Last week the City of Watsonville voted to place an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from 11 percent to 12 percent on the November ballot. TOT Taxes, otherwise known as hotel taxes, are an additional charge levied on overnight guests staying within a given area based upon how much they are paying for […]
News
Business Council Membership Unanimously Votes to Oppose Rent Control
Robert Singleton Executive Director Santa Cruz County Business Council robert.singleton@sccbusinesscouncil.com (707) 569-4546 Business Council Membership Unanimously Votes to Oppose Rent Control The Santa Cruz County Business Council Membership in their vote chose to follow the recommendation of our Board of Directors to oppose the Rent Control and Just Cause Eviction Measure as well as the […]
Strong Business, Better Community: My Time at the SCC Business Council
By: Sandra Parhami My name is Sandra Parhami, and for the last seven months I have served as the Policy and Programs Intern for the Santa Cruz County Business Council. As a recent college graduate from UCSC, I studied Economics and Cognitive Science— many would see this as a peculiar combination, but I thoroughly enjoyed […]
High Tax Burden is Burning Out Local Cannabis Industry
By: Sandra Parhami After more than a century of prohibition on recreational Marijuana, constituents were hopeful that the passage of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), approved by voters in 2016, would create state and federal tax revenue, as well as reduce the scope of the unregulated market, or ‘black market’, to […]
Balancing Affordable Housing in Watsonville
Last week the City of Watsonville held a study session to review potential options for their inclusionary zoning ordinance. Now we’ve covered inclusionary zoning (IZ) extensively in other blog posts, but essentially IZ is when a jurisdiction requires a certain percentage of new housing to be deed restricted to only be available to those earning […]
Exploring Sonoma and Marin Counties SMARTer by Train?
Exploring Sonoma and Marin Counties SMARTer by Train? By: Sandra Parhami As a Southern California native, my first experience traveling by train was the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, along the California coast, followed by a recent journey through the forest hills of Felton aboard the Roaring Camp Railroads. Neither of these experiences prepared me for the […]
Density Bonuses and You
Last week we announced that the Business Council would be working with other community partners, including Affordable Housing Now, MBEP, and the Chamber, to advocate in favor of a model density bonus program to be adopted at the County level. As part of that discussion we promised to provide a deeper dive into what a […]
Assistant Director for California Housing and Community Development Linda Wheaton’s YIMBY Presentation
YIMBY’s inaugural event at the Dream Inn was held Wednesday, March 28, 2018 and featured Keynote Speaker Assistant Director for California Housing and Community Development, Linda Wheaton. Wheaton gave a rousing speech to all attendees, “Building California’s Future” about the current status of housing legislature at the state level in California and what its […]