisses the “history” argument, unpacks “whataboutism” and evokes dead Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He also begs us to listen to each others’ pain and, in true Santa Cruz spirit, act “differently.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Bonny Doon is rising up from the CZU ashes with art – come visit 23 artists’ studios this weekend
Three years after the devastating CZU fire that destroyed 400 homes, the artists of Bonny Doon are opening their studios to the public. Thirty artists, including the author, mixed-media artist Linda Levy, who has lived in Bonny Doon for 40 years. Here, Levy remembers the devastation of the fire, “those terrible August days,” discusses her frustration over the minimal rebuilds and celebrates her community, which she insists is rising from the ashes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I think my mother-in-law has discovered the Fountain of Youth
Juan Ponce de León never found the Fountain of Youth. In fact, he never even looked for it; that is just a weird rumor. But Lookout columnist Claudia Sternbach, who often writes about life in her 70s, believes her 93-year-old mother-in-law, Rozzy, holds the secret many of us crave — the recipe for longevity. Rozzy is coming to California next week and is still wave jumping and making airport runs and hard to tire out, even in her ninth decade. She is also making Sternbach rethink her attitude about aging.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I left my board with a Malagasy surfer: How I learned to let go of what I cherished
Santa Cruz native Evan Quarnstrom left his favorite surfboard halfway around the world — on purpose. He gifted it to a surfer in Madagascar he had met who needed it more than he did. But he misses it. Here, he reflects on the bond between a surfer and board and the memories and surfer friends he made from Brazil to Indonesia to Madagascar during his almost two-year travel adventure.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Stephen Homan has a perfect record fighting for CZU survivors. But why did he have to fight at all?
Stephen Homan came out of retirement as an environmental health specialist to help a Santa Cruz County neighbor struggling to rebuild from 2020’s CZU fire. He ended up helping 50 CZU fire survivors whose rebuilds were held up by poorly understood septic regulations and improperly applied environmental health ordinances. His efforts would ultimately help lead to a near sea change in the process, making it better for everyone. And he did it all for free. Daniel DeLong marvels at Homan’s humanity — and, nearly three years after the fires started, takes a few jabs at bureaucracy and incompetence.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Keep the Cabrillo name: Voting for a project underfunded by $500,000 is ‘irresponsible at best’
Rosemary Anderson has “lost all trust” with the current Cabrillo College board of trustees over the handling of the school’s proposed name change. I “would not donate one of my hard-earned dollars to an institution that no longer reflects the community at large,” writes the Watsonville resident who credits Cabrillo with helping her go back to school after she had kids and who continues to take extension classes today. She wants to see polls and other “proof” of the alleged strong community support for the change.