Homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters is partnering with Santa Cruz Public Libraries for a series of free social-justice-oriented events in Watsonville, Santa Cruz and Capitola as part of a program called “Neighbors for Neighbors: At the Intersections.”
Santa Cruz
Posted inRecreation & Sports
Santa Cruz Classic Criterium brings weekend excitement, road closures downtown
The Santa Cruz Classic Criterium will take place on Sunday and cause road closures most of the day between downtown Santa Cruz and the Boardwalk.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz police to hold meeting about use of military-surplus equipment
The Santa Cruz Police Department will be holding a virtual community meeting March 27 to discuss the use of surplus military equipment by the department in accordance with Assembly Bill 481.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
‘A slap in the face’: As local realtors launch a dueling housing measure, Santa Cruz mayor accuses group of dirty play
A political firestorm is brewing in Santa Cruz as realtors launch a rival housing initiative to one put forward earlier this year by Mayor Fred Keeley and housing groups. Keeley and his allies say they were blindsided by the move.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz car crash and injury rates are above average, report finds
A recent report from personal injury law firm Jacoby & Meyers found that Santa Cruz’s intersection crash rate is 41.89%, 12.73% higher than the average of all other studied California cities. Some 2.7% of those crashes resulted in deaths, making Santa Cruz’s fatality rate 15.38% higher than average.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Realtors are trying to protect profits, not better the community
In a letter to the editor, a Felton resident takes issue with the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors’ opposition to a housing tax measure gathering signatures for the November ballot in Santa Cruz.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why Santa Cruz realtors are against the Workforce Housing Solutions Act – setting the record straight
The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors opposes Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley’s Workforce Housing Solutions Act, which is gathering signatures for the November ballot. The organization supports affordable housing, writes Renee Mello, the group’s president, but believes the proposed “double tax” – which would put an annual $96 parcel tax on most lots throughout the city of Santa Cruz, and an additional tax on homes sold for more than $1.8 million – would make selling homes too burdensome. “If this measure were only a parcel tax, we may have taken a position of support, but unfortunately this was not the case,” she writes.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz reaffirms its status as a sanctuary city
The Santa Cruz City Council voted this week to reaffirm its sanctuary city policy, a largely symbolic show of support to the local immigrant community, as reports swirl of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents conducting deportation operations within city borders.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: I don’t feel sorry about Adolfo Gonzalez’s deportation
In a letter to the editor, a Ben Lomond resident explains why he supports the recent deportation of a Santa Cruz resident with three DUI convictions.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
No warning, no goodbye: ICE quietly deports Santa Cruz resident after 22 years
In what appears to be the first known case of a deportation in Santa Cruz County since Donald Trump returned as president, ICE agents last month arrested Adolfo Gonzalez of Santa Cruz, a handyman who had lived locally for 22 years.