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The Catalyst could be demolished to make way for a seven-story building with condos. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)

SANTA CRUZ >> Two Santa Cruz residents have launched an effort to purchase The Catalyst Nightclub building that is slated for redevelopment into 64 condominiums. The campaign went online on Wednesday and by Friday afternoon more than 1,100 individuals had pledged to pitch in more than $540,000 to make the purchase, according to the website. 

Jay Brown and Jeremy Stone, longtime friends and Santa Cruz residents, are leading the charge. The two said they plan to meet with the developer and see if they are open to selling it, though the buildings are not listed for sale. Brown and Stone said they might try to purchase a different property if the developer doesn’t bite. 

When asked if it was not premature to launch this campaign prior to speaking with the property owner, Brown said the pledges are important to “signal to the city, to The Catalyst, to the developer — we really want to maintain and preserve The Catalyst.”

“The topic of The Catalyst and its connection to downtown and how downtown is shifting is something that the city is like abuzz with all the time,” said Stone, a music producer, owner of westside recording studio Sonivore and member of the Santa Cruz Arts Commission. 

“A lot of people feel as if they don’t have any control over how things are changing and where it’s going. We saw this opportunity with The Catalyst and we decided that it would be an incredible thing to do for the community,” Stone said.

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The owner of 1009, 1011 and 1015 Pacific Ave. is GSH Ventures, a multinational real estate firm and developer. The properties were listed for sale for $4.5 million last year after its longtime owners decided to sell. 

Representatives of GSH did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.

Brown said when he and Stone initially launched the effort, they did not realize that the building had already sold — but they still intend to ask to buy it. Their top priority is “to be an ally to The Catalyst,” Brown said, and they have a meeting set with The Catalyst’s business manager Igor Gavric next week.

Gavric said at a community meeting in January about the development, “The Catalyst has full intention of continuing to operate, at 1011 Pacific or wherever.”

Stone and Brown have not collected any money yet, they said, the pledges are a way to gauge how much Santa Cruz residents want to save The Catalyst. They said they envision it becoming a “community-owned venue,” but haven’t ironed out the details of how exactly that would work.

The two also said they are open to pivot, and channel the energy from the campaign into a different project or a different building if that’s what makes the most sense. 

“It’s a testament to what the city and the people in Santa Cruz want that they showed up in numbers, with so much energy behind it,” Stone said.

Santa Cruz City Council candidate Hector Marin launched a ballot initiative campaign in an attempt to protect the building as a historical monument, but ultimately came up short of the signatures required.

City leaders said the designation wouldn’t have affected the developer’s plans as state law allows housing proposals to lock in development standards in place when the proposal is submitted.

GSH Ventures submitted a pre-application to the city in November for a seven-story building with 64 condos and ground-floor commercial space. The development would require demolishing The Catalyst, which has occupied the space since the 1970s.

City leaders initially said the developer would allow The Catalyst to rent the bottom floor of the building to continue operating, but later walked that back, saying the developer was open to it but had not made a deal with The Catalyst.

The Catalyst’s lease in the building expires in 2028.

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The post Santa Cruz residents make bid to purchase Catalyst building as community-owned venue appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.

Esta traducción fue generada utilizando inteligencia artificial y ha sido revisada por un hablante nativo de español; si bien nos esforzamos por lograr precisión, pueden ocurrir algunos errores de traducción. Para leer el artículo en inglés, haga clic aquí.

El Hospital Comunitario de Watsonville podría recibir cierto alivio financiero en las próximas semanas gracias a una legislación dirigida a ayudar a hospitales en crisis económica.

El Proyecto de Ley de la Asamblea 108 (AB 108), firmado por el gobernador Gavin Newsom el jueves, es una medida presupuestaria de emergencia que asigna casi 25 millones de dólares para apoyar a hospitales públicos y sin fines de lucro que estén “experimentando dificultades financieras inmediatas y significativas.”

La medida busca estabilizar a un pequeño número de hospitales del estado que, de otro modo, no podrían pagar sus deudas antes del 1 de julio. Para ser elegibles, los hospitales deben tener menos de 10 días de efectivo disponible, haber agotado otras opciones financieras y contar con más de la mitad de sus pacientes inscritos en programas públicos, como Medi-Cal o Medicaid, o no tener seguro médico, según el proyecto de ley.

El Hospital Comunitario de Watsonville cumple con esos criterios.

El senador estatal John Laird, defensor del proyecto, declaró a Lookout que los 25 millones de dólares se distribuirán entre los hospitales seleccionados según sus necesidades. Laird, quien actualmente preside el Comité Senatorial de Presupuesto y Revisión Fiscal del estado, dijo que existen planes para proponer una asignación adicional de 200 millones de dólares en el presupuesto estatal 2026-27 para apoyar a hospitales en dificultades.

Laird indicó que podrían pasar algunas semanas antes de que los hospitales seleccionados reciban los fondos, pero afirmó que trabajará con la oficina del gobernador para acelerar la distribución del dinero.

“Estos hospitales son proveedores esenciales de atención médica en comunidades que a menudo tienen pocas alternativas,” dijo Laird en un comunicado separado. “La AB 108 proporciona un salvavidas inmediato para ayudar a mantener operando servicios críticos de salud mientras la Legislatura continúa trabajando en soluciones más amplias y de largo plazo.”

El director ejecutivo del Hospital Comunitario de Watsonville, Stephen Gray, declaró a Lookout por correo electrónico que la aprobación de la AB 108 representa una “potencial victoria clave” para el centro médico, ya que brinda la oportunidad de solicitar subvenciones a través del programa de préstamos para hospitales en crisis, del cual el hospital ya se ha beneficiado anteriormente.

“Esto es de importancia crítica para el hospital mientras enfrentamos desafíos fiscales provocados por retrasos en el financiamiento y recortes a nivel federal,” dijo Gray.

El último año y medio ha traído importantes desafíos financieros para el Hospital Comunitario de Watsonville. En enero, el hospital reportó una pérdida cercana a los 23 millones de dólares en 2025 tras reducciones en el financiamiento estatal y federal, junto con una disminución en el número de pacientes.

Gray declaró previamente a Lookout que el hospital generó 137 millones de dólares en ingresos en 2025, cifra que estuvo 35 millones por debajo de lo esperado. Añadió que el hospital logró ahorrar 9 millones de dólares en su presupuesto de gastos mediante recortes en suministros y una contratación de personal más eficiente.

El hospital espera perder entre 4.5 y 10 millones de dólares en los próximos tres años, principalmente debido al proyecto republicano de reconciliación presupuestaria aprobado el verano pasado, que redujo casi 1 billón de dólares en fondos para los reembolsos de Medicaid de los que dependen los hospitales públicos.

“Si calificamos para esto y logramos recibir parte de esos fondos, sería un gran impulso para nosotros”, dijo el presidente de la junta directiva del hospital, Tony Nuñez.

Nuñez afirmó que el Hospital Comunitario de Watsonville atraviesa actualmente una situación financiera difícil y está tratando de recuperarse. “Al menos [los fondos] nos ayudarían a seguir avanzando en esa recuperación,” dijo Nuñez.

El verano pasado, la dirección del hospital comenzó la búsqueda de una posible alianza con proveedores regionales de atención médica, como CommonSpirit Health (administrador del Hospital Dominican de Santa Cruz), Sutter Health y UC San Francisco, para ayudar a gestionar las operaciones diarias del hospital.

Según Nuñez, la búsqueda de un socio financiero sigue en marcha, y la junta directiva debería recibir una actualización sobre el proceso en su próxima reunión a finales de mayo.

El Hospital Comunitario de Watsonville también sufrió un golpe financiero a finales de 2024 cuando fue víctima de un ciberataque, lo que provocó retrasos en el envío de facturas y en la recepción de pagos de compañías aseguradoras y pacientes. El personal del hospital tuvo que trabajar con expedientes en papel durante varias semanas.

El hospital tuvo que utilizar dinero de su fondo de emergencia, que ya era limitado cuando se creó el distrito de salud en 2022 tras la compra del hospital a una empresa con fines de lucro. El hospital apenas acaba de recuperarse del impacto financiero de ese incidente.

The post El Hospital Comunitario de Watsonville podría recibir alivio financiero temporal gracias a una nueva legislación estatal appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Following the approval late Thursday of a state bill aimed at helping financially troubled hospitals, Watsonville Community Hospital could expect some financial relief to help weather its ongoing challenges.

By Dan White

Kendra Baker, co-founder of the Penny Creamery and The Picnic Basket, is this year’s UC Santa Cruz Distinguished Humanities Alumni Award recipient, an honor that highlights a career shaped by the study of language and culture.

“I’m truly honored—and a bit surprised!—to receive this award,” Baker said. “UC Santa Cruz  played a formative role in my life, so being recognized by the Humanities Division feels especially meaningful. It brings up a deep sense of appreciation for my time there.”

Baker will receive the award at the Celebrating the Humanities event on Wednesday, May 27th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the Merrill Cultural Center. This is an event honoring excellence across the Humanities Division, from undergraduate award recipients to faculty, alumni, and experiential learning fellows.

“Kendra Baker’s career demonstrates how a humanities education can inform entrepreneurship, creativity, and community engagement in deeply tangible ways,” said Humanities Dean Jasmine Alinder. “Her work shows how humanistic training can move beyond the classroom and into the world, creating spaces that connect people, culture, and place.”

Throughout her career, Baker has come to see food as a form of art that is creative, expressive, deeply rooted in human experience, and closely connected to the humanities. 

“Working as a chef and restaurateur allows me to engage with craft, storytelling, and connection in a tangible way,” Baker said. “My experience in the Humanities Division fostered curiosity and adaptability, both of which have been invaluable. Phonetics, semantics, and syntax were certainly lessons in problem-solving, and I still encounter real-life puzzles every day!  More importantly, UC Santa Cruz helped shape how I think about building something that reflects values and creates meaningful, shared experiences.”

Baker didn’t come to UC Santa Cruz with plans to enter the food world.  She began as a chemistry major, with little interest in cooking or agriculture, before an encounter with the university’s farm program shifted her perspective. 

Seeing firsthand how food is grown—and the environment and community surrounding it—sparked a new way of thinking about food as something expressive and interconnected.

She eventually moved into language studies, focusing on Italian and Spanish.  Those experiences, she said, helped her recognize food as a powerful cultural language—one tied to identity, place, and human connection.

“While my path may not appear linear, and didn’t always make sense while I was on it, my degree in language studies ultimately shaped the direction I took and who I am today,” Baker said. 

Through the program, Baker studied in Italy and later traveled and worked in other parts of the world. 

“Those experiences revealed how central food is to culture, identity, and community,” Baker said. ‘It was during that time that I fell in love with food as a meaningful way to bring people together, and as a way for me to contribute.”

