Local News

Good Times editor Brad Kava celebrates the unexpected discoveries found in print, from local music and arts stories to Gabrielle Stocker’s remarkable bequest, Cheryl Anderson’s return (above) and a dose of World Cup fever.

This week’s letters include news of the Sri Chinmoy Peace Run coming through Santa Cruz, a remembrance of Nancy Park from the Resource Center for Nonviolence and reader comments on Oingo Boingo, Woody’s at the Watsonville Airport and Dusty Baker.

Davenport Roadhouse gets a coastal refresh with chef Jessie Curran, formerly of State Bird Provisions, The Progress and The Anchovy Bar, while DIYine brings homemade pineapple wine, mead, beer and more to Santa Cruz.

For nearly 80 years, Stagnaro Brothers Seafood Restaurant has served fresh seafood, family recipes and sweeping Monterey Bay views from its landmark location on the Santa Cruz Wharf.

Santa Cruz celebrates 40 years since The Lost Boys filmed on local shores, with a free Boardwalk screening, a Jamison Newlander signing at Atlantis Fantasyworld and vampire-themed festivities at the Blue Lagoon.

A Santa Cruz screening of The [M] Factor 2: Before the Pause brings women together to talk openly about perimenopause, menopause, shifting hormones and the search for better answers.

Former Cabrillo choral director Cheryl Anderson brings Considering Matthew Shepard to Peace United Church, reviving a powerful musical response to Matthew Shepard’s life and death for a Santa Cruz Pride benefit.

Barbara Higbie and Teresa Trull reunite at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in support of their Greatest Hits album, bringing decades of acclaimed musicianship, Grammy-nominated history and collaborations with Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis and Whoopi Goldberg back to Santa Cruz. Wednesday, 6/17

Santa Cruz Guitar Company celebrates 50 years of custom acoustic guitars, sustainable craftsmanship and global influence with a new MAH exhibit honoring founder Richard Hoover and the luthiers behind the legendary local shop.

Santa Cruz County is getting ready for the 2026 World Cup with beachside watch parties, youth soccer clinics, restaurant fan zones, MAH events, Watsonville tournaments and a massive Main Beach celebration beneath the Giant Dipper.

Rob Brezsny’s Free Will Astrology this week explores discipline, beauty, renewal, improvisation and self-trust, urging each sign to embrace process over perfection and rediscover the gifts waiting to be expressed.

What countries have you visited, and where was your favorite place?

The UC Santa Cruz community is celebrating 2,921 undergraduates and 350 graduate students who are set to walk the stage during commencement ceremonies Friday through Sunday. 

The school’s commencement is organized into individual ceremonies for each of its 10 residential colleges, a graduate division ceremony, and two celebrations: the Baskin School of Engineering and Chicane Latiné Year-End Celebration. 

The majority of the ceremonies last 90 minutes, while the Baskin celebration and the ceremonies that host two residential colleges will last 120 minutes. UCSC officials request that guests and graduates arrive at the campus an hour before the start of their ceremony. The processional walk starts 15 minutes before the ceremony start time. 

Commencement parking will be at the East Remote Parking – Lot 104 – and permits obtained beforehand are required to park. Graduating students will check in inside the gates of the East Athletics and Recreational Facility, adjacent to the Upper East Field. Guests can check in at the venue’s main entrance on the Upper East Field. 

UCSC officials prohibit a range of items including but not limited to weapons of any kind, signs and banners, large flags, noisemakers and alcohol. 

Santa Cruz Metro buses will be providing fare-free travel from downtown Santa Cruz to campus for the commencement weekend on routes 11, 18, 19, and 20. 

For information on Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access, click on this fact sheet. 

The school advised the campus community to expect traffic delays on campus Friday through Sunday during the commencement ceremonies and encouraged staff to work from home when possible. 

