It’s a sunny August afternoon in downtown Santa Cruz, and teenagers are strolling to the movies and eating ice cream cones while young mothers push baby strollers down Pacific Avenue. Ken Hietella, 49, is standing on the corner arguing with a college-aged man holding a clipboard about the specifics of Alaska’s fishing regulations. Apparently it was the question “Do you have a minute to save the environment?” that set him off.
Articles by Jacob Pierce
County RDA To Remain As A Shell
The county agency responsible for building the Live Oak Library, Simpkins Family Swim Center and 20 miles of sidewalk has decided to keep its name but not much else. The Santa Cruz Redevelopment Agency is essentially closing down but will operate at diminished capacity after paying $9.7 million this year. That’s the county’s portion of the cumulative $1.7 billion that the Brown administration says redevelopment agencies owe California.
Coastal Commission Nixes La Bahia
Depending on whom one asks, the California Coastal Commission either squandered Santa Cruz’s biggest tourism-boosting project in years or held the line on height limits in the city’s coastal zone. The commission—tasked with preserving 1,100 miles of coastline—voted 6-4 on Thursday, Aug. 11 not to change the city’s coastal plan to accommodate Barry Swenson Builder’s proposal to tear down the crumbling La Bahia Apartments and put in a 125-room condo-hotel. The much-anticipated hotel would have literally raised the roof—a full one-and-a-half stories above the city’s own four-story coastal limit. It’s an exception the agency wasn’t willing to overlook.
Santa Cruz Council Orders Water Swap Study
First proposed in the 1980s, the notion of a cross-county water swap lost traction soon after going public as both parties agreed there was “little potential” for a share. Now it’s back.
Cashing Out
In the midst of California’s budgetary tug-of-war, Betsey Lynberg, administrator for Santa Cruz County’s Redevelopment Agency, and her colleagues are punching at calculators and trying to figure out whether or not their 24-year-old agency can survive another fiscal year, but the signs don’t look good.
Beach Pollution Prevention Efforts Paying Off
Save Our Shores volunteers prevented 1,657 pounds of cigarette butts, firework remains and assorted beach party leftovers from becoming a stinky supper stew in the stomachs of seabirds and marine wildlife on July 5. More than 250 volunteers swarmed 10 beaches in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties at 8am on the “morning after” cleanup in the aftermath of righteous, if environmentally damaging, Independence Day celebrations.
Breaking Down Bike Safety
After the death last week of cyclist Noel Hamilton—the second fatal hit-and-run accident involving a bicyclist in June—a memorial sprouted up at the scene on Old San Jose Road.
Pet Cause: Bigfoot Benefeet
Santa Cruz musicians and musical establishments are banding together for weekend-long “Bigfoot Benefeet” to keep the institution afloat.
Santa Cruz Ride of Way
A lot of bike projects have been trotted out over the last few years. Here’s a progress on the Rail Trail, the Pogonip Multi-Use Trail, the Arana Gulch Trail and the King Street project.
The Tesla of Scooters
“Have you ever ridden a motorcycle before?” Rick Ator of GreenMotors on Soquel Avenue asks me as he prepares to hand over his shiny red ride. Before I finish describing my very limited scootering experience, he interrupts. “Good. This one’s faster,” he says, pulling a piece of shrink wrap off the left blinker.
With the slightest twist of the wrist, the 4,000-watt electric scooter lurches forward like a bull breaking out of a hamster cage. “Go slow,” he tells me as I inch out of the parking lot for my test ride in pulsing jolts of acceleration.
