Tell us what local issues you care about. We’ll press candidates running for office.
Races on the Nov. 3 ballot include city council seats in Capitola, Scotts Valley and Watsonville. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local file/CatchLight Local)
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY>> As Election Day on Nov. 3 grows closer, Santa Cruz Local is starting to create our free, nonpartisan election guide for local races. We’re beginning like we always do — by asking residents what they need from their elected leaders, what changes you want to see and what helps you decide who to vote for.
Take our five-minute survey about the local issues that matters most to you. The survey is open until Aug. 28.
Your responses will help inform the questions we ask candidates for local office. In early October, we’ll report back on what they told us.
Competitive races on the November ballot include:
- Santa Cruz Mayor.
- Two seats on the Watsonville City Council.
- Two seats on the Scotts Valley City Council.
- Three seats on the Capitola City Council.
- School board seats in Pajaro Valley Unified School District, San Lorenzo Valley School District, and Soquel Unified School district.
- A Cabrillo Community College District trustee.
- Two directors for Felton Fire Protection District.
See more details on upcoming races.
Questions or comments? Email info@santacruzlocal.org. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.
Learn about membership Santa Cruz Local’s news is free. We believe that high-quality local news is crucial to democracy. We depend on locals like you to make a meaningful contribution so everyone can access our news. Learn about membershipThe post Tell us what local issues you care about. We’ll press candidates running for office. appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.
This PVUSD consultant is paid $4,000 per day. Some trustees want more oversight
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees meets in October. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)
Pajaro Valley Unified School District board meeting- 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 275 Main St., fourth floor, Watsonville.
- The meeting will be streamed on YouTube.
- Click here to email the Board of Trustees.
WATSONVILLE >> Amid increased public scrutiny of spending on consultants, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees tabled renewal of a contract with a literacy coach that is paid $4,000 per day.
The consultant is one piece of a larger strategy to improve the district’s low reading scores. Some trustees worry the delayed renewal could slow the fragile progress the district has made with literacy. But teachers at two elementary schools said the coaching was counterproductive, and many staff and teachers have decried what they see as wasteful spending on outside consultants while staff and teachers are laid off.
Former Modesto City Schools administrator Kimberly Newton, whose consulting business is called Leading Literacy Consulting, has been working in the districts’ elementary schools that are underperforming in reading since the beginning of last school year.
Ahead of an Aug. 5 board meeting, teachers at Hall District and Radcliff elementary schools urged the board not to renew a one-year contract that would compensate her $157,500 for 35 days of work — a daily rate of $4,500. Newton’s contracts with the district last year and the first half of this year had daily pay rates of $3,500 to $4,000 and purchase orders from her totaled $239,500, according to district documents.
A group of Hall District teachers that wrote the email described Newton’s coaching as “disruptive” and “counterproductive,” according to a document reviewed by Santa Cruz Local.
A longtime teacher at Hall District, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to workplace concerns, said in a phone interview that the coaching from Newton was essentially a waste of time.
“She would give us certain strategies, but the strategies were not useful for us because they weren’t serving our population, our demographics of students,” the teacher said.
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For example, the teacher said, Newton suggested students’ parents could help them with reading exercises, yet many of the students’ parents don’t read or speak English.
In an email to Santa Cruz Local on Tuesday, Newton disputed this concern and said she has experience working in schools with similar demographics as Hall District and had not suggested more homework for parents.
“Throughout the year, morale was positive, teachers were receptive, administrators and literacy coaches were grateful,” Newton wrote. “The focus of my work was to support the implementation of research-based literacy practices.”
Superintendent Heather Contreras, who picked Newton to be a literacy consultant for the district, wrote in an email that, “Prior to working with Ms. Newton, both site principals worked with their teachers to see if teachers were interested in the support, and teachers agreed.”
Contreras wrote that “exit surveys following the professional learning delivered by Ms. Newton have all been positive,” and added that “if teaching staff do not feel a strategy is effective for them, we work to listen to staff and work collaboratively with them on next steps.”