Graduation ceremony schedule at Upper East Field Friday, June 12

9 a.m. – Stevenson
1 p.m. – Cowell
5 p.m. – Crown & Merrill

Saturday, June 13

9 a.m. – Porter
1 p.m. – Kresge
5 p.m. – College Nine & John R. Lewis 

Sunday, June 14

9 a.m. – Oakes
1 p.m. – Rachel Carson
5 p.m. – Chicane Latiné Year-End Celebration

Monday, June 15

9 a.m. – Graduate Division
1 p.m. – Baskin School of Engineering Celebration

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

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

For the first time since California insurance commissioner became an elected position, two Democrats will vie for the job in November.

The top two vote-getters in the June primary were former San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Jane Kim and state Sen. Ben Allen, who received about 27% and 20% of the vote, respectively. One of them will succeed Ricardo Lara, the former Democratic lawmaker who has served two terms as insurance commissioner. Lara has presided over the Insurance Department in the past eight years, during which the state saw its deadliest and most devastating fires. 

Kim or Allen will be taking on complicated, enormous challenges that have implications for local communities, people’s ability to buy homes and start businesses, and the state’s economy. 

In the past few years, insurance companies stopped writing new policies or renewing old ones, especially in high-risk areas, citing increasing wildfire risk from climate change and inflation that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. This caused homeowners to turn to the last-resort FAIR Plan, which is mandated by law to provide fire insurance. The plan, run by an alliance of insurers, has grown to more than 684,000 policies in force as of March, an increase of 152% since September 2022. It has warned about its ability to keep paying claims after major disasters.

Proposition 103, a law approved by voters in 1988, means that among many other things, the elected commissioner has the power to approve rate increases. It has kept the state’s rates from rising too much over the years — Californians’ homeowners insurance premiums have hovered around the middle of the pack nationwide — but that could change. Last year, the commissioner put in place regulations that include new factors insurers can use when setting their premiums, such as catastrophe modeling and reinsurance costs. Some companies have applied for and received approval to raise their rates, so they’re starting to write policies again.

Keeping insurance available but affordable will be the most pressing issue for either Kim or Allen, whose responsibilities will also include regulating auto, pet and some aspects of health insurance, plus workers’ compensation. 

Another problem that will need plenty of attention: making sure insurance companies pay their claims in a timely manner that helps communities to rebuild. The Los Angeles-area fires shed a light on insurer practices that delay and deny claims, as well as underinsurance and the lack of standards for smoke damage, which have held up recovery. Pending legislation — such as those authored by Allen, whose district was hit by the fires last year — and lawsuits will address some of those issues. Well-organized fire survivors who called for Lara’s resignation over his department’s response to their concerns will surely keep up the pressure on his successor.

Here’s a look at each candidate’s record and how she or he would approach the job, based on their interviews with CalMatters and what they have said publicly, including at candidate forums.

Jane Kim

Kim’s proposal to create “natural disaster insurance for all,” inspired by a program in New Zealand, has gotten a lot of attention. She plans to fund such a system with a portion of policyholder premiums that insurance companies would collect and divert to the state. The state would then guarantee fire and flood coverage, while insurance companies would continue to cover other risks.

Naysayers, including consumer advocates, wonder why she hasn’t released any specifics about how much capital such a fund would require. Kim told CalMatters that it would need to be studied, but that at its core her proposal would generate revenue. 

Opponents of her proposal also say it’s a bad idea to shift catastrophic burden onto the state, pointing to what they say is the failure of splitting off earthquake insurance from homeowner insurance — most California homeowners now have no insurance coverage.

“We [taxpayers] already are on the hook,” Kim said. “When insurers and utilities refuse to pay, they just pass it on to us anyway. Sharing the risk is important.” 

Kim also told CalMatters that an idea Merritt Farren, a Republican candidate for commissioner, proposed — that the state create a reinsurance authority to encourage insurers to write policies in the state — “may turn out to be a more efficient model.” 

