Santa Cruz Conference Center

Last year Santa Cruz decided not to build a conference center out by the wharf amidst rather heated debate about the trade-offs we would make in order to have this presumed money maker. Over the years the residents of Santa Cruz have rejected other money makers because of the ways they would affect the environment and the quality of life here. We have avoided having heavy industry or large developments on the coast.

But there are always trade-offs for everything. If we choose not to have industry here we must either choose to find the money for the public amenities we want elsewhere or do without. In the past I think we have avoided these choices because the cost of living in Santa Cruz was relatively cheap, the California economy was booming and the people who chose to live in Santa Cruz were by and large willing to do withouth certain public services in return for the protection of open space.

Over the past 20 years the population of Santa Cruz has been changing. Many of the people who went to college here chose to stay and have now grown up and are raising families of their own. I believe there are also more people who originally lived over the hill who figure that since the were commuting an hour to work anyway, they might as well raise their families in a beautiful place on the coast. The people who could afford to move here were relatively wealthy and this combined with the number of people already in town who want to buy homes, the landlocked nature of SC and the restrictive nature of our building laws has sent the cost of housing through the roof.

Both of those populations are raising families and so their perceptions of what public services are important is changing. They want to make sure we have the best schools, parks, etc.

In other places like Lafayette and Orinda, the residents have chosen to keep industry out and pay very high local taxes to pay for the services they want. Less wealthy communities make the trade-off and court one industry or another. If the residents of Santa Cruz county choose towards higher local taxes and fees I believe we will even further reduce the diversity of this areaby forcing out even more of the artists and other people of modest income.

But if we do decide to fund the services we want/need by inviting in particular industries, what industries will have the least impact on our environment and our way of life? What blend of industries will be best for the Santa Cruz we want to create for tomorrow?