A plan to improve reading scoresLess than 13% of third graders in PVUSD were proficient in English Language Arts, according to 2025 test scores. In California, about 44% of all third graders and 15% of third grade English learners were proficient in reading in 2025.
While improving reading scores to pre-pandemic levels has been a challenge across the state, PVUSD has struggled more than other districts to catch up.
Under Contreras’ leadership since 2024, the district has been prioritizing reading scores. Strategies meant to address the gap include the implementation of the 95% phonics curriculum, literacy training for teachers, and consultants like Leading Literacy.
Superintendent Heather Contreras has helmed the district since 2024. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)
LETRS, Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, is a training program for kindergarten through fifth grade teachers. In 2024, PVUSD implemented an incentive program for teachers to take the LETRS training and receive a monthly $1,500 stipend.
The Hall District teacher who spoke anonymously said they found that training really useful, and thought 95% phonics, a reading curriculum that emphasizes connecting spoken sounds to written words, was having a positive impact in the classroom.
Their main concern about the district’s strategy to improve reading scores is that it felt like a top-down implementation that lacked teacher buy-in — and that it was hard to work with a new consultant who had yet to build rapport or trust.
“It was quite stressful for us to not only try and learn this new program [95% phonics], but to have eyes on you telling you what you’re doing wrong from a person that we don’t know at all,” the teacher said.
Newton said her work included “individualized professional learning opportunities through modeling and co-teaching these instructional practices directly in classrooms.”
Part of teachers’ concern with the literacy contract, and other spending on consultants, is tied to the district’s financial position, recent devastating layoffs of staff and teachers, the threat of school closures, and ongoing contract negotiations between the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers and the district.
In an email to Santa Cruz Local, Contreras said the money that pays for Newton’s coaching comes from one-time funds that are restricted to professional development in teaching literacy and couldn’t be used to pay ongoing teacher salaries.
A call for oversight of consultantsAt the Aug. 5 board meeting, trustees debated the contract and how the district might solicit anonymous feedback from staff about their experiences with outside consultants.
Trustee Gabe Medina’s district includes Radcliff and Hall District.
“What I’m hearing from my teachers in my area is this was a really bad experience for them,” he said of the coaching from Newton. Medina suggested there be an evaluation process for consultants, because “if it’s not a good match, it’s not a good match, and we need to determine that.”
Ultimately, Board President Carol Turley and Trustees Daniel Dodge Jr., Joy Flynn and Medina voted to table renewal of the contract until the Aug. 26 board meeting. They also directed the superintendent to devise a mechanism for teachers to submit anonymous feedback about Newton.
Though Turley voted in favor of tabling the contract to make time for an evaluation process, she was upset when reached by phone after the meeting.
“We failed our kids. Our kids are testing in the bottom,” Turley said. “If you can’t read by third grade, it’s almost impossible to catch up. We have a plan, and we’ve been working this for two years, and we’ve seen significant growth in the past year. And now we’re just abandoning the coaching to help those teachers make sure our kids can be successful.”
Trustee Misty Navarro, the sole vote against tabling the contract in a board meeting with two trustees absent, said that she supported allowing the superintendent to implement her strategy for improving reading scores and that the district should allocate the resources necessary for that.
But, Navarro agreed with other trustees during the meeting, saying, “if you don’t get teacher buy-in, I don’t think we’re going to move the needle.”
In an email Aug. 7, Navarro wrote that she was disappointed and tabling renewal of the contract “is a loss for our educators, who were genuinely interested in the professional development it offered, and it is a loss for our students.”
PVUSD teachers and their supporters rally outside a board meeting in February 2025 to oppose layoffs to teachers and staff. (Fidel M. Soto — Noticias Watsonville file)
Though no vote was made to create such a system, several trustees said there should be a process in place for evaluating all consultants’ work and a way for staff to submit anonymous feedback about any consultant. The district has many consultants for professional services, from classrooms to the business department.
Flynn suggested the district require an evaluation of consultants that would be reviewed by the board prior to renewal of a contract.