Among Kim’s shorter-term priorities if she wins: 

• Create public dashboards to show how insurance companies are spending policyholder premiums, and that show their record on claims.
• Expand eligibility for a program that provides low-cost insurance to drivers who make less than $38,000 a year. 
• Tie a company’s ability to sell auto insurance in the state to its willingness to write homeowner policies.
• Make the FAIR Plan more transparent by requiring that its list of board members be public, and that its board meetings be public.
• Freeze rates when policyholders file claims.

The former San Francisco elected official, an attorney, touts among her accomplishments free community college for the city’s residents; the first $15 minimum wage ordinance in the state; and a tenant-protection ordinance to avoid unjust evictions. She worked as the California director for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 U.S. presidential campaign and most recently as California Director for the Working Families Party.

Kim has a long list of endorsers, including many unions such as SEIU California. Besides Sanders, another U.S. lawmaker, Rep. Ro Khanna of Silicon Valley, has also endorsed her.

Ben Allen

The state senator, who will be termed out of the Legislature, wants to bring together the state, insurers, builders, local governments and firefighters to work on risk-reduction strategies.

“I think that’s ultimately going to be the way that we get ourselves out of this mess,” he told CalMatters.

What he calls a comprehensive approach includes thinking about where people live and build: “We shouldn’t be building new construction that is irresponsible in high-risk areas. We should be looking for ways to carefully and sensitively encourage people to pull back from high-risk areas.”

If he wins, Allen’s other plans include:

• Create a consumer advocate position within the insurance department, and increase staff to handle customer service. 
• Require insurers to explain claim denials and provide real-time reports of delays and outstanding claims after a disaster.
• Increase oversight of the FAIR Plan and make sure it complies with commissioner orders.
• Ban the insurance commissioner and staff from working for the industry immediately after they leave the department.

Allen has played up his experience as a legislator, including writing and passing bills related to holding insurance companies accountable. For example, a law he wrote now requires insurers to pay 60% of policyholders’ contents coverage without a detailed inventory, and gives consumers more time to provide that inventory. He also touts writing Proposition 4, the bond measure approved by the state’s voters in 2024 “for safe drinking water, wildfire prevention and protecting communities and natural lands from climate risks.”

Other pending bills authored by him include one that would require insurers to give homeowners 90 days’ notice before they intend not to renew their policies, along with a clear explanation. Another would penalize insurance companies that fail to correct their practices after the insurance department finds that they have violated laws and regulations.

Allen also has many endorsements, including the two leaders of the state Legislature, Senate Pro Tem Monique Limon and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both from California, unions and the Consumer Federation of California also endorse him.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

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The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the county budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 by September. (Marcello Hutchinson-Trujillo — Santa Cruz Local file)

Santa Cruz County Budget Hearings

• 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 10 at 500 Westridge Drive in Watsonville, and on Zoom. Includes budgets for the Health Services Agency, Human Services Department, and Office of the Public Defender. To comment ahead of time, email BoardOfSupervisors@santacruzcountyca.gov by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
• 9 a.m. Thursday, June 11 at 701 Ocean St., Room 525 in Santa Cruz, and on Zoom. Includes budgets for the Probation Department, Sheriff’s Office, Parks Department, and Community Development and Infrastructure.To comment ahead of time, email BoardOfSupervisors@santacruzcountyca.gov by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
• Meetings are also streamed on the county website and on Facebook.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY >> This week, county leaders will consider a $1.29 trillion budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. The General Fund, which can be used for any purpose, accounts for about $844 million of the spending. The rest of the budget includes state and federal grants and other money restricted for specific uses.

County staff developed the budget “under one of the most challenging fiscal conditions that I’ve ever faced,” said County Executive Officer Nicole Coburn when the draft budget was first presented at a May 5 meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. The challenges include rising salary costs and federal funding changes following H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The federal budget bill adopted in July 2025 decimated funding for health care, food assistance and other social safety net services — to maintain the programs, local municipalities must now pick up the tab.

