Beach Flats Lease Renewed for Three Years
Santa Cruz City Council approved an agreement with Seaside Company for a new three-year lease on 16,000 square feet of the Beach Flats Community Garden at Tuesday night’s packed city council meeting. Seaside will reclaim 10,000 square feet for its own landscaping purposes. Over 100…
Tending to the Community
A bittersweet atmosphere hung over Beach Flats on Friday morning as community members gathered to reflect on and celebrate the community garden and mourn the expiration of its 20-year lease. However, this aura began to change as wafts of burning sage drifted over the fences,…
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…
Last Week at City Council in Photos
By Casey Amaral and Stephen de Ropp About 100 people filled the Santa Cruz City Hall Chamber on Oct. 13 to voice their dissatisfaction with the upcoming closure of the Beach Flats Community Garden. The future of the garden is threatened by the property’s owner,…
A Community Uprooted
*A Spanish translation of this article will be posted soon. Photos by Jasper Lyons It’s 7:45 a.m., and Don Emilio’s sweat has already begun to bead on his brow. He wields a pink household broom, sweeping dirt into rows where young bean shoots are beginning to sprout….