What's the matter with Santa Cruz

I agree 100 percent with the last comment in the attached article. The condition of the streets here is abominable...and now we are told it isn't going to get better any time soon. WHAT is the MATTER with Santa Cruz? The City Council's priorities are so skewed, they are allowing their city to sink into disrepair while they send out encouraging invitations to street people everywhere to come make downtown their home. Stories have been in the paper that homeless people are busing in here by the hundreds...the word is out among them: "Santa Cruz gives you all kinds of extras...food and shelter when you want it...and you can panhandle all up and down the county. If that fails, you can always rob the stores at night." (A recent article in the Sentinel told of several disgusted shop owners in Soquel who have been robbed three or more times, over and over and over.) At the same time, when something that would bring great tax revenue and outside money into the community--such as the convention hotel that would have replaced the ugly Dream Inn, the people are against it. Something is terribly wrong here. People who were born here can't afford to buy a home in this area. Many of its best young citizens are moving away. People are precariously buying homes for ridiculous prices, with no money down on interest-only loans, and loading themselves with mortgage debt to the hilt. A crash on idiocy like this is sure to occur. And meanwhile, the Council is voting on stupid things like making themselves a No-Nukes area. There is such a thing as carrying liberal attitudes to a very faulty extreme. Common sense needs to be included in there somewhere. Earth to Santa Cruz....Come in, Santa Cruz....

When I first moved here in the early '80s, Santa Cruz was a nice place to live. It has changed so much in the last 20 plus years, I hardly recognize it. I am searching the Internet for information about a good place to move to where my family can all be together and we can afford to buy homes. Many good people live here in Santa Cruz, but there is a terrible apathy and closed-mindedness about expansion of services and facilities that would bring in tax dollars. Change is not welcomed here.

And even when something new--a business or makeover of a business--is planned, for different odd reasons the plans often seem to fall by the wayside. For instance, when I first moved back here last September, there was a closing of K-Mart on 41st Avenue. Home Depot is scheduled to come into that building. But they can't make any plans, because, for some reason (as the Safeway manager explained to me), the makeover of that small plaza (which includes Safeway and a Ladie's Workout place) is dependent on Safeway renovating their store. Home Depot won't come in until that is done. And why is Safeway not going ahead with its renovation plans, so long in the works? Well, here's the kicker, according to the manager. They took so long in making their plans that they inadvertently let their permit run out (!!!!) So, it will be another year or so before they get new permits and can start renovating that store, which is a dirty, crowded mess. Does this sound to you like something typical of Santa Cruz happenings? Me, too.

Area libraries and schools are having to close. School necessities (paper, books, etc.) are in short supply, with teachers actually having to buy supplies for the kids out of their own pockets. Most teachers can't afford to live here, so good ones are moving away. The writing is on the wall. Soon only the rich (who will send their kids to private schools), the aging population who purchased their homes when prices were affordable, and the homeless will be living here. The young blood that keeps a city vital is having to move away from their community in order to raise their families.

When expansion does occur, which is out of the city's hands, as is happening at UCSC, there is only anguish among the town population--and no planning to accommodate the change by making better road access, etc.

This is a sad tale about a city that is dying in the most important ways, whether it recognizes it or not. It may be a slow death, because it has a great location by the ocean and redwoods, which attracts those who can afford to live here. But the condition of its streets, infrastructure, and schools is showing the beginnings of its demise as a good place to raise your kids. I don't know the answer about how to save it, because it will take a great deal more openmindness and willingness to see change occur in this town that has tried to wall out the outside world and life-breathing expansion, to its detriment. At present, I don't see an overall attitude change happening. Do you? If you disagree with this assessment, I'd love to hear from you. I believe Santa Cruz is a victim of unbalanced thinking. Its liberal attitudes have gone too far over into borderline insanity by opening itself to the takeover by the homeless in the downtown area. And its ultra-conservative attitudes of "I've got mine, and now we don't want any more people here disturbing us and our lifestyle" have also edged over into insane areas where the minds are closed to expansion of the tax base, which would greatly improve the budget. Those attitudes are going to have to meet in the middle if new life is going to be breathed into this once-beautiful, now shabby (and getting shabbier by the day) town.

And we won't even mention the traffic problem and the much-needed expansion of Hwy. 1 or expansion of mass transportation over the hill.

Maybe I am missing something. I am open to receiving information from anyone who disagrees. Feedback, anyone?

www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/May/08/local/stories/01local.htm