Santa Cruz County’s annual homelessness count revealed a dramatic shift, with one group of volunteers spotting only three people along a stretch of the Pajaro River levee in Watsonville after most residents moved to the Monterey County side following a July sweep.
South County
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Activists, grand jury want Santa Cruz County to get more involved in how pesticides are used
Local activists and Santa Cruz County’s civil grand jury are pressuring county officials to exercise more control over regulating pesticide applications, in addition to having better communication with South County officials and residents.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Levee agreement marks a watershed moment for the people of Watsonville and Pajaro
A federal, state and local agreement signed last week officially greenlights the construction of a new Pajaro River levee, a project the community has been waiting for since the 1950s. Local officials say the moment has been a long time coming.
Posted inLatest News
After 68 years, a new Pajaro River levee is now all but guaranteed, set to begin summer 2024
Nothing is ever guaranteed, but officials say a new Pajaro River levee is as close as government gets after local and federal agencies signed an agreement to spend the money for the first section of the project. The largely low-income communities of Pajaro and parts of Watsonville have been waiting for reinforced flood protection for nearly 70 years.
Posted inLatest News
Flooded California towns secured millions in aid. Who gets the money?
Residents of Pajaro and Planada want state aid to help alleviate debt incurred from rebuilding after January floods. Local officials want some money to go elsewhere.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
County’s infrastructure leaves residents at ‘heightened flood risk’ as another abnormal winter looms
With the El Niño weather pattern now in effect, Santa Cruz County officials are keeping a wary eye on forecasts that could mean more pressure on the Pajaro River levee and other infrastructure that took a beating last winter. The breach that flooded Pajaro in March should be fixed soon, but other repairs won’t even start until next year.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
$65M in storm-related losses just one of many challenges ag chief sees for Santa Cruz County farmers
“It’s been a tough year,” David Sanford says of 2023 for Santa Cruz County farmers and farmworkers. Sanford, who took over as county agricultural commissioner earlier this from Juan Hidalgo, talks about how local growers are tackling the variety of issues stemming from climate change, the effects of inflation and more in a Q&A with Jessica M. Pasko.
Posted inK-12 Education
Six months after levee breach flooded their classrooms, Pajaro Middle School students settle into new normal
The March 11 failure of the Pajaro River levee forced the closure of Pajaro Middle School until at least fall of 2024. Now at the start of a new academic year, the middle school’s more than 400 students are settling into their temporary academic home inside Watsonville’s Lakeview Middle School. Students say they’re getting into a routine but still miss their school.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’s bill could speed Pajaro River levee repairs by skipping state environmental rules
With long-promised repairs to the Pajaro River levee in danger of being slowed by California Environmental Quality Act requirements, Speaker Robert Rivas — whose district includes the Pajaro Valley — is overhauling a bill before the State Assembly with the aim of getting the project started sooner.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
As El Niño gathers strength, lawmakers look to fortify Pajaro’s flood-ravaged levee
On Tuesday, California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) introduced legislation designed to expedite construction and upgrades along the Pajaro River levee — a 74-year-old earthen flood control berm that breached in March, inundating the mostly migrant farmworker town of Pajaro. As an El Niño weather pattern takes hold in the Pacific, residents and lawmakers worry another breach is likely if construction doesn’t start soon.