Board meetings have, in recent weeks, featured heightened scrutiny of consultant contracts. This came to a head last month when the contract for bond consultant Bill McGuire was up for renewal.
Santa Cruz Local reported in June that McGuire was hired by the district to advise on its bond-funded facilities projects, but the contract and the public record lacked specificity as to the work being done. He was hired to work one to two days per week at a cost of $200,000 per year to the district — paid out of the voter-approved bonds in 2024’s Measure M — with no clear deliverables available for review by trustees or the public.
McGuire told this publication in an interview in June that he advises the district’s facilities and business staff “to make sure that we’re utilizing the bond funds in the best way possible and helping coaching the team, who’s fairly new at this work.”
McGuire’s business partner Terry Bradley, who died shortly after being contracted by the district in June 2025, had previously been charged for bond bidding fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission but paid a settlement that did not include an admission of wrongdoing. McGuire said Bradley was never convicted and that any suggestion he was guilty was “character assasination.”
These articles provoked concern and anger over financial transparency among some district staff, parents and trustees. At last month’s board meeting, Medina was strident about his disapproval of the superintendent for bringing on McGuire, and moved to pull the item from the consent agenda for discussion. But with no votes on his side, the consent agenda, and McGuire’s contract renewal, were approved without discussion.
At the Aug. 5 meeting, Trustees Jessica Carrasco and Olivia Flores were absent, and the board lacked the votes to approve the consent agenda without discussion.
The contract renewal for Leading Literacy and a plan to solicit anonymous feedback is expected to come before the board at its next meeting, 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 275 Main St., fourth floor, Watsonville.
What do you think?#wpforms-32393 { --wpforms-field-size-input-height: 43px; --wpforms-field-size-input-spacing: 15px; --wpforms-field-size-font-size: 16px; --wpforms-field-size-line-height: 19px; --wpforms-field-size-padding-h: 14px; --wpforms-field-size-checkbox-size: 16px; --wpforms-field-size-sublabel-spacing: 5px; --wpforms-field-size-icon-size: 1; --wpforms-label-size-font-size: 16px; --wpforms-label-size-line-height: 19px; --wpforms-label-size-sublabel-font-size: 14px; --wpforms-label-size-sublabel-line-height: 17px; --wpforms-button-size-font-size: 17px; --wpforms-button-size-height: 41px; --wpforms-button-size-padding-h: 15px; --wpforms-button-size-margin-top: 10px; --wpforms-container-shadow-size-box-shadow: none; } Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Are you a teacher who has worked with Leading Literacy Consulting? How was your experience? *Checkboxes
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As big buildings come to Santa Cruz, leaders want suggestions to make them less ugly
A new survey will help city staff create a design guide for developers in Santa Cruz that may include suggestions for building materials, shapes and landscaping. (Contributed)
Santa Cruz design standards survey- Take the survey in English.
- Toma la encuesta en español.
- For questions or to give more feedback, email ajayewardene@santacruzca.gov.
SANTA CRUZ >> As developers continue to propose and build large-scale housing in Santa Cruz at a rate faster than prior decades, city staff are planning to nudge them towards designs that people don’t hate.
What does that mean, exactly? A city survey open now aims to find out.
The survey will help staff create a design guide for developers that may include suggestions for building materials, shapes and landscaping. Those guidelines, however, will be entirely voluntary. State law prohibits any design standards not considered objective, and restricts many changes that could reduce the number of new homes built.
State laws have severely curtailed local leaders’ ability to change, downsize or block new housing developments. Instead, developers who adhere to the design guidelines could receive faster review or approval.
The survey also asks for feedback on strategies to transition between single-family neighborhoods and newly-upzoned lots on major corridors like Mission St., which could host buildings with five or more stories. Options presented include incorporating more landscaping, including community spaces in new developments, and upzoning some surrounding lots to provide moderately-dense “missing middle” housing like triplexes and quadplexes.
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In March, the Santa Cruz City Council created an ad-hoc committee with Vice Mayor Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and council members Susie O’Hara and Scott Newsome to coordinate with city staff about the guide. A draft guide would be considered by the city council before approval.
