Santa Cruz Local

In January, we interviewed more than 200 voters from Santa Cruz, Live Oak, Aptos, La Selva Beach, Corralitos, Soquel, the Summit, Capitola and the surrounding areas. Our goal: Listen to ordinary people's priorities for the upcoming March 3 local election. We tried to find voices that you don't normally hear in city council or board of supervisors meetings.

We share with you what we learned from our interviews and our online survey. Based on what we heard, we wrote a list of questions that we asked the candidates for Santa Cruz City Council and the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors.

For transcript, photos and our newsletter: https://www.santacruzlocal.org

Register to vote in California or change your party, your address or your name: https://www.registertovote.ca.gov/

Check your registration and voter history: http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/ElectionSites/

This is part six of our series about us and our company. We take you behind the scenes of our local news startup and show you how we make decisions.

In this episode, you meet Natalya Dreszer, our community engagement intern. Natalya shares how she came to Santa Cruz Local and why she’s doing this work. Plus, we share how and why we want your help to create stories that are meaningful and valuable to you.

Read our community engagement mission statement: santacruzlocal.org/community

Sign up for our newsletter: santacruzlocal.org

Locals, our last Open Newsroom Office Hours on the elections is 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday Jan. 19 at the Pleasure Point staircase at the end of 33rd Avenue. Come meet us and share your priorities for the election!

We answer your questions on how to vote in Santa Cruz County. Then we break down what's on your ballot in the March 3 primary election. And we explain our approach to reporting on the local elections. Spoiler alert: It's all about you.

We're hosting a dozen community events in the next two weeks. Meet us in person and tell us what you want the local candidates to talk about. www.santacruzlocal.org/events

Fill out our online survey about the elections: www.santacruzlocal.org/votesurvey

Register to vote in California or change party/address/name: www.registertovote.ca.gov

Check your registration and voter history: https://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/ElectionSites/

Editor's Note: A previous version of this episode mentioned a vote for more fire service in County Service Area 48. That ballot has been mailed separately to voters in that area and will be tallied in January. It does not appear on the March 3 ballot.

Happy holidays! Santa Cruz Local co-hosts Kara Meyberg Guzman and Stephen Baxter update you on what Santa Cruz Local has been up to last few weeks. We let you in on our plans for covering the March 2020 local election. And we reflect on our first few months as a membership-driven local news organization. Thank you to all our listeners, readers and members for helping us build this organization and community.

Sign up for our newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/santacruzlocal/podcast

Tuesday's Santa Cruz City Council meeting was the last with Martine Watkins as mayor. In a ceremony, the city council swore in Justin Cummings as the new mayor for 2020. Donna Meyers will be vice mayor. Cummings is Santa Cruz’s first black male mayor.

It was a difficult year for the city council — accusations of disrespectful behavior between councilmembers, an investigation into workplace misconduct by two councilmembers, an ongoing recall campaign against those same councilmembers, and a decision for the council to undergo mediation.

Mayor Martine Watkins, Cummings and Meyers all gave speeches Tuesday with ideas on how the city can heal and move forward. We're sharing the audio recording because we thought it was worth a listen. For a full report on Tuesday's meeting, visit santacruzlocal.org.

Much of Santa Cruz’s affordable housing development is dependent on market-rate developers. In December, the Santa Cruz City Council will consider an increase in the number of affordable housing units that developers are required to build. It’s called an inclusionary rate, and the city council may raise it from 15% of new units to 20%.

The city needs to set the rate high enough that it forces the maximum number of affordable units. But the rate shouldn’t be so high that the costs scare away developers.

Likely the debate will come down to whether the city should do an economic study. We break down the value and shortcomings of economic studies and what’s at risk. We talk to a developer and discuss some economic factors that go into developers’ decisions to build.

There's a flip side to Santa Cruz's housing shortage. Wages here are relatively low. That's a big reason why many can't afford to rent or buy homes. We hear about trends in jobs in our county. And we hear from Hector Juarez and Cynthia Chase, two Santa Cruz residents with similar dreams, and how our local economy has shaped their lives.

Tenants in Santa Cruz will see new protection from arbitrary evictions. The Santa Cruz City Council passed an emergency eviction law Tuesday that enacts part of a new state law immediately.

Also, the council may change the number of affordable units that developers are required to build. It's called an inclusionary rate, and the city's looking at increasing it from 15% of units in new development to 20%. Some councilmembers worry that will create less development, and thus, fewer affordable units.

Lastly, we hear an update on 190 W. Cliff, the 89-unit condominium project across the street from the Dream Inn.

After much debate, the Santa Cruz City Council approves 190 W. Cliff, an 89-unit condominium project across the street from the Dream Inn. In other news, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors allows rural landowners to vote on a tax for increased fire and medical service. Plus, more news from around the county.

After the Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed much of downtown Santa Cruz in 1989, city leaders and residents came together to rebuild the downtown in a deliberate way. A 36-member committee formed a plan for development which continues today. On the quake’s 30th anniversary, Santa Cruz Local talks to some of the key players and explains how Pacific Avenue came to be.

Editor's note: The Loma Prieta earthquake was a magnitude of 6.9 on the moment scale, the scale most commonly used to describe large quakes. This episode lists the quake’s magnitude as 7.1, which was its surface-wave magnitude, not a commonly-used metric for large quakes.