To cut costs, the county budget would eliminate the equivalent of close to 60 full-time positions, most of them vacant. It does not include any layoffs. The budget maintains funding for the equivalent of about 2,680 full-time positions.

After the board of supervisors’ budget hearings this week, staff will return with a revised draft budget for approval on June 24. The final budget is expected to be adopted on Sept. 29.

Detailed information about the budget is available on the county’s website and transparency portal. Santa Cruz Local compiled five takeaways on aspects of the budget most relevant to residents.

(function() { window.mc4wp = window.mc4wp || { listeners: [], forms: { on: function(evt, cb) { window.mc4wp.listeners.push( { event : evt, callback: cb } ); } } } })(); Stay informed on Santa Cruz County’s biggest issues. Santa Cruz Local’s newsletter breaks down complex local topics and shows residents how to get involved. Email address:
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The budget balances costs and expenses with $30.8 million in General Fund reserves. That drains the reserves, which serve as a savings account for unexpected costs, to 10.4% from 12.5% of the General Fund budget. The county’s target is 15%.

The reserve spending includes:

• $17.1 million for the Health Services Agency to cover salary increases and rising demand for health clinics and mental health services.
• $4.3 million for the Human Services Department, largely to offset increased costs of administering CalFresh and MediCal following H.R. 1. Those costs are expected to compound in coming years, county staff wrote in a report ahead of the budget hearings. 

The dip into reserves is a temporary measure, and moving forward the county will either have to cut costs or raise more money, staff wrote. Coburn called the budget a “stopgap” in her budget message.

Sheriff spending

The General Fund reserve spending includes $6 million for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office to cover salary increases and avoid layoffs. “A large number” of employees have been on extended leaves from work, Coburn said. The county is trying to determine how to bring people back or see if they would permanently leave employment. Two sheriff’s positions to be added for the DNA laboratory are covered by dedicated funding outside of the General Fund. 

Ahead of the meeting, some advocates with the group Care not Cages have signed on to a letter urging county leaders to prioritize social services spending over sheriff, probation and jails. The group aims to decrease incarceration, particularly for people with mental illness and substance use disorders. 

Public safety “actually looks like being healthy, having access to medical services, having food on the table, having a job to go to,” said Bernie Gomez, who has worked with Care not Cages. Gomez is a programs and leadership coordinator at the MILPA Collective, a Chicano-Indigenous community support and advocacy group.  

The sheriff’s department is one of the county’s largest General Fund expenditures. Although more county money goes towards social services, a larger portion of sheriff funding comes from local sources, rather than state and federal grants.

“To provide additional rainy day funds” to the department is “unacceptable during this time of uncertainty,” Gomez said.

Road repair struggles

The county has planned $66 million in spending on roads, including repairs, maintenance and repaving. Most of that money comes from state and federal funds, plus county fees. Measure K sales tax funds contribute $2 million annually. 

Last year, the county dipped into the General Fund to allocate a further $1.9 million to road maintenance, meant to make progress on a hefty backlog of deteriorating roads. This year’s budget didn’t include that contribution. However, total spending on road maintenance, including state and federal funds, is set to increase by $2.2 million. 

Supervisor Manu Koenig said he was concerned by the lack of General Fund investment in road maintenance. “Anything that we can do for preventative maintenance now, while it’s dry, is ultimately going to save us a lot of money in the long term,” he said at the May 5 meeting.

The county is anticipating an El Niño weather pattern this year, “which gives me heart palpitations,” said Coburn, “because I’m anticipating that it could be very wet, and we could see mudslides, flip-outs, flooding, all the rest of it.”

Climate scientists are predicting a potential “super” El Niño this year that is more intense due to human-fueled climate change. That could mean lots of rain locally.

Storm repairs have been hampered for years by delays in federal disaster money. The county is waiting on $50 million in reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coburn said. Fifty-seven repair projects are on hold because the county cannot afford the local match required to receive federal funds.

