Hello Neighbors!
Last night was the debate between myself and Ms. Martinez at the Felton Community Hall. First, I would like to thank Lookout Santa Cruz for hosting, the audience for attending and asking such great questions, and Ms. Martinez for participating. It was a great display of understanding and approaches to the problems that are facing the people in the 5th district. The next forum is next Thursday in Boulder Creek, and I hope if you weren't able to attend last night I hope you can attend that one.
I wanted to speak to something that was asked that I was not afforded a rebuttal to. It was on the topic of the idea that the county doesn't want people to live in the mountains. I went first and I answered earnestly about listening and being present, but after I could see that the concern itself was laughable to some in the room. Some would say that it's a conspiracy theory, which insinuates there is no proof of this and that the folks that feel this are misguided.
But I would say the evidence is the policy in action that proves that people who are feeling this are not imagining this. I have sat in forums where other supervisors have said people shouldn't live in the San Lorenzo Valley because it's “too dangerous”. I have heard the complaints that our infrastructure is too expensive to invest in as it crumbles. I have watched only 12% of my fire community come home, with a large portion of that coming from obstruction from the county and its planning departments culture of no. I have been in meetings with the State Water Board with my neighborhood telling us that we potentially face getting red-tagged because of our failing sewer system. We see relocation programs being formed to give disaster victims options if they are "blocked" from rebuilding.
These choices, beliefs, and philosophies are shown with policies that are continuing to squeeze people out of the mountain areas. This isn't conjecture, and it certainly is not the imagination of those who have this concern. Those of us who are in or adjacent to the fire community have lost so many of our neighbors who moved after the fire specifically because of the county response. The evidence is all around us.
I believe mountain people deserve to exist and deserve to have investment in our communities. I will be that supervisor who sees these policies for what they are, sees the potential harm, and will work hard to support all the families who call this beautiful place home. Like I have said since the beginning of the race, I am here to raise all boats.
Lastly, I want to own that I was wrong about some of the details during our discussion of Measure Q; I’d thought that these funds had no hard-written allocation preventing using them in the General Fund, and that isn’t the case — it has no carve-outs for the Fire Districts (although the Fire Departments can apply for funds), but there are percentage-based allocations written into the Measure. Had a great conversation digging into the details with a Measure Q supporter, and I’m always ready to listen and iterate with new information.
In Community, always.
Christopher
Christopher, thanks for confirming my suspicions. After 45 years here, 35 commuting "over the hill", I can see the difference in things like road maintenance between counties, especially San Mateo over HWY 84, the lack of medical care, ( I think besides 2 dental offices and Dr.'s Hunt and Shaw, optometrists in Ben Lomond, for an M.D. or D.O. you must go to Scotts Valley except for 1 doctor part time in Dr. Leib's old office or the church, and for "Urgent care" Santa Cruz), an abandoned elementary school 25 or so years ago. Bus service is almost ignored, in fact there were more 35's running before the fire. In fact, I heard by word of mouth that CalFire was…