As UCSC’s Growth Plan is Approved, Local Concerns Still Linger
The 2021-2040 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) sets a guiding framework for UC Santa Cruz’s physical and enrollment growth over the next two decades. As one of its former principal student representatives, Matthew Waxman was heavily involved in drafting UCSC’s 2005 LRDP. Now as an...
Streetcar Demonstrations Show Potential for Light Rail in Santa Cruz
The possibility of Electric Passenger Rail will briefly become a reality in Santa Cruz County in two weeks. Clean-energy, battery-powered streetcars will have free demonstrations in Santa Cruz and Watsonville to raise awareness of the need for passenger light rail. Coast Futura, a coalition of...
New Ballot Measure Seeks To Increase Funds Towards Youth Development
Every time you buy weed in Santa Cruz, your tax dollars are invested in Santa Cruz’s youth. A new ballot measure is seeking to increase that use of tax dollars. Measure A, if passed, would designate more tax revenue toward the Santa Cruz Children’s Fund....
Street Vendors to Return to Beach Street with New Permitting Process
For a beach town boasting a historic boardwalk, buying street food in Santa Cruz is a much more elusive task than you would think. As restaurants, bars, and even the boardwalk itself have reopened recently, hoping to recover from COVID-related economic losses, street vendors have...
“Our Work Continues”: Hundreds Gather at Courthouse Steps to Remember George Floyd
How much has the world changed in a year? The question remained aloft as over 200 people gathered in front of the Santa Cruz Courthouse on the evening of May 25, the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police. The community gathering and...
From the Field to Your Table: How Corporate Growers Exploit Farmworker Vulnerability
The fastest strawberry pickers can complete approximately nine baskets per hour, being paid between $1.75 and $2.00 per basket. Growers say this piece rate can suffice for minimum wage, but that is rarely the case. Exposed to dangerous pesticides, unable to access benefits like healthcare,...
City Closes Harvey West “Agreement Camp,” Relocates Residents to San Lorenzo Benchlands
*Pseudonym used to protect source’s privacy. City clearing of the Harvey West “Agreement Camp,” a houseless encampment that had been nestled in the northwest corner of Harvey West Park since December 2020, began the morning of May 19, sending its about 30 residents and their...
Caltrans Clears Highway 1 and 9 Houseless Encampments Ahead of Widening Project
Residents of a houseless encampment alongside of the intersection of Highways 1 and 9 were told to pack up their belongings and leave by the morning of May 10, as Caltrans workers began a weeklong cleanup of the debris and belongings remaining at the site. ...
New Executive Director to Lead Expansion of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust
“Growth,” a six-letter word to many a conservationist, isn’t the major goal you would expect from a nonprofit that stewards the land of North Central California. But when Raymond Hitchcock was selected as the Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s (AMLT) new executive director last month, growing...
Cowell’s Surf Shop Found Its Wave
The doors of the surf shop are wide open, letting the crisp ocean air waft around the building. In the center of the room are a dozen colorful surfboards, set back-to-back in a row. Walking through the sandy entryway, shoppers are greeted by a sea...