After graduating, Baker began working in Santa Cruz kitchens, including Gabriella Café in downtown Santa Cruz, an early leader in sourcing ingredients directly from local farms. She later pursued formal culinary training on the East Coast and refined her craft in both the United States and France, where she trained in pastry making and developed an appreciation for the precision and discipline behind it.

Her career took her through several high-profile kitchens including the MIchelin three-starred restaurant Manresa in Los Gatos before she returned to Santa Cruz to start her own venture. In 2010, she and Zach Davis co-founded The Glass Jar, launching The Penny Ice Creamery, which opened in a former hair salon and quickly gained a following for its seasonal flavors and commitment to local ingredients. 

Baker and Davis got a taste of national fame after they recorded a heartfelt YouTube video, thanking President Barack Obama and Congress for passing the Recovery Act, which helped make their vision into a reality. 

In the video, they tell the story about wanting to open a shop that made “really great ice cream from scratch; the kind of ice cream that Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Ben Franklin used to enjoy.” Because of the Recovery Act, they were able to secure a $250,000 small business loan.

That YouTube spot had an impact far greater than anything they could have predicted. Vice President Joe Biden called Baker and Davis to thank and congratulate them, and told them he would come to Santa Cruz when he could to try their ice cream. 

Shortly afterward, Baker and Davis ended up flying to Washington, D.C., to sit with First Lady Michelle Obama during the State of the Union address. The visit was surreal, to say the least, especially when the ice cream impresarios were riding in a motorcade speeding through the city with sirens blaring all around them.

Ice cream lovers celebrated The Penny Creamery for being one of the few ice cream shops in the nation that makes its own base from scratch, rather than relying on a pre-made base bought from other companies.  Baker and Davis also received a high-profile mention in the New York Times column, 36 Hours. 

Since its foundation, The Penny Creamery has expanded to seven locations – five in Santa Cruz county and two in Santa Clara County. The Penny Creamery also participates in two farmers markets and countless events throughout the year.

The Picnic Basket, a cafe located close to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, opened soon after the success of the Penny Creamery, expanding Baker’s vision into an informal restaurant rooted in community and place, with a focus on local ingredients.

Baker’s college experience also instilled in her a deep appreciation for engaging with creative disciplines, from music, literature, and poetry to the visual arts, which continue to inform and inspire her work.

“The Penny and The Picnic Basket are as much about people, storytelling, and community as they are about food,” Baker said.  They celebrate and reflect the uniqueness of Santa Cruz, its people, its flavors, and everything that makes it what it is.”

The post The language of flavor: Entrepreneur Kendra Baker’s journey from linguistics to local eats appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Watsonville leaders, state officials and community members gathered Thursday afternoon at City Plaza to celebrate the start of a long-awaited revitalization project aimed at preserving the historic downtown gathering place while expanding its use for future generations.

The project, which city officials said is expected to take about a year to complete in two phases, will renovate the plaza’s historic gazebo and fountain and add new amenities including a permanent stage, public art, seating areas and ADA-accessible pathways.

Deputy City Manager Nick Calubaquib called the plaza “the heart of the city,” noting it has hosted cultural celebrations, rallies, markets and community events for more than a century.

BACK THEN This 1900 photograph shows Watsonville Plaza with what was Third Street (now East Beach Street) at left. (photo, Pajaro Valley Historical Association)

“In too many communities, access to quality parks and open space is considered a privilege when it really should be a right,” Calubaquib said.

The first phase of construction will focus on restoring the historic gazebo and fountain and upgrading electrical infrastructure. That work is expected to take five to six months. A second phase, projected to last another eight to nine months, will include construction of a new permanent stage, expanded seating and picnic areas, public art installations and other improvements designed to support the more than 20 annual events held at the plaza.

LOCAL TOUCH Folkloric dancers were on hand after the ceremony to add local color to the event. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

The project received $3.35 million through California’s Proposition 68 Statewide Park Program grant, along with local funding through Watsonville’s Measure R parks initiative, officials said.

George Romero of the Pajaro Valley Historical Association said the plaza has been central to Watsonville life for 166 years and has evolved alongside the city itself.

“The plaza has served and continues to serve Watsonville well, providing a place for speeches, for rallies, for concerts, for protests, for festivals, for markets,” Romero said.

NEW ART This artist’s drawing shows one of four large sculptures designed by  Watsonville artist Kathleen Crocetti—with input from the community — planned for installation in the plaza. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

Romero also reflected on the generations of residents who have gathered there, noting the many languages spoken at the plaza over the years, including Spanish, English, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Zapotec and Mixteco.

Mayor Crystal Salcido credited former city councils and years of community feedback for bringing the project to fruition.

“This is our crown jewel,” Salcido said. “This is the epitome of what we mean by cultural designation.”

City Manager Tamara Vides described the project as part of a broader effort to create a more vibrant downtown that attracts residents, visitors and businesses.

“When I think about this project in particular, I don’t think it’s only improving infrastructure,” Vides said. “We are preserving history and we’re lifting culture and the identity of Watsonville while we are creating a space for future generations.”

Representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren and state Sen. John Laird also attended the ceremony, along with California State Parks officials, who praised the project as an example of community-driven investment in public spaces.

Construction is expected to begin immediately.

Top 10 exciting job opportunities in Santa Cruz County – Apply today!

Are you searching for your next career move in Santa Cruz County? Look no further! We’ve curated a list of the top 10 job opportunities recently posted to our job board, spanning various industries and roles. Whether you’re a recent graduate, seasoned professional, or someone seeking a fresh start, Santa Cruz has something to offer for everyone.

1. Shop Manager at The Penny Ice Creamery
2. Short Term Camp Bus Driver at Camp Ramah in Northern California
3. Forest Stewardship Manager at Sempervirens Fund
4. Project Manager 1 at MYNT Systems
5. Residential Community Service Supervisor at UC Santa Cruz
6. Finance Coordinator (Temporary) at Central California Alliance for Health (the Alliance)
7. Residential Community Service Supervisor at UC Santa Cruz
8. Principal Financial Analyst at UC Santa Cruz
9. Director of Product Success (National) at Lookout Local
10. Pediatric Dental Office Manager / Financial Coordinator at Alison K Jackson Children’s Dentistry

Why work in Santa Cruz County?

Santa Cruz County boasts a vibrant community, picturesque surroundings, and diverse career opportunities. From academic roles at UC Santa Cruz to impactful positions in healthcare and local government, the perfect place to support both your professional growth and work-life balance.

Ready to take the next step?

Apply for these exciting job opportunities in Santa Cruz County today!

FIND MORE ON THE LOOKOUT JOB BOARD >> Looking to hire? Build your team with us

• List your open positions: Amplify your job listings to reach engaged Santa Cruz County job seekers – post your job today.
• Save with job bundles: Purchase a job board bundle of 4 or 8 listings and save 25%. Redeem your jobs anytime. Bundles never expire. Get Your Bundles Here.
• Exclusive discounts for Marketing Partners: Are you a Lookout Marketing Partner? Contact your representative today to access your exclusive discount.

Questions about the job board? Reach out to Brittany at brittany@lookoutlocal.com.

The post 10 Hot Jobs in Santa Cruz County: Week of May 8 appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

California families welcoming newborns will soon receive hundreds of free diapers before leaving the hospital under a first-in-the-nation program announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Watsonville native Eli Alvarado just celebrated his 14th birthday in February.

But the list of his most recent wrestling accomplishments might indicate it could easily be someone with a lot more experience under their belt.

Or in this case, under their headgear.

It began on Feb. 21 with a first place trophy in the 136-pound division at the Rumble in Reno Tournament, which featured hundreds of athletes from across the nation. Alvarado was also runner-up in the 140-pound division.

The youngster went on to win the 140-pound 14-U division at the California USA Wrestling Folkstyle Tournament in Fresno on March 14. There he faced a group of challenging wrestlers from all over the state, which made the victory much sweeter.

“It was better than Rumble in Reno,” Alvarado said. “It wasn’t as hard as the 140 [pound division] in Rumble in Reno, but because they’re only from California it was still pretty challenging.”

Alvarado finished with a 6-1 record in the 140-pound division at the CA USA Wrestling Greco Tournament in Fresno on April 17-19. The one defeat bumped him down to No. 3 in his weight class, and is no longer in the running for the triple crown.

But, a loss on the mat won’t deter him from training even harder for next month’s CA USA Wrestling Freestyle Tournament in Fresno on May 29-31. 

Alvarado began his undeveloped wrestling career for the Watsonville Rivercatz, which is now known as Okie’s Kids Wrestling Club. 

Over the past few years, he’s been making the trip twice a week to Gilroy to train at the Daniel Cormier Wrestling Academy with Daniel Cormier—a former professional wrestler and mixed martial artist.

“[Cormier’s] not always there, but when he is there it’s cool,” Alvarado said. “I like the other coaches that are there, and it’s a pretty big club.”

Cormier has quite the wrestling resume himself, including a gold medal in the 96-kilogram division at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo and 2002 Pan American Championships in Maracaibo. 

Alvarado hasn’t had the chance to wrestle Cormier but best believe the student is soaking in everything the coach has to say, exactly like a sponge.

Alvarado said the biggest takeaway from attending the academy is learning how to be accountable for his own actions, and the results that come from it.

“Wrestling is on me, and I can’t rely on anyone else to help me win,” Alvarado said. “There’s not a team in wrestling.”

However, the youngster isn’t completely alone. His mother, Monique Montes-Alvarado, has been riding alongside his son’s journey the entire time. So far, the family has traveled as far as Ohio and South Dakota.

“It’s definitely exciting, and I think it’s a lot of fun, too,” Montes-Alvarez said. “That is our family vacation.”

Alvarado had a strong run both athletically and academically during the month of February. He maintained a 3.5 grade point average, while putting in extra work to finish his Folkstyle season on a high note.

Alvarado, who is currently homeschooled, mentioned that having good grades is a big must if he wants to continue wrestling in high school.

“If you can’t do sports, then you probably can’t get into a good college,” he said. “I”m trying to get a scholarship to get into college, and I can’t do that without a high GPA.”

Alvarado has a couple of dream schools in mind, including Stanford because it’s one of the best colleges academically and it’s close to home. 

His other choice is across the country at Penn State University, which is currently one of the top colleges for wrestling having won five consecutive NCAA Division I team titles.  

Alvarado’s path to a collegiate career became a lot more sturdier after he received some exciting news Tuesday afternoon. He was invited to represent the state of California in the 140-pound weight class as a member of the US national team. 

“It’s been interesting to see the more we travel to see the competition and kind of gauge where he’s at, which is pretty cool,” Montes-Alvarado said. “He stands pretty tall amongst the crowd. He’s got a really good work ethic.”

Alvarado will travel to Florida alongside a team made up of top wrestlers from across California to compete against other elite state teams in a week-long dual tournament in June.

