SANTA CRUZ >> Of the numerous challenges and achievements the city of Santa Cruz faced in 2016, one stood out for Mayor Cynthia Chase: the local housing crisis.
“Obviously, the challenge comes as no surprise to anyone,” Chase said Tuesday morning to a room of about 150 city employees, business and education community representatives and others at Hotel Paradox. “Our community is struggling with a full-blown crisis that requires rethinking of approach, emphasizing innovation, capitalizing on the growing level of compassion and expertise in our community and we need to come together to define our collective housing condition.”
Chase said during the city’s State of the City Address that, going forward, the city should address needs, barriers and solutions to the city’s housing difficulties.
Chase touched on several successes in the past year: the release of the city Homeless Coordinating Committee recommendations, the nearly-complete overhaul of the community funding process and the surface sealing of 24 miles of city roads — more than 15 percent of its stock.
Other successes, according to Chase: the initiation of the Branciforte Bridge levy pathway construction and Water Supply Advisory Committee recommendations. In 2016, Santa Cruz also maintained its highest-level AA+ bond rating, was voted in a Gallup poll for the Watsonville-Santa Cruz metro area as No. 3 in overall well-being nationwide, and received voter support of new library and transportation tax measures, Chase said.
The city, Chase said, intends to help “drive the conversation” when it comes to housing, but will need to build relationships and trust with various factions of the community to be successful. In particular, the city will aim to hear from factions of the community that have previously not had a voice in the housing discussion, she said.
In a preview of 2018 budget discussions later that afternoon, Santa Cruz City Manager Martín Bernal spoke of three proposed City Council focus areas in the coming two years: housing, well-being and infrastructure. Under well-being, the city will look to address homelessness, nuisance crime reduction and enhanced community inclusiveness. For its infrastructure issues, the city will look to potential revenue measure to fund city capital improvements, teeing up the downtown library project and developing an internet fiber infrastructure strategy.
In the area of economic development, department Director Bonnie Lipscomb shared efforts focused on the downtown. A sampling of the projects included a parking and retail market study, new housing development next door to the Santa Cruz Metro station on Pacific Avenue, citywide wayfinding signage development, a new city podcast and a summertime city-Chamber of Commerce leadership summit.