The survey is open through August.
Questions or comments? Email info@santacruzlocal.org. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.
Learn about membership Santa Cruz Local’s news is free. We believe that high-quality local news is crucial to democracy. We depend on locals like you to make a meaningful contribution so everyone can access our news. Learn about membershipThe post As big buildings come to Santa Cruz, leaders want suggestions to make them less ugly appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.
With new funds, Felton Fire looks to hire
In July, Felton Fire property owners voted for an assessment expected to raise $1.7 million annually. (Amaya Edwards — Catchlight/Santa Cruz Local)
FELTON >> Property owners within the Felton Fire Protection District on July 24 voted to approve an assessment to provide stable funding to the financially troubled district. Assessments are a type of voter-approved payment made by property owners to fund a specific government benefit, like road repair or fire protection.
Felton Fire was facing an uncertain future, with trouble keeping enough local volunteer firefighters to provide service. If the assessment failed, leaders said they would have considered dissolving the district and being absorbed by another fire agency.
The assessment, approved through a Proposition 218 process, is priced based on the type of property and its location. A typical single-family home in the Felton Fire District will be assessed about $700 annually.
Of 1,181 ballots submitted, 825 were in favor of the assessment. Votes for the assessment were weighted based on the amount each property owner would pay. After votes were weighted, the assessment had 67.9% approval, well above the 50% weighted approval it needed to pass.
Change is rapidly coming to the small district, with new hires, new oversight and a competitive election for the Felton Fire Board of Directors.
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The assessment is expected to bring in nearly $1.7 million annually, with the first installment expected in November, Interim Fire Chief Isaac Blum said. District leaders are already moving forward with new hires promised during district leaders’ campaign for the assessment.
The assessment allocates money for a full-time chief, three full-time fire captains and six full-time firefighters to ensure that crews responding to fires have at least three members. For years, the district has relied almost entirely on volunteers paid a stipend for each 12-hour shift, and responding crews sometimes have had two members.
After interviewing a round of candidates for the chief position, the Felton Fire Board of Directors reported in a board meeting Aug. 10 that their top choice, former Monterey Fire Department Division Chief Stewart Roth, turned down an offer to lead the district because of his family’s difficulty with relocation. The board voted to re-open the position to new applicants who may be attracted by the stable funding provided by the newly approved assessment.
Blum, the interim chief, said before the assessment election that he planned to vacate the chief role at the end of the summer. At Monday’s meeting, he said he would stay on through a second round of interviews for a permanent chief. Blum has said in an interview that although he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of leading Felton Fire full time, the move would represent a large pay cut from his current position at Nasa Ames Research Center at Moffett Federal Airfield.
One fire captain was hired before the assessment passed, and two more will be hired as soon as the district can find qualified candidates, he said.
Blum said he also plans to bring on volunteer firefighters to supplement the paid positions. Fifteen county residents, including four who live within Felton Fire, have applied as potential volunteers, he said.
A final draft of the district budget for the upcoming fiscal year, including the new positions, is set to be discussed at the next board meeting Sept. 14.
District oversightThe Prop. 218 assessment calls for a citizen panel to oversee spending, but it’s still unclear what shape the committee will take. The group could be legally independent of the fire district and completely self-governing. The board could also create a formal commission, which would be bound by the legal structure and transparency rules of the Brown Act.
Board members decided to discuss the structure of the oversight committee at the Sept. 14 board meeting.
Board electionThree positions on the board of directors are up for grabs in the Nov. 3 general election, including two full-term seats and one short-term seat. The short-term seat, which would expire in 2028, is currently held by Craig Winters, who directors appointed to the position in July 2025. Winter is not running to finish out that term.
Instead, Winters is challenging directors Norm Crandall and Jim Anderson, who are running for reelection for a four-year seat. Bill Finlayson is also running for one of the full-term seats. The top two vote-getters between Crandall, Anderson, Winters and Finlayson would win the two seats.
