News
To Beat A Dead Horse, or Camel? Whatever it’s about Housing Stupid
If you watched last week’s Santa Cruz City Council meeting you may have unknowingly seen a perfect example of everything that is wrong with housing politics in Santa Cruz. For just a brief moment, you saw elected leaders literally say one thing, and then in the exact same set of remarks, admit that it wouldn’t…
Read More190 West Cliff: 5 Biggest Takeaways
Last week the Santa Cruz City Council took an important step in our community’s housing future by approving 190 West Cliff, a density bonus project that will provide 79 new condos, 10 deeply affordable units, and a local market–combined with public open space–on what used to be an inefficient surface lot. The Business Council has been working…
Read MoreThe Gig is Up: California AB 5
Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California AB 5 into law. AB 5 is expected to have a large impact on California’s gig economy. Our staff took a look into the details of AB 5 including which practices are exempt from the law. You can check out our short one pager as well as our…
Read MoreKilling the Corridors Plan, or Did They?
It’s been about a month since the current Santa Cruz City Council decided to kill the famous Housing Corridors Plan, which would have allowed for taller, mixed use buildings along the four main transportation corridors throughout the City: Ocean, Water, Soquel, and Mission Street. This is basically urban planning 101: when you are constrained based upon available land, it’s both more efficient and…
Read MoreLeadership as Deference
About two weeks ago a member of my Board alerted me about an item that was coming up before the Santa Cruz City Council related to overnight parking on community college campuses. “That’s peculiar” I thought, because the City of Santa Cruz doesn’t have a community college. I was already attending the meeting for a…
Read MoreCounting the County’s Cash
Things are looking up for Santa Cruz County as the Board of Supervisors has approved a spending plan for their overall proposed budget of $1.598 million. On June 25th, the Board unanimously approved the County’s first ever two year budget. This two-year proposed budget is an overall more efficient and effective means to achieve our…
Read MoreSanta Cruz is on the Move
Recently, the Santa Cruz County Business Council invited Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC)’s Executive Director Guy Preston to present at our May Board meeting. The presentation gave our board an excellent understanding of the different issues that the Santa Cruz County is facing such as maintenance, congestion, and transportation equity. You can view Guy’s…
Read MoreWatsonville is Open for Business, and Beer.
If you aren’t a stranger to Santa Cruz County politics then you would realize how interesting and unique a sight it was to behold last Tuesday during the evening session of the Watsonville City Council. The chambers were crowded, with a broad spectrum of people of all ages and cultural backgrounds in attendance, but unlike…
Read MoreBecause We Can’t Build It Yesterday
Senate Bill 330 By SCCBC’s new Policy and Programs Intern, Kaia Partlow The “Housing Crisis Act of 2019” ,introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner on February 19th, 2019, declares a statewide emergency to be in effect until January 1, 2030. Governor Gavin Newsom has called for the creation of 3.5 million units within the next seven…
Read MoreWhy Say Yes to Housing: Featuring Senator Scott Wiener
On Friday, April 5th, the Santa Cruz County Business Council, Santa Cruz YIMBY, and the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership hosted Senator Scott Wiener at the Peace United Church to discuss housing at the state level. Senator Wiener, who represents San Francisco and San Mateo County, also gave an overview about his SB 50 bill (which we…
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