On top of that, he was selected to represent his region in a California dual team tournament that will take place in Fresno, also in June.

“[Eli] is extremely excited for these opportunities, and as parents, we couldn’t be more proud of his hard work, dedication and accomplishments,” Montes-Alvarado said.

Candidates from all of the Santa Cruz city races on the June primary ballot joined a Lookout forum on Thursday evening at Hotel Paradox, at times grilling each other on the issues.

The forum began with District 4 Santa Cruz City Council candidates Hector Marin and incumbent Scott Newsome, then continued to the mayoral race, where Ami Chen Mills, Ryan Coonerty, Gillian Greensite, Chris Krohn and Joy Schendledecker took to the stage, and concluded with District 6 city council candidates Gabriella Noack and incumbent Renee Golder. 

ELECTION 2026: Read more local, state and national coverage here from Lookout and our content partners

The candidates spoke about a breadth of issues, including homelessness, development, hurdles to local business and the city’s budget. About 200 people were in attendance.

District 4 city council District 4 City Councilmember Scott Newsome (left) and his challenger, Hector Marin. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Newsome, first elected in 2022, said he’s most proud of working to restrict rent hikes at the St. George Apartments in downtown Santa Cruz, where dozens of low-income residents faced displacement in 2024. Marin, however, criticized Newsome and the city council for later rescinding the ordinance in a settlement with the building’s owner. Newsome responded by saying that the settlement essentially did what the ordinance would have accomplished.

Marin said that if elected he would push for rent stabilization and development tailored to locals first. He said he’d also hold more town halls to foster transparent conversations with constituents. He said his top spending priorities would be mental health services for unhoused residents and better salaries for essential workers.

“Right now, we have a housing crisis where the wages are not matching the current housing costs,” he said. “We want to ensure that we increase those living wages for our city workers, for our educators, for our police officers and for our firefighters.”

Newsome said the city budget is balanced and “looking good.” He said he would focus on investing in roads, coastal infrastructure and safer streets — and would aspire to do so without cutting anything from the budget. He didn’t specify how that would be accomplished.

To support local businesses, Marin wants to invest in grants for downtown businesses and use state and federal programs so more businesses can open in the area. He also said he’s in favor of improving traffic calming measures and e-bike safety on downtown streets. 

Newsome said that 21 businesses have opened downtown in the past 15 months, and that the city needs to keep promoting an environment for that to continue. 

Newsome also said that the vacancy rate downtown is only about 8%, and added that Marin supported a tax on businesses with receipts of $1 million or more, whether or not they’re profitable: “That will result in a lot more vacant storefronts downtown,” he said.

Marin responded saying that Newsome has approved many “disruptive developments” throughout downtown and that he has not stood up to corporate developers, which Marin said he would do if elected. Newsome said homelessness is the biggest issue he hears from residents, and while homelessness is reportedly down in the city, he said the city still has to increase shelter capacity and provide necessary services.

Newsome asked Marin how he supports affordable housing despite opposing the downtown library project and the real estate transfer and parcel tax, passed as Measure C in November. Marin said that he supported a number of fully affordable housing projects such as Pacific Station North and the Santa Cruz City Schools workforce housing project on Swift Street. He claimed Newsome is supported by external corporate interests and that he’s selling the city to those developers.

Santa Cruz mayor From left: Santa Cruz mayoral candidates Ami Chen Mills, Joy Schendledecker, Chris Krohn, Gillian Greensite and Ryan Coonerty. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Development was a major topic of focus in the mayoral forum. Schendledecker said the city has not built enough in the past, and while it has work to do to catch up, she thinks the city needs to push back against developers who say more affordable housing in projects doesn’t make sense. She said smaller and mid-sized developments are better for most places in the city.

Krohn said there are too many luxury apartments and not enough affordable units, referring to Pacific Avenue as becoming a “Wall Street.” He wants to hold a town hall meeting to see how people feel about development.

Greensite said there’s “no question” there is overbuilding in the city, and that the city needs to slow the pace of development. She also said that affordable housing should go to local workers, and that it needs to be spread throughout the county.

Coonerty said that focusing development downtown would make it easier for people to live close to transit and workplaces. But he agreed that some projects along the corridors proposed by local firm Workbench are “way out of scale.” He also added that UC Santa Cruz needs to add more of its own housing, and said a current lawsuit between the university and the city “hopefully” will force the school to build more. Krohn supported the lawsuit against the university, and added that the school needs to either build on campus or accept fewer students.

Chen Mills said the city is building too much, but recognized the housing crisis. She urged the need to balance building with the concerns from locals. She also advocated for a town hall for people to discuss design elements and objective standards for new projects.

The candidates clashed on some issues. Coonerty said it’s “head-spinning” that Schendledecker advocated for getting rid of single-family zoning in a KSQD interview, despite wanting to maintain community character.

Schendledecker replied that, given that people can already divide their lots, single-family zoning is already effectively gone, adding that it was also “racist and classist.” She said Coonerty has taken money from developers and worked as a consultant to developers, and the other four candidates have not.

On homelessness, the candidates also diverged somewhat. Greensite said she believes plenty of unhoused residents deserve help and housing, but that some “give the whole community a bad name.” She said if they don’t take shelter or treatment that’s offered, she would not tolerate public camping. Coonerty also said that it is “immoral and unacceptable” to have people living in streets and parks and that, similarly, if people don’t take resources offered to them, the city should use other tools like conservatorship or the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Courts, which would be a new court system to get people with psychotic disorders into state-sponsored treatment.

Chen Mills said the city has to work with the unhoused community to understand what they need for stability rather than “judging people who are currently unhoused.” Schendledecker said that not everyone can get into a shelter, and that they need space for healing and treatment. 

Krohn said that any replacement for day services, which homelessness nonprofit Housing Matters closed in April, should be spread out in multiple locations. He also expressed doubt that the city has successfully reduced homelessness.

One thing the candidates did largely agree on was that too much of the city budget goes to managerial and administrative positions. Krohn, Schendledecker and Greensite all said the city needs to cut perceived bloat at the top of some departments, while Chen Mills said she’d focus on funding the National Guard Armory shelter. Coonerty said he wants to create a dashboard that shows exactly what’s going on in the city with metrics such as crime rate, the number of businesses permitted and the unhoused population before setting a budget.

Throughout the evening, there was attention on Coonerty and what his opponents see as corporate and real estate backing, as well as a proximity to big tech and promotion of surveillance, like automated license plate readers. That came through when the candidates asked each other questions. Schendledecker asked Coonerty about what programs have led to progress in homelessness and which he would cut; Krohn asked him about his consulting for developers, donations from the real estate industry and how he can represent Santa Cruzans who want to see public oversight of development; and Chen Mills asked him to justify his general support for automated license plate readers.

Coonerty said he does believe that many homelessness programs in the city and county are good, but that the city needs to get people through the system more efficiently and that there needs to be an alternative for those who do not accept treatment services. To Krohn’s question, he said that he worked on projects he felt were good for the community, like a hotel downtown and student and faculty housing on Delaware Avenue, but he will not do any consulting should he win the mayorship. On license plate readers, he said that he holds the same view as the current council, which is to exit the Flock Safety contract, but be open to the technology if the city can find one that fits the city’s values.

Coonerty asked Krohn, Chen Mills, and Schendledecker why they support encampments in the city when voters are against them. Krohn said that once an encampment near Highway 1 and Gateway Plaza was broken up, unhoused residents dispersed throughout the city rather than having a centralized place to go, but that Coral Street is “an abomination.” Schendledecker said she won’t “punch down” and blame unhoused people for their issues, while Chen Mills said she is more in favor of managed or semi-managed shelters throughout the city where people can stay, rather than unsupervised encampments.

District 6 city council District 6 City Councilmember Renee Golder (center) and her challenger, Gabriella Noack, with Lookout moderator Jody K. Biehl at left. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

The final forum was by far the most cordial. In fact, Golder told Noack she would have helped her had she not been running herself. 

Regarding UC Santa Cruz housing demand, Noack – a senior at the university – said she noticed that the new student family housing on campus is both expensive and largely unoccupied, despite the university having many unhoused students. She said she wants the university to do a better job of revamping and maintaining its existing housing. 

Golder said there needs to be more housing on campus, and that the city needs to collaborate with the university rather than fall into an adversarial relationship.

Golder said she’s proud of the reduction in street homelessness the city has seen during her service term. She said she’d prioritize workforce housing and advocate for converting old buildings into condos to give people a path to ownership.

Noack said that should she be elected, she’d put more focus on localized labor as a requirement for new building projects, and that the city needs to be careful about who influences its decisions. 

“I think it’s very important to give that platform to grassroots movements, to nonprofits over development companies, over real estate unions that oftentimes have too much say in local politics because of how they donate money and who they have personal connections with,” she said.

Noack said she knows she’d be a young councilmember, but believes that gives her some advantages. She has experience teaching technology and has grown up understanding tech’s impact on society, both good and bad. A child of open adoption, she is in contact with two families, one upper-middle class and another “generationally disenfranchised,” giving her a unique perspective on a wide range of issues.

Golder said she’s worked to make sure the city understands how children are affected by its decisions. As the principal of Bay View Elementary School, she believes she has her “finger on the pulse” and understands people of all ages.

The two candidates agreed that making sure local workers are getting paid sufficiently to live and work in the city is a budgetary necessity: “Santa Cruz has thousands of employees working every day to keep our city functioning, and we need to protect them,” said Golder.

Noack asked Golder what advice she would give her, and what might be her biggest weakness if she is elected. Golder said, while not necessarily a weakness, a challenge would be establishing strong relationships with people in the community as a young person who has not lived in Santa Cruz for long.

Golder asked Noack to name five businesses in the district, their biggest challenges and how she would support them. Noack named Companion Bakeshop, saying the owners struggle with high operating costs and high employee turnover due to housing instability. She said she would advocate for tiered property taxes based on the number of properties an entity owns. She said that would target corporations and create a tax pool to fund small businesses.

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A local federal lawmaker is co-sponsoring a bill focused on safeguards for new energy storage systems. The legislation is expected to be introduced Friday.

U.S. Rep Jimmy Panetta, whose congressional district includes parts of Santa Cruz County, wants the Department of Energy to conduct research on energy storage systems and develop better safeguards in the wake of the January 2025 Moss Landing battery plant fire. 

The proposed legislation, co-authored by Rep. Pat Harrigan, a Republican from North Carolina, would direct the federal energy agency to explore what causes battery storage systems to fail, and to recommend preventative measures to reduce the risk of fires like the one that erupted at Moss Landing. 

“As we continue to move towards renewable energy, we must ensure that the corresponding and critical technology is safe and secure,” Panetta said in a media release. 

While state public utility commissions have authority over and responsibility for energy-production safety, this legislation would allow the federal government to mandate testing and development requirements for battery storage systems, Panetta said. 