Rich Alter, a major advocate in the campaign for the 218 assessment, has filed alongside John Payne for the short-term seat.
The board sets the district budget, hires the chief and helps set policies for the district.
Questions or comments? Email info@santacruzlocal.org. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.
Learn about membership Santa Cruz Local’s news is free. We believe that high-quality local news is crucial to democracy. We depend on locals like you to make a meaningful contribution so everyone can access our news. Learn about membershipThe post With new funds, Felton Fire looks to hire appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.
Santa Cruz could lower speed limits near schools, business areas
In 2023, Santa Cruz County ranked worst in the state in reported cyclist deaths and injuries according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local)
Santa Cruz Transportation and Public Works Meeting- 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17
- Santa Cruz Council Chambers, 809 Center Street, Santa Cruz
- To comment ahead of the meeting, email tpwc@santacruzca.gov no later than 12 p.m. Monday Aug. 17.
SANTA CRUZ >> In an effort to reduce traffic injuries and deaths, the Santa Cruz city transportation planners are proposing to lower speed limits in school zones and neighborhoods with heavy foot traffic. Vehicle speed is a major factor in likelihood of death for pedestrians and cyclists in crashes.
On Monday, the Santa Cruz Transportation and Public Works Commission is set to review the Santa Cruz Road Safety Action Plan, and recommend city council adopt an array of speed reducing measures.
The commission’s recommendations include reducing speed limits to 15 mph from 25 mph in school zones when children are present, and to 20 or 25 mph from 30 mph in pedestrian heavy streets, such as Pacific Avenue and Laurel Street.
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Law enforcement data for vehicle crashes in the city of Santa Cruz from 2020 to 2024 suggests that unsafe speed was the primary factor in 17% of crashes that caused injury or death, according to the city’s Santa Cruz Road Safety Action Plan.
The council’s ability to reduce speed limits comes after a 2021 state law passed, which granted cities and counties in California the option to lower school and neighborhood speed limits to help reduce fatal accidents. Santa Cruz created the safety action plan that same year.
Now with school back in session, the safety risks are even greater with many students walking or biking.
“I think reducing speeds, especially around children in school zones, make neighborhoods more walkable and bikeable,” said Councilmember Renee Golder, who is also principal of Bay View Elementary School.
Bay View Elementary sits at Mission and Bay streets. Mission Street, which is also Highway 1, is a hot spot of fatal traffic accidents, with one as recently as January that resulted in the death of a pedestrian struck near Bay Street.
With Mission Street being one of the top priority streets for local transportation planners to address, other roadways the commission is seeking improvement on include Water Street, Soquel Avenue and Center Street.
The commission is also looking to launch a “20 is Plenty” campaign, a grassroots movement that originally started in the United Kingdom, which advocates for the idea of lowering speed limits on residential streets, particularly for cyclist safety.
In 2023, Santa Cruz County ranked worst in the state in reported cyclist deaths and injuries according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. The state data does not incorporate how many people regularly cycle.
Originally scheduled to be completed by 2030, the action plan was given a new projected completion date of 2050, after the city recognized that there was “more work to be done” and a “more realistic timeline” needed to be implemented, according to the draft of the action plan.
Questions or comments? Email info@santacruzlocal.org. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.
Learn about membership Santa Cruz Local’s news is free. We believe that high-quality local news is crucial to democracy. We depend on locals like you to make a meaningful contribution so everyone can access our news. Learn about membershipThe post Santa Cruz could lower speed limits near schools, business areas appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.
Return of the River Stewards: shelter residents tend to San Lorenzo riverbank ecosystem
Andrew Kim Kawaoka, 70, prunes a tree during a River Stewards Program event on Wednesday at the San Lorenzo River. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)
SANTA CRUZ >> With gloves and buckets, river ecologist Patrick Lopez and eight residents of a homeless shelter gathered along the San Lorenzo River on an overcast Wednesday morning. One participant shifted from foot to foot, eager to get started. Lopez began by describing which native and non-native plants they would be working with for the two-hour restoration event.
