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Our Downtown, Our Future

The past few years have demonstrated, ever more clearly, how important our downtown is for our future in Santa Cruz.

 

Consider recent election initiatives.

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  • Measure N (the empty homes tax).

  • Measure O (keeping the Downtown Farmers’ Market on Lot 4, renovating the existing library within budget, and reserving public land for affordable housing).

  • And the 2024 Measure N (limiting building height).

 
All these initiatives strongly challenged politics as usual. Although they all were defeated, a substantial portion of voters ⁠— over 40% ⁠— supported each one.

 

The support shows, at a minimum, that a strong minority of Santa Cruz voters wants better, community-oriented city policy.

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Now consider the issues upon us and ahead:

 

  • The big market-rate housing projects along Front Street, mostly unaffordable to people who work in Santa Cruz.

  • The proposal to expand the Downtown Plan to the South of Laurel (SOLA) area.

  • The Clocktower high-rise project.

  • New housing projects proposed along Soquel Avenue and Mission Street.

Downtown is not all of Santa Cruz, but as Downtown goes, it seems, so goes the city.

 

We need good planning, planning that considers community values, public space, and the vitality of our city, as well as our urgent housing needs.

 

Our Downtown, Our Future – the organization that led the Measure O campaign – is continuing as a community organization. We will pursue good planning in any ways and on any fronts we can.

To do this, we need your participation. Here’s how:

  • ​Share the link for this website with other people whom you think share our interest in a better future for our community.

  • ​​Donate a small amount of money, no more than you can afford, by:
    • Making out a check to Our Downtown, Our Future and,

    • Sending it to ODOF, 850 Front Street, #839, Santa Cruz CA 95061

    • We use funds to cover basic costs, like our website, to share information, and to organize community events.

  • Get on our newsletter email list (see below). We don’t send many emails and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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The Measure O campaign taught us something crucial:
We all want affordable housing, a great library, sustainable/efficient parking, and thriving community spaces
We just have different views on how to achieve them. 

Convening Community — Information, Discussion, Action

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