The bill would authorize $30 million per year, starting in 2027 through 2031, for the research. The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Fire Administration would work together to develop better testing methods for energy storage equipment. 

Locally, community concerns about battery storage have only intensified following the massive blaze in Moss Landing. For the past year and a half, residents in south Santa Cruz County have been protesting a proposed battery storage project at 90 Minto Rd. outside Watsonville. That project is now going through the state, rather than the county, for approval. 

“The Moss Landing fire underscored the urgent need to strengthen safety standards for battery energy storage systems nationwide,” state Sen. John Laird said in the media release. “California has taken important steps at the state level, but federal partnership is essential to advancing research, improving coordination with fire officials, and developing stronger testing and safety standards.” 

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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for its newsletters.

As COVID-19 tore through California, Jennifer Hark Dietz had a decision to make. The state was making perhaps its biggest push ever to get people off the street, offering up billions of dollars for cities and organizations like hers to turn old motels into new homes.

It was risky. The Homekey program came with up-front cash and a promise to move fast and cut red tape. But it also meant taking on old buildings with little vetting, which had the potential to put a developer in a deep financial hole.

At first the gamble paid off. In just a few months, Hark Dietz’s nonprofit, People Assisting The Homeless, was housing people in the old 40-room Hollywood Orchid Suites in Los Angeles. She called it “a “shining light” for what seemed possible with the radical new program. 

But then came a pale pink Travelodge in the suburb of Gardena. The city of LA had already bought the motel for $9 million, and Hark Dietz said her team didn’t have a chance to vet or tour the site. They’d seen only online photos and basic inspection reports before they took it over in December 2020. A city consultant estimated that it would take about $50,000 to start moving people into the roadside motel. 

“Of course,” she said, “we know now that’s not the case.”

More than five years and nearly $3 million later, the motel — which turned out to need all new windows, plumbing and electrical, among other issues — was still vacant earlier this year. There was plywood over some of the windows, and someone graffitied a ghost on one side. 

The boom-or-bust results in Los Angeles underscore how little is known publicly about a generational project with a high price tag and even higher stakes. Some projects were huge successes. Others were total failures. Dozens remain stuck in limbo. CalMatters found there’s been little public accountability for any of it.

Launched by Gov. Gavin Newsom in the summer of 2020, Homekey awarded more than $3.8 billion to local governments to convert motels and other buildings into homeless housing, thrusting many local governments into a new role running multimillion-dollar real estate projects. Cities and counties could hire outside contractors to help or do the work themselves, skipping some of the usual building process for the sake of speed.

It was unlike anything the state had ever done, largely because it sprang from desperation. Homekey launched during peak COVID, five months before vaccines were available, and after cities had already moved thousands of unhoused people into motels through Project Roomkey, another Newsom program. But those rooms were temporary, and officials were scrambling to prevent a mass exodus back to the streets.  

With Homekey, local officials across the state bought and gutted Motel 6s, Best Westerns and roadside inns. They got more creative as the program evolved: Tiny homes sprouted in Silicon Valley, and Santa Cruz retrofitted an old dentist’s office. In Southern California, housing took shape in a former Tri-Delt sorority house, an earthquake-stricken church and a hostel that once served as a refuge for Japanese Americans returning from World War II internment.

Live Oak Apartments in Ukiah offers its residents access to common spaces, such as a community garden and meeting rooms for visitors. Credit: Manuel Orbegozo for CalMatters

“What we’re doing here today is multiples of what any state in American history has committed to address this crisis of homelessness,” Newsom said at a 2021 news conference announcing a major Homekey expansion. 

The program came with little built-in oversight. Earlier this year, state lawmakers killed a bill to audit Homekey. No state agency has publicly analyzed the program in detail to find out what’s working and what’s not.

The challenge now: A new and more complex phase is already underway with up to $2 billion from the voter-approved Proposition 1 mental health bond. But no one has publicly accounted for how many of the program’s original projects stalled out and how many succeeded.

To find out what happened, CalMatters filed more than 100 public records requests with cities and counties that were awarded Homekey funds. We asked for key details on 250 projects announced through the end of 2024, covering all but a handful of projects for which less public data was available. Those state and local records — along with dozens of visits to Homekey sites, plus interviews with people who built and lived in them — create a first-of-its-kind window into how it all played out.

Among our findings:

• Homekey made producing housing simpler. But it came at a cost. Homekey provided billions of dollars in housing funding up front, allowing some developers to sidestep the usual webs of investors and lenders and finish much faster than normal. But fewer funders also means less oversight. With rushed vetting, some projects got bogged down in delays, blown budgets or worse. At least one Homekey developer was forced out of business by an unwieldy project. Another is facing fraud charges.
• When Homekey worked, those involved stress that it really worked. Nearly 13,500 people now live at Homekey sites, according to the state Housing Department. For small and rural communities, such as Glenn County, the program provided crucial cash for their first-ever homeless housing. Officials from Mendocino County to Ventura say they were able to stabilize people longer term by adding stronger ties to public services and extra investment in resources such as counseling.
• Those successes magnify the opportunities squandered. Projects involving about 3,000 homes — roughly 1 in 5 promised by the program — weren’t finished as of the end of last year. Another 2,000 units have people living in them on a temporary basis but haven’t been converted into permanent housing, the program’s main goal. In 10 instances involving 500 more units, the state publicized grants that later were canceled or that never materialized because local officials or developers backed out.
• A lack of transparency raises familiar questions about the program’s future. State officials stress that they have extended deadlines and improved vetting for the program’s latest bond-funded iteration, Homekey+. But they refused to publicly provide details about that vetting process. And as homeless services providers have long warned, there remains no guaranteed state funding to keep existing or planned Homekey projects going. 

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Yes, many Homekey projects opened late or over budget. But, officials emphasize, they still opened.

Newsom said he considers the program a “phenomenal success.” 

“We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of projects all across the state of California that they’re trying to manage and organize and operate,” he said when CalMatters asked about it at a recent news conference. “And I imagine each one of them brings its own opportunities and own challenges as we move forward and implement at a scale we’ve never implemented in the state’s history.”

Taryn Sandulyak knows that better than most. The Bay Area developer thought Homekey might be her big break, but it ultimately put her out of business. She sees a fundamental mismatch at the heart of the program. It wanted high quality, high speed and low budgets. 

“You can only have two of those,” Sandulyak said. “You really can’t ever have three. That’s the issue with Homekey, is they give you not quite enough money to do it, and they want you to do it really, really fast and really, really well.”

The chasm between Homekey successes and failures isn’t a simple, one-size-fits-all story. But it does provide an outline of what it will take to make good on California’s big effort to finally make a dent in its homelessness crisis. 

‘Failing was not an option’

On the west side of Ventura, just as the surf town creeps up into the hills toward Ojai, sits what used to be one of the city’s worst nuisance properties: a nearly 100-year-old apartment building once known, in a nod to local drug slang, as the “Booyah Mansion.” 

The city’s housing authority, Ventura Housing, cobbled together enough money in 2019 to buy the building. But it didn’t have enough cash to fix all 300-something code violations at the crime-ridden property — until Homekey came along. 

“We had some scary stuff go on here,” said Karen Flock, Ventura Housing’s real estate development director. “This property failing was not an option.”

Now known as El Portal, the 29-unit apartment complex today serves as a lifeline for a mother with 9-year-old-twins, one with severe autism. It’s a refuge for a woman who lived for six years in a city-funded Tuff Shed. Another neighbor still keeps his shopping cart from the street in his apartment as a reminder of what he’s been through, and why he can never go back.

Cynthia Gomez, 60, at her home in El Portal apartments in Ventura. Gomez, who was formerly homeless, now lives in a studio apartment. Credit: Julie Leopo-Bermudez for CalMatters

Ventura and other cities and counties that were able to pull off Homekey projects relatively on time and on budget credit a variety of factors for their success. Some grantees provided services themselves rather than contracting them out, better integrating public resources. Others raised extra money for on-site social services or worked closely with first responders to head off concerns about crime and stabilize residents.

Jeffrey Lambert, CEO of Ventura Housing, said the crucial thing was realizing early that Homekey money alone isn’t nearly enough. Instead, the city combined it with other public and private funding, staffing and resources. Projects that failed or got stuck in limbo often fell apart after they ran out of money.

“Homekey works,” Lambert said, “because of all the stuff added on top of it.”

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For housing researchers such as Ryan Finnigan, deputy director of research at UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, the real strength of Homekey was not the building minutiae. It was the attempt to challenge the state’s status quo of painstakingly slow housing development while people keep pouring onto the streets.

“If we’re not willing to try a new approach,” he said, “then we’re not going to learn as much about how we can be more creative, how we can work with more urgency than the current systems.”

As fraught and full of delays as the construction process can be, getting a project completed is often just the first hurdle for Homekey. Once a project opens its doors, it typically needs significant resources in addition to the state funding. Mendocino County credits much of its project’s success to extra services for residents, which aren’t paid for by the state grant, said Megan Van Sant, a senior program manager for the county who oversees the Homekey site. 

At the former Best Western hotel now known as Live Oak Apartments, there’s a therapist on retainer for tenants, plus a dog trainer paid to work with problem pets. Both try to help residents resolve any issues that come up before they escalate into grounds for an eviction.

To provide those extras, the county runs the project itself, rather than contracting with an outside service provider as many Homekey projects do. Two county staffers work full-time inside the building, using their connections to do everything from enrolling residents in Medi-Cal to pairing them with mental health services.

All that is expensive. 

“I think the state should continue to support these projects,” Van Sant said. “The state asked communities to do these projects, and they cost more to do well than what you can earn in rent.”

Resident Sherry Collins inside her room at Live Oak Apartments in Ukiah. Credit: Manuel Orbegozo for CalMatters

Sherry Collins, 66, moved into the project three years ago, at a time when she was terrified of what would come next. Her husband had died, her health was failing, she couldn’t work, and she couldn’t afford to keep living in her cabin in the tiny coastal city of Fort Bragg. 

Now she feels like she’s home. Collins decorated the window of her room with little red and pink hearts and adopted a kitten with extra toes, whom she named Mr. Handsome. She continues to deal with health challenges after losing a leg to diabetes about a year ago. The building has only four units accessible for people with disabilities, making it a challenge to accommodate everyone, but one recently opened up for Collins, where she can more comfortably shower. 

“They have been awesome to me,” Collins said. “They’re more like family.”

Never-ending projects

For Sandulyak, Homekey was too good to refuse. 

Five years earlier she had co-founded Firm Foundation Community Housing, which helped Bay Area churches turn their parking lots and backyards into tiny homes for homeless residents. 

Homekey was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dramatically scale up that vision by using millions in state funds to house dozens of people in Vallejo. It would be the small nonprofit’s most ambitious project by far.

