Monday was another landmark moment in the unfolding story of Joby Aviation, as the company welcomed more than 100 local guests, dignitaries, media members and investors to the opening of its new offices at Sylvania Avenue and Encinal Street. The event featured a few speeches, a ribbon cutting, and then a tour of the former Plantronics office now officially the home of Joby which, one staffer estimated, employs about 300 in Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Keeley’s grassroots vision for Santa Cruz’s housing bond has been messy and complicated
Mayor Fred Keeley wants Santa Cruz community members to take the lead in drafting a housing bond measure to put before the city’s voters in 2024. But to this point, the process for this “citizen legislature” has been an uneven one.
Posted inCity Life
Dancing Waters: Ambitious new downtown public art project to reflect water’s centrality to Santa Cruz history and culture
Mosaic artists are working on a stained-glass art piece that is expected to be unveiled sometime in June on what is known as the River Front parking garage. “Dancing Waters” will eventually be a series of panels of stained-glass mosaic, brought together to form one large mural-like image that evokes the centrality of water to human life in the area, particularly Santa Cruz’s continuing dependence on both the ocean and the river that flows into it.
Posted inFood & Drink
From cod to squid salad, H&H Fresh Fish offers more than just salmon at Santa Cruz County farmers markets
H&H Fresh Fish started off as a way for Hans Haveman to sell his salmon catch. Now, it mostly gets its catch from other local fishers. H&H has expanded to more than a dozen different farmers markets from Aptos to Oakland, as well as a main location at the Santa Cruz Harbor.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz now eyes June 2024 for affordable-housing bond election after community members request more time
After initially aiming for a March 2024 vote, community members participating in drafting a long-sought affordable-housing bond measure in the city of Santa Cruz said Wednesday they wanted more time. Now, sights are set on a June 2024 special election.
Posted inCity Life
At 76, Tom Brady (not that Tom Brady) finds demanding performance art ‘intensifies the joy’
As he puts his latest work on display at his Westside Santa Cruz art space this First Friday, Tom Brady says he’s in the moment in a career that once went dormant for two decades. “There’s a level of understanding and urgency about who I am as a person and about this work that I didn’t have 20 years ago,” he says.
Posted inCity Life
Arias and IPAs: Santa Cruz Opera Project brings ‘La Bohème’ to an unusual stage
Three sold-out shows beginning Wednesday at Woodhouse Blending and Brewing underline the thirst for what Santa Cruz Opera Project is doing, in this case a production of Puccini’s “La Bohème.”
Posted inLatest News
Ancient mastodon tooth scooped up on Santa Cruz County beach turned in to museum after frantic search
A woman walking on Rio Del Mar State Beach on Saturday posted a Facebook photo of a unique object she saw in the sand but left behind. A local paleontologist recognized the mysterious object as the tooth of an adult mastodon, an Ice Age mammal that went extinct between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. However, by the time he rushed to the beach, the tooth was gone, setting off a desperate search for a rare scientific discovery. On Tuesday, an Aptos resident gave the tooth to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.
Posted inFood & Drink
Lily Belli on Food: Salmon release at wharf, expanding food systems and summer workshops
Hello eaters! Jessica M. Pasko here. While Lily is out on maternity leave, I’m pitching in on the latest local food news. A little about me — I’m a writer and a native of upstate New York, living in Santa Cruz for over a decade. Our rich food culture is just one of the many […]
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Remembering fire captain Brian Tracy: How do I do justice to the man who stole my heart in minutes?
Brian Tracy, a 16-year veteran of the Santa Cruz Fire Department, lost his two-year battle against brain cancer on April 27. He was 43. His wife, Stephanie, remembers him — and offers a lesson for all of us.