Paid parking pilot

The proposed parks budget includes plans for a paid parking pilot program at some county parks to fill budget gaps. Multiple county supervisors spoke against the idea. “Everybody is so strapped for cash these days, and that would be one more cost to providing access to open spaces,” said Supervisor Felipe Hernandez at the May 5 meeting.

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The post Paid parking, road repairs and scanter reserves: Inside the draft Santa Cruz County budget appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.

Businesses operating in Santa Cruz County must register with the county clerk. Lookout Santa Cruz reviews the public filings from local businesses to report on new businesses starting in the area.

Here is what’s new in local business recently.

New businesses

• EL DORADO CREATIVE was registered at 1401 El Dorado Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jonas Davidson as an individual business on May 26.
• ELEPHANT SEAL SPORTS was registered at 1150 El Solyo Heights Dr., Felton, by Applied Emergence LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
• HUTCH’S HOME IMPROVEMENTS was registered at 1198 Pine Flat Rd., Santa Cruz, by Joshua Matthew Hutchison as an individual business on May 26.
• SWIFT FITNESS was registered at 2351 Mission St., Santa Cruz, by SCG Fitness LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
• BLUSH BEAUTY CO. was registered at 46 Brennan St., Watsonville, by Julie Ponce as an individual business on May 27.
• CARNE LLC, POINT BUTCHER SHOP LLC was registered at 21511 E. Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz, by Carne LLC as a limited liability company on May 27.
• SCRATCH STUDIO was registered at 303 Potrero St., #02b, Santa Cruz, by Sara Josephine Czarnecki on May 27.
• 3 DOT was registered at 105 Winterwind Way, Watsonville, by Brynn Taylor Mitchell as an individual business on May 28.
• HOT ELEVATION STUDIOS was registered at 1440 41st Ave., Suite E, Capitola, by Stillhaven LLC as a limited liability company on May 28.
• SOQUEL CREEK REDWOOD was registered at 200 7th Ave., Suite 190, Santa Cruz, by Aden Dahar Cury as a general partnership on May 28.
• CESAR AUTO REPAIR was registered at 40 Linden Rd., Watsonville, by Julio Cesar Flores Sandoval as an individual business on May 28.
• RESILIENCE was registered at 67 Charles Dr., Santa Cruz, by Nathan Lindsay as an individual business on May 28.
• ReturnToMe LLC was registered at 9 Ortalon Ave., Santa Cruz, by Returntome LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
• BIG BITE SC was registered at 119 Laguna St., Santa Cruz, by Grace Wong St. Clair as an individual business on May 29.
• PACIFIC PERFORMANCE PEPTIDES was registered at 5000 Scotts Valley Dr., #2, Scotts Valley, by Pacific Performance Holdings LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
• TALLIE’S TAILORING, TRUE CRUZ was registered at 875 Monterey Ave., Capitola, by Tallie Adair Crawford as an individual business on May 29.
• SONS’ PIZZA CO. was registered at 1255 38th Ave., Spc. 58, Santa Cruz, by Jason Anstey as an individual business on May 29.
• PRETTY USEFUL ART was registered at 455 Hillview Dr., Felton, by Margaret Rochelle Vieira as an individual business on June 1.
• CRITICAL HIT CONSULTING, HYPERTHREAD CONSULTING was registered at 86 Montebello Dr., Watsonville, by Box To Beautiful, LLC, as a limited liability company on June 1.
• WESTMONT LIVING BUS FLEET was registered at 5630 Soquel Dr., Soquel, by Rsf Viii Soquel Opco, LLC, as a limited liability company on June 2.
• RODRIGUEZ CLINICAL CONSULTING was registered at 711 Seabright Ave., Apt. 1, Santa Cruz, by Anthony Edward Rodriguez as an individual business on June 2.
• TREJOS CARNITAS was registered at 370 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville, by Trejo-Arias Cristobal as an individual business on June 2.
• CENTRAL COAST FLOORING LLC was registered at 416 Airport Blvd., Watsonville, by Central Coast Flooring LLC as a limited liability company on June 2.
• RUIZ BOOKEEPING & TAX SERVICE was registered at 105 Jefferson St., #B, Watsonville, by Sofia Samano Ruiz as an individual business on June 2.
• ARCADE FOUNDRY was registered at 339 Park Dr., Aptos, by David Pryor as an individual business on June 2.
• J.M.4U INC. was registered at 223 Morrissey Blvd., Santa Cruz, by J.M.4U Inc. as a corporation on June 3.
• LAUDEN INTEGRATIVE PHARMACY was registered at 1820-f 41st Ave., Capitola, by Lauden Pharmacy, Inc. as a corporation on June 3.
• CARNE was registered at 21511 E. Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz, by Point Butcher Shop LLC as a limited liability company on June 3.
• MONARCA BEAUTY GLAM was registered at 3230 Cunnision Lane, #A, Soquel, by Catalina Vargas Valdovinos as an individual business on June 3.
• OPEN DOOR SPANISH was registered at 1730 15th Ave., Santa Cruz, by Kristen Lansdale as an individual business on June 4.
• SIDEWALK STUDIO was registered at 4637 Scotts Valley Dr., Scotts Valley, by Patricia Pollock as an individual business on June 4.
• TOM SHIELDS AQUATICS was registered at 184 Harbor Oaks Circle, Santa Cruz, by Dolphin Kick Lab LLC as a limited liability company on June 4.
• SONNE was registered at 1316 30th Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jessica Yuchin Hebestreit as an individual business on June 4.
• ANXIETY TREATMENT SERVICES was registered at 5905 Soquel Dr., Suite 400, Soquel, by Amoreena Juarez as an individual business on June 4.
• GUZMAN TAX PRO was registered at 416 Center St., Watsonville, by Luis A. Guzman as a co-partnership on June 4.
• SIGNATUREPLUS was registered at 2627 Mattison Lane, Spc. 11, Santa Cruz, by Daisy A. Montesinos as an individual business on June 5.
• PRISM N HUES was registered at 134 Blaine St., #C, Santa Cruz, by Stephanie P. Silviera Barrientos as an individual business on June 5.
• BLUE MOON ESTATE SALES SAN MATEO AND SAN JOSE was registered at 137 Margaret Dr., Boulder Creek, by Servicesmith Estate Sales as a corporation on June 5.