Sandulyak never suspected that by applying for Homekey, she had doomed her organization.

Firm Foundation was awarded $12 million in 2022 to build a 47-unit modular apartment building called the Broadway Project. Over the next four years, nearly everything that could go wrong did. 

Some problems had nothing to do with Homekey. The general contractor went bankrupt, and the nonprofit tapped to operate the facility squabbled with the city, leaving the project in limbo for a year. The state wouldn’t let Firm Foundation pick a new partner to run the housing, which Sandulyak says further delayed the opening.

Other problems were directly related to Homekey. By design, the program forced cities to take a much more hands-on role with housing development than they were used to. Vallejo wasn’t prepared for that responsibility. It fumbled its attempt to get a key federal grant and failed to set up important safeguards that protect affordable housing projects from financial risks. 

Soon, Sandulyak had $2 million in bills and no way to pay them. With construction three-quarters done, the project ran out of money. Firm Foundation was forced to stop work.

It became such a nightmare that the Vallejo City Council asked for an independent audit to find out what went wrong and why. The audit blamed both the city and Firm Foundation for allowing the project to run out of money before it was finished. Firm Foundation vastly underestimated the project’s cost, and the city bungled efforts to secure additional funds.

In some ways, the audit found, the very nature of Homekey helped set the project up for failure. 

One big problem was the timeline. Homekey required projects to finish construction within one year of their award, and to move people in 90 days after that. To meet those deadlines, Firm Foundation created budgets before the architectural drawings were even done, contributing to serious cost underestimates, the audit found. 

The audit also found a lack of oversight at the Broadway Project, which it said is typical of Homekey projects. Normally, a single affordable housing project uses funding from multiple sources, including the city, the county, the state, federal funds, tax credits, private banks and more. The more funders and investors, the more eyes watching and holding the developer accountable. With Homekey, the city applying for the grant typically takes on all those risks by itself, the audit found. 

The official ribbon cutting at the grand opening of Broadway Village in Vallejo on March 5. Credit: Nathan Weyland for CalMatters

On a recent Thursday morning, Sandulyak gathered with city officials and her construction partners in front of a crowd to celebrate what they, at times, had thought would be impossible: The Broadway Project was finally open. Behind them rose the terracotta-colored wall of the sleek, new, modular apartment building. A red ribbon waited in front of them.

On the count of three, Sandulyak helped Vallejo’s assistant city manager snip the ribbon. The crowd cheered.

The project ended up coming in two and a half years late and 70% over budget. Despite those setbacks, the audit found it still cost less per unit and was built more quickly than the region’s average affordable housing project.

At right, Firm Foundation Community Housing Executive Director Taryn Sandulyak at the grand opening of Broadway Village in Vallejo on March 5.
Credit: Nathan Weyland for CalMatters

But it cost Sandulyak everything. She laid off three of her four employees, and she plans to lay off the last one and dissolve her organization. The nonprofit is still on the hook for more than $1 million in unpaid bills related to the project.

Despite her pride in the finished building, Sandulyak wonders how much more housing her nonprofit could have built — if only she’d never applied for Homekey.

Still, 52 people now have somewhere to call home.

“I’m unshaken in my belief that that is worth it,” Sandulyak said.

One of those people is 62-year-old Terrence White, a former refinery worker who was forced into early retirement by an injury and can’t afford market-rate rent. Now, he pays $294 a month and finally has his own place.

“It feels wonderful,” he said.

The Homekey gold rush

During the frantic first two years of Homekey, when many experienced affordable housing developers were sitting out the untested new program, an L.A. company called Shangri-La Industries stepped in to help fill the void. It scored nearly $115 million in contracts to build 500 homes for homeless Californians in cities from Salinas to San Bernardino. 

But a federal indictment and a separate civil lawsuit allege that millions in state funds instead went to fund a lavish lifestyle for the company’s chief financial officer. 

Among the charges attributed in court records to Shangri-La’s former CFO, Cody Holmes: $46,000 in monthly rent for a Beverly Hills house with a pool. Designer gifts for a girlfriend, including a $127,000 diamond necklace and a $111,000 crocodile Birkin bag. A $5,000-a-month lease on a Ferrari Portofino. Another $53,000 for Coachella passes, and $44,000 for flights on private jets. 

All this while many of the desperately needed motel rooms sat empty. 

Homekey set a low bar for contractors to qualify: They had to have worked on at least two affordable housing projects that included at least one homeless tenant. 

Shangri-La easily cleared that hurdle. But had any state or local officials done more digging, they might have seen warning signs.

Shangri-La’s construction business was sued twice for breach of contract in 2018 and 2019, court records show, after two firms alleged that it failed to pay them. The company was also a contractor on a troubled L.A. veteran housing project, where records first reported by KCRW show Shangri-La partners sold the property to themselves, increasing the project’s budget by $8 million. 

With Homekey, federal prosecutors allege that Holmes “knowingly submitted fake bank records” to the state Housing Department to boost Shangri-La’s credentials —  financial claims that state officials apparently failed to verify with the banks. Holmes has pleaded not guilty, and an attorney representing him declined to comment. 

As the company took on the Homekey projects, property records show that entities connected to Shangri-La or its partners paid around $13 million for actress Milla Jovovich’s Beverly Hills mansion, adding to a portfolio that included a $7 million oceanfront home in Long Beach purchased two years earlier. 

In a separate civil fraud case, state prosecutors allege in court records that Shangri-La went behind the state’s back and took out undisclosed loans on the Homekey buildings, giving up control of the sites and violating their contract with the state. That became a major problem when the company defaulted on the loans. 

For several of the properties, no one had filed crucial paperwork to ensure that they remained affordable housing. After the buildings ended up in foreclosure, some were scooped up by companies with no commitment to homeless housing.

Homekey contracts tasked local officials with vetting projects and reviewing contractors’ organizational documents, budgets and other key details. But records show state officials also reviewed Shangri-La’s financials, and once they paid out the Homekey money, they failed to verify that paperwork was completed to restrict the buildings to affordable housing.

The state Housing Department and several local governments that hired Shangri-La for Homekey projects declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. 

Andy Meyers, the former CEO of Shangri-La, acknowledged in an interview that he had “a lack of control” over his company. He has sued Holmes for fraud. He also blamed the local and state officials. 

“My CFO had a lot of wrongdoing,” he said. “But it was a confluence of events that caused each project to go bad.”

Meyers said officials’ failure to file the proper affordable housing restrictions, which were also required by his lender, triggered a financial disaster that led his company to default on some of the properties. On two projects that Shangri-La did open in San Bernardino and Salinas, he estimated that the company incurred around $11 million in unexpected costs.

“We have spent so much money following their guidelines and following their timetables,” he said, “and they never followed their guidelines or timetables.” 

Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez rallied support for a Homekey project in his hometown of King City. He thought Shangri-La made sense for four projects in the county, since it had already opened one Homekey site in Salinas. 

But it didn’t take long for constituents to start asking why rooms were sitting empty behind chain-link fences. 

“The longer it went on without seeing any movement, the flag started to get raised,” Lopez said. “I was starting to hear less and less communication and more sort of finger pointing.”

Local officials like Lopez had to start from scratch, raising millions more dollars to revive the projects as encampments swelled. It took 10 different deals totaling $16 million to open the King City project in March, three years behind schedule.

The full trail of Shangri-La’s deceit stretches from the state’s agricultural heartland to the edge of the Southern California desert. A $27 million Thousand Oaks hotel project sits abandoned today, robbing a region of 77 homes while it had a decade-long housing waitlist. Another $16 million project scrapped in Salinas would have provided 58 homes. Officials still plan to salvage 200 homes in other parts of Monterey County. The only two Shangri-La projects that stayed open during the legal battle, two motels in Southern California, were full of people who were plunged into messy foreclosure disputes.

The Quality Inn & Suites building, a former Shangri-La project, stands vacant in Thousand Oaks on Feb. 26. Credit: Julie Leopo-Bermudez for CalMatters

Carrie Harmon, San Bernardino County’s director of community development and housing, said in an email that “the county entered into this effort in good faith, relying on representations that later proved to be inaccurate.” 

Even some of those whose Homekey projects went well say they’re not surprised that things went sideways. In Mendocino County, Van Sant said the state’s oversight was limited to quarterly progress reports. Once the money was spent, the state stopped asking for any information at all.

“They gave us a bunch of money, made us do some paperwork, and then they’re out of here,” Van Sant said.

For Colleen Robinson, public officials’ failure to see the red flags with Shangri-La was life-changing. 

Robinson, now 62, survived years on the street after losing her job and fleeing a bad relationship. The All Star Lodge in downtown San Bernardino was her chance to start over. Shangri-La did manage to renovate and open that project in late 2022.

Two years later, the bank foreclosed. Because no one had put the affordable housing restriction on the property, the new owner told Robinson and other tenants that it was going to quadruple the rent. She said the new owner neglected the building; weeds and stray cats reclaimed the parking lot, police sirens blared, and neighbors died with little explanation. 

“This would give hell a run for its money,” Robinson said.

Harmon said the county was still trying to buy the building and figure something out, but Robinson didn’t wait around to see how the saga ended. On a Thursday in February, she packed up and boarded a Greyhound bus for Iowa, where one of her children lives.

Homeless veterans still waiting An unfinished motel conversion in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 27. The project is expected to finish more than a year after the original deadline, city records show.

Some Homekey projects still haven’t opened. 

Santa Cruz County has three badly delayed Homekey projects, one of which will be more than four years late when it is slated to finally be finished at the end of next year. For that project, the county obtained more than $6 million to convert rustic vacation cabins under a grove of redwood trees into housing for homeless veterans. The state initially set a completion deadline of 2023, but the project ran out of money before it crossed the finish line, forcing construction to stop. 

There were many reasons why, but one stands out: underestimating the cost, said Robert Ratner, director of Santa Cruz County’s Housing for Health division. 

The developers had never undertaken a project this large, and that inexperience contributed to the budgeting error, Ratner said. But so did the design of Homekey, which capped what the state was willing to pay per unit at about half what it takes to build affordable housing in some parts of California. 

The idea was that projects would be cheaper because they were converting existing buildings, while also cutting out extra layers of bureaucracy that add time and expense. That led developers to low-ball budgets, which came back to bite them when the savings weren’t as great as anticipated, Ratner said. 

Once the budgeting error was made, neither the state nor the county caught it, Ratner said. The county assumed that the state would scrutinize all Homekey applications and throw out any that didn’t seem viable, Ratner said. But it appears that in reality, the state was relying on the counties to do that vetting.

Santa Cruz County had little experience analyzing whether a construction project was adequately budgeted. Typically, the county relies on other funders, such as construction lenders and tax credit investors, to do that job. But those investors weren’t present here. 

When asked whether he and his colleagues had done their due diligence to make sure the projects were realistic, Ratner was straightforward. 

