Relieving Food Insecurity During a Pandemic
There are 146 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two associated deaths in Santa Cruz as of May 13. One in five adults and one in four children in Santa Cruz County are food insecure, according to a study that was conducted by the Second Harvest…
Three Santa Cruz Hotels Contracted for Houseless Isolation
On April 3, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Project Roomkey, a statewide initiative aimed at securing up to 15,000 hotel rooms for houseless individuals. The state acquired 12,603 rooms and 1,200 trailers as of April 29. “This is something that’s going on all over the place,…
Despite Council Vote, Food Not Bombs Continues Providing Meals
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Food Not Bombs (FNB) only provided meals to the houseless community on weekends. Since Santa Cruz’s shelter in place order began on March 17, FNB has served about 100 houseless individuals for over 50 consecutive days. “The thing that’s very…
Protesters Demand Renters’ Rights
Marchers convened in the street as they walked down Soquel Avenue toward Pacific Avenue. Banners spanned the lane of traffic. Passers-by cheered and honked car horns. Chants of “Fight, fight, fight, housing is a right,” echoed off storefronts. About 35 marchers from the Santa Cruz…
Santa Cruz Wavers Under Broken Trust
Over 200 community members and leaders gathered at City Hall on Tuesday night, and filled the room to maximum occupancy while others sat outside and viewed the meeting through glass windows or watched from other rooms via livestream broadcasting. Santa Cruz City Council ruled unanimously…
Protesters and Mourners Fill City Hall
About 70 people gathered into the rows of Santa Cruz City Hall on Tuesday night to voice their opinions about the police-involved shooting of Sean Arlt on Oct. 16. Arlt was a Santa Cruz resident, father and poet who had a mental illness. Over 30…
A Garden Gamble
By Georgia Johnson and Juan Cristian Villamil Santa Cruz Seaside Company offered to extend just under two-thirds of the Beach Flats community garden’s lease for another three years. The remaining 10,000 square feet excluded from the lease will be used by Seaside Company as a…
Fight Continues for Beach Flats Garden
By Keiera Bradley and Juan Cristian Villamil By 7 p.m., Santa Cruz City Hall was filled with about 100 Beach Flats community garden supporters wearing neon green shirts and handmade vegetable-shaped paper hats. The crowd was a mix of Beach Flats residents, UC Santa Cruz students and…
Armored Vehicle Fails to Deflect Opposition
By Susana Alvarez and Georgina Sandoval While shouting, banging on windows and even chaining themselves to light fixtures, demonstrators demanded the rescindment of the Santa Cruz City Council’s approval of a grant from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase an armored police vehicle….
Meet Your New City Council Members
We asked three City Council members elected in November about some of the city’s biggest issues.