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

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The latest full closure of the Murray Street Bridge will begin Wednesday, meaning another few months of detours around the key artery over the Santa Cruz Harbor.

This closure will mirror the bridge’s previous full closure, which ran from late June 2025 until late January 2026. Once again, both lanes of the bridge will be shut down to cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The closure is expected to last through September.

Per a media release from the City of Santa Cruz, the closure is necessary for the next phase of construction on the east (Live Oak) side of the bridge, which includes pile driving and work on the foundation in order to strengthen the structure and allow it to better withstand earthquakes. The previous full closure allowed crews to install new piles and conduct similar work on the west (Seabright) end of the bridge. The work has to happen during the summer, as it is within the in-water construction period that environmental permits have specified in order to protect sensitive species and habitats.

Credit: City of Santa Cruz

Detours will be implemented throughout the full closure. Vehicles will be directed to Seabright Avenue, Soquel Avenue, Capitola Road and 7th Avenue. Cyclists will be detoured through Arana Gulch and Broadway via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Pedestrians will be detoured around the north harbor toward Eaton Street, 7th Avenue and Brommer Street. 

Although the project began only in early 2025, it had been in the works for decades. The previous full closure disrupted a major east-west thoroughfare and significantly affected the surrounding Seabright neighborhood in various ways, including traffic congestion and major losses for many of the nearby businesses from Seabright to the Santa Cruz Harbor. Once the previous full closure reopened in late January, the city attempted to allow vehicles to travel both directions with a one-way alternating traffic signal, but promptly reverted back to only eastbound traffic about a week later after both sides of the bridge saw severe gridlock that spilled into the neighborhood streets and city staff observed dangerous driving.