“I would say no,” Ratner said. “I can’t say yes with a straight face at this juncture.”

Other projects just never happened. 

A $14 million Homekey award was supposed to help breathe new life into the Hotel Travelers, a rundown, century-old building in Oakland’s Chinatown, as housing for people returning from incarceration. But once the developer got a look at the building, that plan fell apart. An inspection revealed such severe issues with the building’s construction that the developer determined it would be “morally untenable” to proceed. Oakland returned the grant.

In total, CalMatters found at least 10 cases where a Homekey award was announced, only for the grantee to later withdraw their application, return or redirect the money, or have the state claw it back. Some instances had more public explanation than others. 

City officials in Fresno voted down their own project. Long Beach was unable to come up with a suitable location for $2 million worth of brand-new tiny homes left sitting in storage. Projects in Marin and Mariposa counties evaporated when real estate deals fell through, and the state rescinded its grant for a project in Salinas after a nonprofit partner pulled out.

Newsom’s legacy and a financial cliff

Despite the vastly different outcomes at Homekey projects around the state, there’s no plan for a comprehensive audit to see what worked and what didn’t — a decision that raises the question of whether the state has done enough to grapple with Homekey as it forges ahead with the new version of the program, Homekey+.

Earlier this year, lawmakers nixed a public accounting proposed by Assemblymember Leticia Castillo, a Republican from Corona.

“While the program has expanded housing options, critical questions remain about its long-term impact and cost-effectiveness,” a summary of Assembly Bill 505 said. “It is unclear how many Homekey-funded units remain occupied after one year, how many individuals successfully transition to stable, long-term housing, and whether Homekey’s cost per unit is competitive.”

The bill was never publicly debated. It died in January.

The state did do one audit of multiple homeless services programs in 2024. It didn’t get into Homekey delays or what actually happened to people living in the buildings, but it analyzed the costs of eight projects. Based on that small sample, the auditor concluded that Homekey was “likely” cost-effective, with an average cost of $144,000 per unit, compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars more it can cost for new construction in California.

The challenge is that when Homekey plans fell short of ambitions at job sites around the state, the consequences were often murky. In extreme cases, where cities acknowledged that projects failed to materialize, the state has clawed back grants. But usually, the main penalty for blown deadlines or other missteps is that the state might hold it against a local government or developer the next time it applies for funding — a dynamic that provides no public transparency.

Gary Wish stands outside El Portal apartments in Ventura. Credit: Julie Leopo-Bermudez for CalMatters

What happens next will be left up to a new state housing agency set to be launched this summer, the California Housing and Homelessness Agency. That effort is expected to include a new development committee to “provide centralized, coordinated guidance to state housing policy and funding decisions.”

For now, the state’s Housing Department maintains that it “monitors each project closely” if issues arise or deadline extensions are granted. Even with widespread delays, the agency maintains that “Homekey has helped build more and faster.”

The state said it is learning as it gives out the new Homekey+ funding. After seeing so many projects miss the one-year deadline, the state doubled the timeline for new construction to two years. Homekey+ projects that serve veterans now can propose bigger budgets for new builds, potentially addressing the issue of under-budgeted projects running out of money. 

Officials also said they’re scrutinizing applications more closely now, including looking carefully at whether applicants are budgeting enough funds for their proposed projects, said California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Johnson. 

“We are improving our own vetting process, if you will,” she said during a recent news conference, “to ensure these projects are successful in delivering.” 

The state’s housing department maintains that Homekey accomplished a major feat: building thousands of units despite a global pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain issues and other challenges.

“It is tremendously rewarding to see so many vulnerable Californians housed so quickly, and to have voters expand the successful Homekey model to house and support veterans and others facing behavioral health challenges,” Assistant Deputy Director Cari Scott said in a statement.

As the state’s housing policies shift, there’s one big question left for people like Van Sant in Mendocino: Will there be enough money to keep Homekey projects running?

Most of the projects have a pay-as-you-go model, versus standard 10- or 15-year affordable housing financing — a calculation that leaves a financial cliff looming for thousands of Homekey homes.

“If [Homekey] is going to be a long-term, permanent, successful program,” Van Sant said, “I think the state’s going to have to find a way to find some ongoing funding for it.”

Data reporters Erica Yee and Kate Li contributed to this story.

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Esta traducción fue generada utilizando inteligencia artificial y ha sido revisada por un hablante nativo de español; si bien nos esforzamos por lograr precisión, pueden ocurrir algunos errores de traducción. Para leer el artículo en inglés, haga clic aquí.

Un legislador federal local está copatrocinando un proyecto de ley centrado en establecer medidas de seguridad para nuevos sistemas de almacenamiento de energía. Se espera que la legislación sea presentada viernes.

El representante federal Jimmy Panetta, cuyo distrito congresional incluye partes del condado de Santa Cruz, quiere que el Departamento de Energía lleve a cabo investigaciones sobre los sistemas de almacenamiento de energía y desarrolle mejores medidas de protección tras el incendio ocurrido en Moss Landing en enero de 2025.

La legislación propuesta, redactada conjuntamente con el representante Pat Harrigan, republicano de Carolina del Norte, ordenaría a la agencia federal de energía investigar qué causa las fallas en los sistemas de almacenamiento de baterías y recomendar medidas preventivas para reducir el riesgo de incendios, como el que se produjo en Moss Landing.

“A medida que continuamos avanzando hacia las energías renovables, debemos asegurarnos de que la tecnología correspondiente y esencial sea segura y confiable,” dijo Panetta en un comunicado de prensa.

Aunque las comisiones estatales de servicios públicos tienen autoridad y responsabilidad sobre la seguridad en la producción de energía, esta legislación permitiría al gobierno federal exigir requisitos de pruebas y desarrollo para los sistemas de almacenamiento de baterías, dijo Panetta.

El proyecto de ley autorizaría 30 millones de dólares anuales, desde 2027 hasta 2031, para la investigación. El Instituto Nacional de Estándares y Tecnología y la Administración de Incendios de Estados Unidos trabajarían conjuntamente para desarrollar mejores métodos de prueba para equipos de almacenamiento de energía.

A nivel local, la preocupación de la comunidad sobre el almacenamiento de baterías solo ha aumentado tras el enorme incendio en Moss Landing. Durante el último año y medio, residentes del sur del condado de Santa Cruz han estado protestando contra un proyecto propuesto de almacenamiento de baterías en 90 Minto Rd., en Watsonville. Ese proyecto ahora está siendo evaluado por el estado, en lugar del condado, para su aprobación.

“El incendio de Moss Landing subrayó la necesidad urgente de fortalecer las normas de seguridad para los sistemas de almacenamiento de energía con baterías en todo el país,” dijo el senador estatal John Laird en el comunicado de prensa. “California ha dado pasos importantes a nivel estatal, pero la colaboración federal es esencial para avanzar en la investigación, mejorar la coordinación con los funcionarios de bomberos y desarrollar estándares de prueba y seguridad más sólidos.”

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Katie Porter is taking her L’s in stride. 

The Democratic former congressmember from Orange County released an ad this week addressing her lowest moment so far in her race for governor: a video showing her yelling at a staffer who came into the frame of her Zoom interview, telling her to “get out of my f–king shot.”

The video came out in October on the heels of another viral video in which Porter argued with a reporter and threatened to walk out of an interview. 

Porter was widely panned as being unable to control her temper. She took a hit in the polls and hasn’t climbed back since. 

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In the new ad, she references it: “Now, will you please get out of my shot?” she says lightheartedly with a crowd of laughing, whiteboard-wielding supporters behind her.

It’s a risk for her campaign, designed to show Porter can make fun of herself and isn’t avoiding talking about her perceived weaknesses. If the yelling incident was the worst thing about her, the ad suggests, there’s not much to be afraid of.

But it’s also a reminder that she doesn’t have much to lose in the final weeks of a race that has largely passed her by. 

Last fall, Porter, a UC Irvine law professor, was one of the more recognizable names in the field, with national liberal accolades for refusing corporate donations, flipping a Republican congressional seat in the 2018 blue wave and for grilling CEOs in Congressional hearings. 

But the progressive, who supports single-payer health care, free child care and college tuition and higher taxes on large corporations, has struggled to sustain a liberal base. Many coveted factions of the state’s Democratic establishment, including major labor unions, have coalesced around former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, billionaire Tom Steyer or, at one point, now-disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell. 

Addisu Demissie, a Democratic strategist who ran Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2018 campaign and his successful campaign against a recall in 2021, said he’s surprised Porter hasn’t won more Democratic support after Swalwell’s exit a month ago. In polls, voters have instead flocked to Becerra while Sacramento power players like Planned Parenthood of California, SEIU, the California Medical Association and the California Teachers Association have split between him and Steyer.

The videos “arrested any momentum she may have had,” Demissie said. “That matters in a race like this, where fundraising matters and elite opinion certainly matters. I think that has hamstrung her.”

Now, Porter is the only woman left in a crowded field of eight, apparently losing the race based on personality. Her fundraising over the past four months has been lukewarm, with campaign donors giving her just under $3 million — less than she raised in the second half of last year. 

To experts, it shows voters and political insiders continue to hold female candidates to higher standards than men. 

“One thing that has hurt her is evidence of her anger coming out,” said Sacramento State University professor Kimberly Nalder, who researches gender and politics. “There’s this perception that women should not exhibit anger, but it’s perceived as strong when men do it.”

Porter tries calculated restraint

The videos were particularly damaging for Porter because they appeared to confirm longtime speculation that she’s a harsh boss and a “scold.” 

She’s repeatedly asked about them during forums and debates. One political strategist told CalMatters Porter could secure the “angry woman vote” but not much else. 

Porter has said the incidents captured on video were mistakes, that she apologized to the staff member she yelled at and that they continued to work together. She told the San Francisco Chronicle that the staffer recently sent her a text expressing support. Last month, the Washington Post reported, 30 former staffers signed an open letter calling the videos “a caricature built from a few clips on a bad day.” The letter’s organizer, Maine congressional candidate Jordan Wood, did not respond to an interview request made to his campaign. 

In recent weeks she’s sought to more directly counter the temperament questions. During two televised debates in the past two weeks, she made calculated displays of restraint, holding back several times as the other candidates — all men — squabbled around her, and, at times, interrupted her.

“I can’t believe that on a stage with 30 minutes of interrupting and bickering and name-calling and shouting and disrespect for everyone up here who’s stepping into public service, that anyone wants to talk about my temperament,” she said during a debate Tuesday night on CNN. 

“You are actually interrupting them, too,” Republican candidate Chad Bianco retorted, though Porter had waited for the moderators to call on her. 

In an interview last month, Porter would not say whether she thinks sexism has stalled her, but said as the only woman in the race, and a single mother of three, she relates to voters. 

