Nine politicians — five mayoral candidates, and two pairs of candidates for District 4 and 6 — were invited to an election forum on May 7 by local newsroom Lookout Santa Cruz. A rowdy crowd of Santa Cruz locals filled The Hotel Paradox, anticipating Santa Cruz’s upcoming election. Candidates responded to a variety of questions related to the most pressing issues in Santa Cruz, including:

  • Affordable housing 
  • Rate of development in Santa Cruz
  • Spending and cutting within the city budget
  • The unhoused population
  • Pedestrian safety and infrastructure

Mayoral Debate

Candidates listen to Chris Krohn answer a question.

After the District 4 candidates’ debate, mayoral candidates Ami Chen Mills, Joy Schendledecker, Chris Krohn, Gillian Greensite and Ryan Coonerty took the stage. The mayoral debate centered the correlation between the rate of development in the city, lack of affordable housing and the unhoused population. 

Who are your mayoral candidates?
Ami Chen Mills:
Ami Chen Mills is a journalist, current lecturer at UC Santa Cruz and the founder of Santa Cruz County’s Get the Flock Out campaign. She aims to protect Santa Cruz’s unique character while prioritizing affordable housing for residents.
Joy Schendledecker:
Joy Schendledecker is an educator, artist and service provider. She is focused on the basics, including housing, employment, protecting public services and ensuring affordability for Santa Cruz residents.
Chris Krohn:
Chris Krohn is a radio host and writer, and has lived in Santa Cruz for 43 years. He stands up for creativity and arts, local control, fair wages, peoples’ housing, environmental values, public transit and immigrant rights.
Gillian Greensite:
Gillian Greensite is a resident of Santa Cruz of 51 years, serving on Santa Cruz’s civil grand jury and two city commissions. She is focused on halting the overbuilding in the city, fiscal responsibilities, neighborhood protection and environmental impacts. 
Ryan Coonerty:
Ryan Coonerty is a two-time mayor of Santa Cruz and has previously served on the County Board of Supervisors. He is also a part-time lecturer at UCSC. He looks to improve accessibility of public programs, fill vacant storefronts, address the ongoing housing crisis and ensure a responsive and transparent city government.

One particularly contentious issue in Santa Cruz is the pace of development. 

Chen Mills and Greensite both agreed on the detriments of Santa Cruz’s overbuilding. However, where Chen Mills believes that housing should be prioritized for young people, Greensite argues that local workers should be put first.

Chen Mills, Greensite, Krohn and Schendledecker all notably share the perspective that the city gravely lacks affordable housing. 

“It’s no secret that one of the reasons I am running is because we’re not doing very well with our building in Santa Cruz,” Krohn said. “We are building a lot more luxury apartments than we are affordable apartments.”

On the other hand, Coonerty claimed that the new apartments in Downtown Santa Cruz are already “affordable projects,” and “below market rate.” He finds that UCSC should build and designate more housing for students on campus.

Most of the candidates agreed with one another regarding the topic of the unhoused community. Krohn, Greensite, Chen Mills and Schendledecker took a humanistic approach to the topic, expressing the need to provide more resources for the community.

Krohn noted the overlap of those who are housed, unhoused and individuals who are searching for housing, and believes it is unacceptable that the city cannot provide shelter for everyone who needs it. Greensite noted that this problem is not unique to the city of Santa Cruz, but a state and country-wide issue. 

Coonerty, on the other hand, had a different take on the unhoused community. 

“The folks that remain [unhoused], not all — but some of them — are the most sick, addicted, the most challenging and service resistant,” Coonerty said. “If you go to Coral Street, it’s an open-air drug market next to homeless families that are trying to rebuild their lives. We would not tolerate that behavior … We need to offer them shelter, a bus ticket somewhere where they can be successful, mental health or substance-abuse treatment.”

Following Coonerty’s sentiment, Chen Mills said she believes that everyone has the potential “to be resilient, to change. It’s just a matter of time and the right situation.” She continued to note that unhoused people need to be stabilized, and those in city leadership cannot see them as “immoral” for being unhoused.

District 4 Debate

District 4 incumbent Scott Newsome and candidate Hector Marin sit onstage during their debate.

Incumbent Scott Newsome and candidate Hector Marin were the first pair onstage, both battling for the District 4 city council seat, which includes the downtown area. Both candidates answered questions about the city budget, spending and cutting, and downtown Santa Cruz infrastructure plans.

Who are your District 4 candidates?
Scott Newsome:
Scott Newsome is the current District 4 representative. He has a background as a high school educator. He hopes to ensure Santa Cruz can stay vibrant, safe and livable. 
Hector Marin:
Hector Marin is a public school educator who believes in a collaborative government that provides sustainable solutions for housing and mental health, as well as the city’s budget challenges.

Newsome looks to use the budget to repave roads and strengthen the city’s infrastructure. He believes that Santa Cruz’s biggest issue is the lack of resources for the unhoused population.

If Newsome continues on the city council, he aims to reduce houselessness and increase shelter capacity. Although it is unclear if his desire to strengthen the city’s infrastructure will include nonhostile architecture and making spaces more accessible for Santa Cruz’s unhoused population, Newsome stated that the city does not have to cut any projects. He says he can find ways to be creative to avoid cutting anything else out of the budget, although he did not note any specific strategies. 

Marin is looking to adjust the budget by allocating taxpayers’ money toward aiding the housing crisis and livable working wages.

Marin expressed that the biggest issue in the city is the current city council leadership, and their disconnect with the neighborhood they are representing. He expressed his goal to protect the neighborhood from out-of-town developers and create a safe area for pedestrians and bikers.

District 6 Debate

District 6 candidates incumbent Renée Golder and candidate Gabrielle Noack pose together onstage after the debate.

Unlike the mayoral debate, the conversation with District 6 candidates representing the lower Westside of Santa Cruz and UCSC was far from heated. Incumbent Renée Golder and her opponent Gabrielle Noack were last to take the stage, engaging in dialogue surrounding housing for UCSC students, local businesses and the city’s budget. 

Who are your District 6 candidates?
Renée Golder:
Renée Golder has represented District 6 since 2020. She is a principal at Bay View Elementary School who seeks to make Santa Cruz more resilient and liveable by addressing housing and infrastructure issues, as well as public safety concerns. 
Gabrielle Noack:
Gabrielle Noack is a current UCSC student and former Cabrillo College student, slated to graduate this June. She is intertwined in the community and looks to prioritize affordable housing for low-income residents. 

Being a fourth-year at UCSC, and prospective June 2026 graduate, Noack recounted how she visited residents from Family Student Housing and spoke with them about their shared frustrations surrounding the $700 rent increase implemented by the university. She hopes to hold the university accountable, and asks the university to build more housing for students facing ongoing housing insecurity.

Golder agreed with this sentiment, saying that the university should build more affordable housing on campus. Using her multiple years of experience in her city council position, she states she would like to tackle the aforementioned issues discussed during the forum. She believes that Santa Cruz should be cautious about outside influence from big corporations..

Noack agreed with Golder’s take. Stepping into the position, she wants to think about the long term and economic stability of the developers Santa Cruz is working with and looks to continue getting the city’s developing influence from grassroots organizations and workers’ unions.

Primary Election Day for Santa Cruz is June 2.