This time, commuters, business owners and Seabright residents can take solace in the fact that the upcoming closure is expected to be the bridge’s final long-term shutdown. There are two final full closures planned before the anticipated January 2028 completion date: one scheduled to last one week in February 2027 and another scheduled to last two weeks in December 2027.

The annual Wharf to Wharf Race will also be rerouted for the second time due to a full bridge closure. It will start on Portola Drive in Live Oak, head west toward the harbor and then turn left at the Eaton Street-Lake Avenue intersection to rejoin its usual course along East Cliff Drive toward Capitola Village. 

The project is currently still on pace to wrap up in January 2028.

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

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The University of California Board of Regents approved a new housing project on the west side of the UC Santa Cruz campus, endorsing a plan to significantly expand on-campus housing for upper-division students.

Heller Student Housing South is the first phase of a two-part project that will redevelop a 13-acre site that is the current location of Family Student Housing. After the new community for students with families opens in the 2026-27 academic year, the existing buildings will be removed for the new construction. Heller Student South will provide housing for nearly 1,300 upper-division undergraduate students.

The goal is to open the new housing for fall 2029, marking a significant step in the campus’s ambitious plan to increase student housing by 40 percent within the decade. 

“This project is crucial for our campus,” Chancellor Cynthia Larive said. “Support for students begins with on-campus housing and we are looking forward to being able to provide even more students with the opportunity to live and study on campus.”

UC Santa Cruz currently provides housing for 9,300 students, about 50 percent of its undergraduate community and one of the highest percentages within the UC system. With a mix of new construction and college renewal  projects, the campus is working toward adding thousands more units in the coming years. 

Heller Student Housing South will include four buildings, ranging from five to seven stories, built south of the existing pedestrian bridge at Rachel Carson College. 

(Rendering courtesy of McCarthy / WRNS Studio)

In order to support a range of student preferences, units will be available in a mix of singles, triple studios, two- and four-bedroom apartments, and co-living suites. 

Features in the first phase include a market, multi-purpose space, mailroom, and laundry facilities. The recently expanded dining hall at Rachel Carson and Oakes colleges will provide additional dining opportunities for students. 

Consistent with the university’s commitment to sustainability and other new housing on campus, Heller is expected to earn Gold Certification or higher in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™). The project is fully electric, with no fossil fuels used for space or water heating, and each building will include solar panels. The campus has designed the project to capture stormwater for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and irrigation to reduce water consumption. 

UC Santa Cruz has plans for the second phase on the north end of the site to be advanced at a later date. The north project will provide up to 1,650 beds, giving UC Santa Cruz a combined total of 2,940 beds on the Heller site.

The post More student housing on the horizon as UC Regents approve new housing complex appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

This summer, the Seabright and Santa Cruz Harbor neighborhoods are leaning into what they do best: bringing people together outdoors. From vintage markets and movie nights to a family play festival, a new lineup of community-focused events aims to turn the waterfront districts into lively gathering spaces throughout the season. Help buoy the Seabright and Santa Cruz Harbor businesses by exploring the shops and restaurants, enjoying these free events all summer long.

The Saltwater Market Brings Vintage Culture to the Beach

At the center of the summer lineup is The Saltwater Market, a curated outdoor thrift and vintage market designed to attract younger shoppers and creative audiences to the district.

The market will feature local vintage resellers, clothing vendors, artists, and makers, transforming Murray Street and the Santa Cruz Harbor into an open-air shopping experience with a distinctly coastal feel. Come take a stroll through the markets, explore the neighborhood, and spend the day moving between shops, restaurants, and vendor booths.

Two markets are currently scheduled:

• Sunday, July 12 in Seabright
• Saturday, August 15 in Santa Cruz Harbor area

Thursday Nights Become a Weekly Neighborhood Tradition

Another major piece of the summer programming is the launch of Thursday Night Family Movie Nights, a six-week outdoor film series taking place on Murray Street from July 9 through August 13. Grab your spot starting at 8pm for the 8:30pm showtimes. 