“I can’t really comment on how every voter thinks about everything,” she said. “Women understand better what it’s like to push the shopping cart, what it’s like to have to write that check for that permission slip. Those are decisions that I’ve made. I think I have an ability to relate to Californians precisely because I’m a mom.”

Progressives have questions

She’s also struggled to attract solid liberal support as she appeared to vacillate on key progressive issues.

In Congress, Porter was a vocal supporter of “Medicare for All,” but last year she told Politico that single-payer health care was unrealistic for California. 

The proposal is estimated to cost the state nearly $400 billion and would need federal approval — a non-starter with President Donald Trump. Yet supporting single-payer remains a progressive rallying cry, and a litmus test for the left. 

During the state Democratic Party convention this spring, Porter reversed herself again and resumed her support for single-payer.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter speaks during The Western Growers California Gubernatorial Candidate Forum in Fresno on April 1. Credit: Larry Valenzuela / CalMatters

She also raised eyebrows by courting the support of billionaire crypto executive Chris Larsen, who is spending his money this year fighting proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy. He donated to Porter’s campaign last year before revoking his support in March when she endorsed a San Francisco ballot measure to raise taxes on corporations with highly paid CEOs. Larsen, who supports Republican Steve Hilton, declined to comment through a spokesperson. 

And she shocked labor leaders last month when she criticized the state’s agricultural overtime law. In a room full of farmers in Fresno, she got applause for saying regulations like the law that grants farmworkers overtime after eight hours each day “don’t make sense.” Growers have tried for years to overturn or limit that law; early studies have found many have responded by cutting workers’ hours and hiring other contractors. 

Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation, which has jointly endorsed Porter, Steyer and former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said, Porter had previously given the federation a different answer about farmworker rights. 

The comments prompted a flurry of weekend phone calls with union leaders before Porter clarified on social media that she supports the eight-hour workday.

“It was an educational experience for her,” said Gonzalez, who said she agrees Porter has been judged too harshly on temperament as a female candidate. “You can’t just be told something by business and just change your position on something, especially without coming and talking to us.”

Labor groups were also perplexed earlier this year when an independent political spending group supporting Porter’s candidacy received a $150,000 donation from Uber, which also gave to Hilton and a group supporting Swalwell. In response, the California Teamsters, which has endorsed Porter but opposes autonomous driving that Uber supports, withdrew its own $100,000 contribution. The union spent that money on its own ads supporting Porter.

A spokesperson for the political action committee, Danny Kazin, would not answer questions about who was directing the PAC’s activities. Uber spokesperson Zahid Arab did not respond to questions about the PAC or explain why the company supported Porter. 

Porter denied that soliciting support from business has hurt her standing with progressives. 

“I will talk to every Californian, every union, every business, every nonprofit, every entity, every local leader,” she said. “The job of the governor is to listen and to learn and then to make good decisions. I think it’s important that I’ve been talking to entities, including some that I haven’t had the chance to work with before.”

In the meantime, many progressives — even those who previously backed Porter — have flocked to Steyer. Assemblymember Alex Lee, a Cupertino Democrat, was one of Steyer’s earliest progressive backers in the race. Two years ago, he supported Porter in her quest for a U.S. Senate seat but said Steyer won him over this year campaigning against “the corporate status quo.”

“I have no regrets endorsing Katie Porter for the U.S. Senate where I think she would’ve been a great senator,” Lee said in a text message. 

Steyer previously opposed single-payer but in December became a vocal proponent, earning him the endorsement of the Nurses Association. The state’s two major teachers unions also back him and SEIU jointly endorsed him and Becerra.

“It’s disappointing to me that some organizations and people that I really respect are not supporting Katie and are supporting Steyer,” said Sal Rosselli, president-emeritus of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, a longtime Porter backer. 

Rosselli said he anticipated some of Porter’s perceived weaknesses and said it’s good that “she’s not so tight in Sacramento.” He said he hopes Porter’s new ad addressing the video would help turn things around.

“If a guy did that, this would not be happening, in terms of that reaction,” he said.

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In the race for oversight over California’s budget, the two main contenders are an incumbent with three years of experience and a challenger who is set on exposing fraudulent and wasteful spending.

Democrat Malia Cohen has served as controller (aka California’s chief accountant) since 2023, and has raised more than $1.2 million for the race to keep her seat. She oversees spending for a state with a budget of nearly $350 billion and one of the world’s largest economies. It’s her job to make sure the state spends wisely and efficiently. 

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As the governor and the Legislature hash out a budget deal for this year, Cohen has urged caution, saying higher-than-expected spending “reinforces the need for restraint.”

Cohen also has improved the state’s ability to deliver a key financial report that was chronically late for years. Cohen made up the backlog by releasing four reports in two years, and she told CalMatters that the upcoming report (called the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report) will almost be on time — late a mere two months, compared to the years others were delayed.

While running for office in 2022, Cohen told CalMatters she planned to scrutinize the state’s homelessness spending and take a critical look at the Employment Development Department and the Department of Motor Vehicles. A 2024 report by the state auditor found that California fails to adequately track its homelessness spending.

Cohen did not meet those campaign promises. She said that’s because the state auditor had already looked at those agencies. Instead of duplicating that work, she decided to focus on improving some internal functions of the state’s financial arm. She’s in the midst of ongoing efforts to modernize FI$Cal — the information technology system that manages the state’s finances — and the system that pays state employees.

“The bottom line is that I do believe that Californians deserve to know where their money is going,” she said. “So that’s what I’m working to do.”

Cohen’s main challenger, Republican Herb Morgan, has promised to pick up the slack he says his opponent has dropped. Like Cohen promised in 2022, Morgan said if elected, he will carefully scrutinize the state’s spending on homelessness. He wants to create a system where every time a state-funded nonprofit pays for anything, that transaction goes into a state database. Then, he said, he’ll use AI to monitor those purchases and flag anything suspicious. 

As an example of how state spending can be transparently tracked, a public dashboard on his website logs his campaign donations in real time. He had raised $367,000 as of the end of April. 

Morgan acknowledged he’s an outlier as a Republican running in a state historically dominated by Democrats. But he believes voters will look at both candidates’ qualifications instead of voting along party lines. 

“I don’t care where you are on the social spectrum, 99% of us are fiscally responsible,” he said. “It doesn’t mean cutting spending. It doesn’t mean defunding. It just means being responsible with our money. And that, I think, appeals to all political ideologies.” 

Also running is Meghann Adams, a Peace and Freedom Party candidate. A school bus driver who lives in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, she is president of her union and manages its finances. If elected, Adams promised to expose corporate landlords that drive up rent prices, analyze the cost of imposing a single-payer Medi-Cal system and divest state investments from companies that support Israel’s war against Gaza. 

She had raised $16,000 as of the end of April.

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High standards needed for Minto Road BESS facility

Battery energy storage may be part of California’s clean-energy future. I am not opposed to it. But clean energy should not become a shortcut around local accountability.

The proposed Minto Road BESS project would place an industrial-scale battery facility near the College Lake Water Storage Project, agricultural land, residents, and regional water infrastructure. That should concern every South County resident.

The College Lake Water Storage Project was built to reduce groundwater pumping, protect the aquifer, address seawater intrusion, and support agricultural water reliability. If a fire, runoff event, or contamination concern limits that water source, even temporarily, growers could be forced back into groundwater pumping—undermining the very purpose of the project.

Now that state approval is being pursued, the standard should be even higher, not lower. If the state approves this project, then the state must also be prepared to help carry the consequences if something goes wrong. South County should not be left alone to deal with impacts to water, agriculture, emergency response, public health, or cleanup costs.

Before approval, the developer and state should publicly prove the worst-case scenario is bounded, runoff can be contained, emergency response is ready, and agriculture, drinking water, and public health are protected.

Clean energy still needs responsible siting. South County should not be asked to accept risks that have not been fully proven, planned for, and accounted for.

Eduardo HurtadoWatsonville

•••

Berry growers should go organic

I am concerned for the marginalized who have no voice.  A group of us from our farmworker ministry at Santa Teresa Church in San Jose went to Watsonville for a pesticide reality tour led by the Center for Farmworker Families. It was shocking and disgusting to see Driscoll’s and Giant’s berry fields with toxic pesticides next to schools and homes. There are reports of brain and leukemia cancers, ADHD, autism, respiratory problems, learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders. Because Hispanic students are disproportionately exposed to these poisons, it is also a health justice issue.

CFF has made a reasonable request to have fifteen parcels adjacent to schools and homes be converted to organic farming.  Aside from a small Driscoll’s concession, the two corporations have dragged their feet in accepting this modest proposal.

Because berries with pesticides last longer, Driscoll’s response that they need to sell as many berries as possible throughout the world is an unacceptable excuse. They can meet their goal with as many conventional pesticide fields as they want as long as they are away from inhabited areas. These corporate farmers’ donations to various charities are appreciated, but money cannot buy a healthy life.  Besides, don’t they want to be locally known to have compassion for their workers?  The elephant in the room is that most of these workers are migrants. This reality does not make any one of them less of a person.  

Living in a healthy environment is a basic human right.  We urge Driscoll’s and Giant to agree to complete the transition from conventional to organic fields.  It is the humane thing to do.

Gino Sartor

San Jose

•••

Conservatives facing harassment

Santa Cruz County prides itself on tolerance, but local politics tell a different story. Increasingly, conservatives, especially supporters of Donald Trump, are treated not as neighbors with different views, but as outsiders.

Reports of Republican candidate yard signs being removed or vandalized, harassment during sign waves, and protests targeting conservative events point to a growing pattern. Some residents also describe vehicles being vandalized over bumper stickers or feeling intimidated on the road because of political decals. Even if not every incident is formally documented, the perception is clear, expressing conservative views can come with consequences.

Nationally, conservatives have spoken about threats tied to rising political hostility. That same climate is felt locally.

When one political viewpoint dominates, respect for dissent can erode. That’s not healthy for a democracy. Santa Cruz County needs a reset—where disagreement is allowed, debate is encouraged, and no one is silenced for their beliefs.

Mike Lelieur

Santa Cruz 

These women enjoy an evening with the Grandmother’s Club in April of 1957.

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California K-12 schools have come a long way over the past 20 years, but according to an exhaustive overview of the state’s school system, further progress may require tinkering with a long-entrenched form of school governance: local control.

That’s among the conclusions of the much-anticipated Getting Down to Facts report released Thursday, a 1,000-page undertaking written by more than a hundred K-12 education researchers.

“We’re in a much better place than we were,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the State Board of Education and one of the report’s authors. “But we need a coherent governance system if we’re going to continue to progress.”

The Getting Down to Facts reports, published every 10 to 12 years, are large-scale reviews of California’s K-12 system – what’s working, what’s not, and how lawmakers should respond. For this report, researchers looked at everything from special education staffing to school closures to overhauling high schools. The report is based on extensive data analysis and interviews with hundreds of superintendents, principals, school board members and parents. 