It was part of the relaunch of the River Stewards program, where people living at the Armory/Overlook Emergency Shelter receive hands-on training in river restoration techniques, and receive a $20 gift card for their participation.
“It’s a really fun thing to do because you get to be outside, and you get to learn new things,” said Serena Thompson, who added that she couldn’t be happier about its relaunch and said she missed the program when it ended.
Before People First and the Coastal Watershed Council relaunched this program on June 24, it was led in partnership with the Downtown Streets Team. The original version of the program hosted more than 50 unhoused volunteers from 2022 to 2025.
Amid the loss of several grants, including one from the County of Santa Cruz, the Downtown Streets Team shut down its operations in October 2025. A survey conducted during the final year of the program found that 48% of River Stewards volunteers eventually went on to gain employment and 37% gained housing after participating, according to a recent press release.
The new iteration of River Stewards is funded by the California Coastal Commission, the Ocean Protection Council, and money from the county’s Measure Q, a voter-approved parcel tax.
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Serena Thompson poses for a portrait while working at a weekly River Stewards volunteer day on the San Lorenzo River. Thompson, 55, participated in the program when the Downtown Streets Team was running it and missed attending after it was shut down in October 2025. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)
Up to eight shelter residents are shuttled to the river each Wednesday and work 9 a.m. to noon.
“Throughout the whole time that they’re working, I’m bouncing around to each of them, making sure that they are feeling supported and listened to. I really value cultivating those connections with them and listening to what’s going on in their lives,” said Lopez, who began working with the Coastal Watershed Council last month. “Some of them are actively looking for housing, and some of them are applying for jobs. Some of them are just happy to be out there, and it’s something that I really take a lot of pride in.”
Lopez guides volunteers through native seed collection, watering, mulching, trash cleanup and invasive species removal. He said so far, the group has removed 2,240 square feet of non-native plants, including Himalayan blackberry and Italian thistle, making room for native seeds that will be planted in the fall and winter.
Evan Morrison, Executive Director of People First, said the only requirements for participation is people must be in the Armory shelter and willing to work in a community environment.
“Coastal Watershed Council provides a great deal of ecological education to the program participants,” Morrison said. “Engaging in this process helps them to build knowledge and work experience.”
From left, Serena Thompson, Patrick Lopez and Dustin Jones get ready to work during a River Stewards program event on the San Lorenzo River south of Soquel Avenue Bridge. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)
Lopez said he has heard positive feedback from the volunteers about how proud they are of the work they’re accomplishing.
“Some of the participants are learning identification tools that are helping them nourish themselves. Himalayan blackberry is a big non-native invasive plant that is delicious to eat, and the more seeds that we eat, the better it can be for the whole community and plant society,” Lopez said. “A lot of them wish that we could have the program for multiple days throughout the week, and I wish we can accommodate that. Maybe someday we’ll be able to.”
Many of this year’s participants have volunteered with the previous iteration of the program. Another veteran participant, Andrew Kim Kawaoka, 70, has been living at the Armory for four years. When People First asked for volunteers, Kawaoka was eager to help tend the river. He has a background in landscaping and enjoys nature.
“The levee probably missed us. I think they’re happy we’re thinning out the plants and not letting one plant take over,” Kawaoka said. “They did an amazing job, because I don’t recognize the levee when I worked on it four years ago. None of this was here and now it’s getting the attention it needs.”
Miguel Ramirez volunteers with the River Stewards Program at the San Lorenzo River on Wednesday. During the event, participants were instructed on how to identify native and non-native plants before collecting all the non-native plants into a pile to throw away. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)
Herbert Carter tosses a non-native mustard plant into the disposal pile. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)
Questions or comments? Email info@santacruzlocal.org. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.
Learn about membership Santa Cruz Local’s news is free. We believe that high-quality local news is crucial to democracy. We depend on locals like you to make a meaningful contribution so everyone can access our news. Learn about membershipThe post Return of the River Stewards: shelter residents tend to San Lorenzo riverbank ecosystem appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.