Each week, families are invited to bring lawn chairs and blankets and gather outdoors for a free community movie night. Families and neighbors are encouraged to dine, grab dessert or a beverage, or shop locally before the screenings. 

The events are free to attend and centered around family-friendly programming, creating an accessible option for local residents looking for low-cost summer activities. Check out the lineup:

• July 9: The SpongeBob Movie 
• July 16: Legally Blonde  
• July 23: Minecraft Movie  
• July 30: Shrek  
• August 6: Hoppers  
• August 13: Goat  

Harbor Family Play Day Focuses on Kids and Community

Rounding out the lineup is the Santa Cruz Harbor Family Play Day, a daytime festival planned for July that will focus on hands-on activities and interactive entertainment for kids.

The event will feature simple carnival-style games, family activities, and kid-focused programming designed to create an easygoing daytime experience for local families. While details and the final July date are still being finalized, the goal of the event is to be playful neighborhood gathering centered on accessibility and community participation.

Support the Seabright and Santa Cruz Habor Businesses All Summer Long

The City of Santa Cruz recognizes that summer is an important season for Seabright and the Santa Cruz Harbor area businesses. To help mitigate impacts of the full bridge closure from June to September, the City is working to ensure the neighborhood remains a vibrant destination all summer long through events, expanded business support, and the early launch of the free summer water taxi service. 

Whether its families gathering for outdoor movies, shoppers hunting for vintage finds, or kids playing carnival games by the beach, the season’s programming is built around a simple idea: Spend your summer in Seabright and the Santa Cruz Harbor and support our local businesses during the Murray Street Bridge Seismic Retrofit project. 

The post Summer by the water: Seabright and the Santa Cruz Harbor roll out a season of community events appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

This post is updated throughout the day to reflect the latest incidents. It was last updated at 8:01 a.m.

Here’s what’s happening on Santa Cruz County roads this morning…

▼︎ new incidents

Road incidents as of 8 a.m. on June 9

• A traffic hazard was reported at Daubenbiss Avenue and Soquel Drive in Soquel at 7:01 a.m. today. Several vehicles, including a white Toyota Prius, gray Ford Escape and black Dodge Ram, were parked in a way that caused a hazard. A construction crew tried to find the owners by knocking on doors in the neighborhood. If they couldn’t find the owners, authorities planned to tow the vehicles.
   
• A person was seen pretending to jump in front of a car, causing a traffic hazard at Graham Hill Road and Tanglewood Trail north of Santa Cruz. This was reported today.
   
• A traffic hazard was reported at Capitola Road Extension and Soquel Avenue in Live Oak area at 7:56 a.m. today. An object was sticking into the road, causing drivers to move into oncoming traffic.
   
• South Highway 1 at Park Avenue in Capitola is facing closures for roadwork. The closure is expected to end on Aug. 19.
   
• Highway 9 at Cascade Avenue in Brookdale has one-way traffic due to ongoing work. This closure is expected to last until Aug. 31.
   
• There will be alternating lane closures on Highway 9 at Pool Drive in Boulder Creek because of bridge work. This is scheduled to continue until April 30, 2027.
   
• A lane on westbound Highway 152 at Clifford Drive/Ohlone Parkway in Watsonville is closed for asphalt paving. The closure is expected to last until July 3.
   
• The California Highway Patrol helped Caltrans with repaving work on eastbound Highway 152 between Green Valley Rd and Ohlone Parkway in Watsonville. The #2 lane was to be closed for maintenance from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.
   

Disclosure: Traffic incidents are partially generated by artificial intelligence. We are constantly working to improve the accuracy and quality of our AI-generated content. However, there may still be errors or inaccuracies. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

The post Tuesday morning traffic: Multiple road closures, hazards and lane blocks reported appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.