The report’s timing is important because the state’s K-12 school system is at a transition point, said Susanna Loeb, an education professor at Stanford who is among the lead authors of the report. 

The political landscape is changing in California, with voters electing a new governor and state superintendent of public instruction this November. Artificial intelligence is expected to drastically change the way students learn in the coming years. And the state is finally emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, which upended learning for nearly all of California’s 5.8 million public school students.

Lack of consistency and accountability

For at least a century, California has had a convoluted system of school oversight, with the governor, Legislature, state superintendent and state school board all sharing policy-making authority. Local school districts have wide leeway to adopt those policies to suit the unique needs of their students. That system was further strengthened more than a decade ago when the state shifted the bulk of funding decisions to local districts through the Local Control Funding Formula.

But that’s left big gaps in student performance and questions over who’s accountable for what, according to the report. 

“California has invested a lot in education and there are instances of real excellence,” Loeb said. “But we haven’t been very good at scaling it so there’s consistency across the state.”

Transitional kindergarten, expanded after-school programs and community schools are a few new programs that have led to big improvements, according to the report. Low-income students especially have benefited from these initiatives. For example, low-income students who attended TK scored higher in math and reading in third and fourth grade, especially if they attended well-funded elementary schools, researchers found.

Big investments, big improvements

In the mid-2000s, California schools were in a sorry state. They ranked near the bottom nationally in nearly every metric. That was the impetus for the first Getting Down to Facts report in 2007, which aimed to stop the downward slide.

The state has almost doubled per-pupil spending since then, when factoring for inflation, and now ranks well above the national average. Because of the Local Control Funding Formula, which allocates more money to districts with larger numbers of high-needs students, there’s more equitable funding than existed in the past, the report noted.

California students are scoring significantly higher in reading and math than they did two decades ago, even when accounting for pandemic setbacks and even as the percentage of English learners, low-income students and other high-needs students has grown.

“Over the past two decades, the state has adopted stronger standards and assessments, made school funding more equitable … and improved achievement scores, especially in reading,” researchers wrote. “These changes have not solved California’s educational challenges, but they have left the state better positioned than it was fifteen years ago to pursue broader and more ambitious goals for students.”

Solutions and ideas

Concentrating more power with the state could bring some accountability and transparency, help narrow the achievement gaps and ensure that all districts are adopting programs that have shown promise, researchers said. For example, the state could require districts to adopt curricula that have been successful, hire more tutors or counselors, or expand after-school programs.

Some of that power shift may happen soon. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently proposed moving most of the state superintendent’s duties to the State Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the governor. This won’t solve the problem entirely, but it’s a good start, Darling-Hammond said.

The report also suggested improving conditions for teachers and administrators. The state needs to do a better job recruiting and training teachers and making sure they stay in the profession. It also needs to reduce paperwork for administrators, who spend far too much time filling out forms that are redundant and of little use.

“California has strong foundations, ambitious goals, and visible examples of what richer and more coherent educational experiences can look like,” researchers wrote. “The central challenge is whether state policymakers (and others) can connect policies, supports, and institutions into a system that delivers those opportunities consistently for students.” 

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Olive D. Wilson discovered her love for writing early in life, chronicling her thoughts, experiences and ideas the way many writers do. Over time, that practice evolved.

What emerged from that reflective work, she realized, was both a story that needed to be told and the first step toward her life’s calling.

“All of a sudden, I had a 400-page manuscript,” she said.

That manuscript became the seed for her first novel, which she self-published at 15. It was the first in a three-book series — the “Misfits of Morality Trilogy” — about four teens who band together to overcome the pressures placed on them.

The books are available at Bookshop Santa Cruz and through online retailers such as Walmart, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Her fourth book, “Our Tragic Legacy,” will be released July 10.

The novel examines the pressures teen athletes face from coaches, parents and peers — a “shake it off” culture so embedded in sports that it is accepted even when it becomes abusive, she said.

“With coaches, it would be reasonable and rather normal, I found, for them to make you run until you throw up or something like that,” she said. “If a teacher did that or anything comparable, they would be fired.”

Wilson said she temporarily quit playing basketball to research and write the book, which centers on the children of intense sports parents.

“It’s about these children who maybe originally loved the game but are forced into it by parents and coaches and pressured to become good,” she said. “And it’s about their lives.”

Her research included interviews with Erin Wilson, an Olympic athlete and founder of Canada-based AthletesCAN; Indra Eliasson, a Swedish sports professor who specializes in coach abuse; and physician Charles Yesalis, an expert in performance-enhancing drugs.

“I had questions after quitting, like why are coaches and parents allowed to do so many more things than, say, teachers are allowed to do in the context of sport,” Wilson said.

She pointed to a study by AthletesCAN that found 60% of athletes experienced psychological abuse, 24% suffered an eating disorder and 18% engaged in self-harm.

“That led me down a rabbit hole of research where I was trying to find out why abuse is more prevalent in sports,” she said. “My job as a writer is to turn those statistics into emotion.”

Wilson hopes to help readers see beyond the idealized facade of sports into a largely unseen world where pressure from coaches, parents and peers can harm athletes.

Many athletes also fail to report such behavior because they fear repercussions from coaches or a loss of playing time, she said.

“My goal is to get people to actually care about this issue,” she said. “Because right now, as an athlete, it seems like they don’t. I think it’s that they don’t really understand how prevalent it is, and they also don’t understand how it affects athletes.”

That lack of awareness can extend to teen athletes themselves, who may not recognize abuse.

“They think that’s what love looks like,” she said.

After graduating from high school, Wilson hopes to attend Columbia University and land an internship with The New York Times as she pursues a career in writing.

“I always wanted to write with a purpose — to uncover something — like a modern-day muckraker,” she said. “I want to bring my books to a larger audience and gain the resources to learn more about communities that don’t have a voice, so I can help give them one through my writing.”

Santa Cruz County officials on Tuesday opened public hearings on a proposed $1.29 billion budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, warning that federal funding cuts, rising labor costs and growing structural deficits are forcing difficult financial decisions in the years ahead.

The recommended budget includes an $844.1 million General Fund and closes a projected $23.2 million deficit without layoffs by relying heavily on one-time funding sources, a countywide hiring freeze and the elimination of nearly 60 vacant positions.

County Administrative Officer Nicole Coburn described the spending plan as one crafted during one of the toughest fiscal periods the county has faced in years.

“This is a balanced budget that we present today, and we’ve developed it under one of the most challenging fiscal environments that I’ve ever faced,” Coburn told the Board of Supervisors.

County officials said the budget was affected by federal policy changes under H.R. 1 — also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — which reduce funding for health and human services programs while increasing mandated local costs. Officials also warned of a possible recession and uncertainty surrounding California’s state budget.

Coburn said the county has not declared a fiscal emergency, but noted the issue could return later this month when Gov. Gavin Newsom revises the state budget proposal and again in June when the budget is finalized.

The proposed spending plan relies on about $43 million in one-time funding, most of it from Health and Human Services reserves and trust funds, to preserve services and avoid layoffs. County officials said the county workforce of roughly 2,682 employees would remain intact despite the elimination of vacant positions.

Budget Manager Marc Pimentel cautioned that drawing down reserves to balance the budget carries significant risks. Under the proposal, county reserves would fall from 12.5% of expenditures to 10.4% — just above the county’s minimum reserve policy and well below its 15% target.

“That’s when we start getting a little nervous, about getting down to that level,” Pimentel said. “From a budgetary standpoint, we’re relying on that to balance our budget.”

Pimentel said the remaining reserves would be enough to cover roughly one payroll cycle if needed. At the same time, he projected continued growth in local tax revenue, estimating a 4.5% increase in property and sales tax collections.

Despite the financial pressures, county officials said the proposal preserves funding for roads, parks, affordable housing and homelessness programs, while also investing in modernization efforts and artificial intelligence tools intended to improve county operations.

The budget also continues Measure K investments, including $2 million for road paving and infrastructure repairs, $1 million for housing projects and another $1 million toward homelessness services.

Still, several proposed cuts and policy changes drew concern during Tuesday’s discussion.

One flashpoint involved a recommendation to cancel the county’s longstanding contract with the Page & Dudley law firm, which handles criminal conflict cases for the Public Defender’s Office.

Under the proposal, those cases would instead be folded into a newly created Alternate Public Defender’s Office.

Attorney Mitchell Page criticized the plan, arguing the county underestimated the costs and warning that shifting the caseload would strain public defenders while eliminating about 15 jobs at the firm.

“We’ve been contracting with the county for a long, long time providing excellent work,” Page told supervisors.

Defense attorney T.J. Brewer added that the change would significantly increase workloads for county public defenders.

Supervisors also debated a proposed parking fee pilot program at county parks. Supervisor Manu Koenig opposed the idea, saying it was the wrong time to charge families additional fees.

“I think it’s probably a pretty bad time to try to start charging people parking fees when they’re taking their kids to little league,” Koenig said.

Supervisor Felipe Hernandez pushed back on suggestions to redirect Measure K funding to address deferred park maintenance, saying voters approved the sales tax measure with specific priorities in mind.

Budget hearings will continue June 10, with final adoption scheduled for June 24.

Cabrillo College opened its new Watsonville Wellness Center and Food Pantry on Monday at the Watsonville campus on Union Street.

“We are very excited to launch the Watsonville Wellness Center, which allows us to equitably provide students with basic-needs services at both our Aptos and Watsonville campuses,” said Cabrillo College Superintendent and President Jenn Capps. “The Watsonville Wellness Center represents our commitment to increasing Cabrillo’s presence in and access to services in Watsonville — a vital part of the Cabrillo College community.”

Funding for the Watsonville Wellness Center and Food Pantry came from the U.S. Department of Education’s Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program.

Cabrillo spokesperson Kristin Fabos said the three-year, $950,000 grant supports college programs “that address students’ basic needs and improve persistence, graduation and transfer outcomes.”

Officials said the center, located in the former Digital NEST space — the organization relocated nearby to 349 Main St. — aims to improve students’ social, emotional, academic and career development by connecting them with resources for food, housing, transportation, technology and other services.

Jenn Capps (right), Cabrillo College Superintendent and President head out of the Wellness Center on Union Street Monday. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

The space includes a food pantry and kitchen, offices for a coordinator and “Wellness Ambassadors,” full-time mental health counseling services, an outreach and recruitment office for South County and a conference room.

A program called CHEFS offers hands-on cooking instruction in which students prepare full meals using pantry ingredients while building practical cooking skills.

“This is a huge step for Cabrillo College,” Capps said. “One of my goals is to create access to education, to invite people in and ask how we can support their success with food and counseling. Let’s face it — things are expensive, and it’s becoming even more difficult for students to afford rent in what is already one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets. As an educational institution, we have to do all that we can.”