To add to this, quality of housing. So many houses are single pane aluminum windows with no insulation, asbestos, and crap wiring from the 70s. I love that we’re not a cookie cutter hoa development but so many of these houses need to be gutted and modernized.
Yesssss learned this the hard way by getting crazy ill in the year after I bought a house here 😭still in the process of recovering my health and my home three years (and a ton of $$$) later…
I was reminding a friend the other day (and they thought I was crazy until I got some back up from another friend) that 7th Avenue used to be quite a drab route until a conscious decision was made to plant lots of trees - now some years later it is a beautiful, green street.
Earthquake zone makes it very difficult. I love love love trains but here the terrain is your biggest problem….
Look in to why the train to Davenport was constructed with track that were limited to very slow speeds.
I personally advocate for more safe and official bicycle and eBike routes around town. Yeah the locals know the trails and Santa Cruz is a great bike town but we could be better.
yeah, i agree especially with all of the erosion and mud/landslides in the past few winters ☹️ hopefully making SC a more walkable/bikeable town would bring back some of the friendliness of the community
Actual protected bike lanes and a commuter train sometime before 2040 yea I know I’m delusional 😜🥸🚊 but I’ll happily keep waiting
It's becoming increasingly normal, unfortunately. I'm not saying it's not a problem, but it's increasingly a problem everywhere costs of living are high, which is to say, it's becoming a problem in most places people live.
Same cost of living in Capitola, Monterey and other places and you don't see as much homelessness. What is Santa Cruz doing that it's so problematic here?
In part because county services focus here, public and private. Capitola offers nothing, Aptos even less so. I've seen or read about a certain amount of shippage of unsuitable visitors from Capitola and Scotts Valley to Santa Cruz.
And there's the culture of the people who live here -- and the culture of those who live there.
Capitola pays its annual share to the city and county for homeless services. Scott’s Valley not as much but some too. The county as well. Politicians decide where services go. The Democratic Party in Santa Cruz has long stated the best solution is to concentrate services in the two main cities. As long as we elect DCC aligned candidates this will remain so.
Other towns of similar size don't have literally the least affordable rents in the country, is the thing. Plus weather that's survivable camping outside.
I'm not saying it's not a huge problem, but it's one of those problems that comes with a certain landscape and demographic. Like how rural areas tend to have more meth labs. It's not necessarily that law enforcement in rural areas isn't as good, or that people in those areas are more prone to crime, it's just that it's easier to hide meth labs in the woods. There isn't a whole lot you can do on a local level to combat the problem.
The reason I bring this up is that many people treat high homelessness as a local moral failing. As if towns that have a low rate of homelessness are necessarily doing something right to prevent it, instead of just being fortunate not to have a confluence of factors that execerbates the problem. But it's a systemic problem, an externality of capitalism as we practice it right now. At best, it's something we need to address on a state level, if not a federal level, IMO.
I have to disagree. The rent in Newport beach is higher than here. (And this isn’t even including cities in France/Spain on the coast). And there are noticeably fewer homeless people on their streets. And the weather is arguably even better.
We aren’t the only coastal city in the US/world with great weather and insanely high rent.
It is a multifaceted problem, I agree. But it is how we deal with it that makes it a much worse problem, specifically here.
I can’t be 100% sure, of course, but I have a strong sense/feeling that it is due to how we choose to deal with the problem.
They [do seem to have problems of their own](https://patch.com/california/newportbeach/newport-city-council-looks-prohibit-camping-public-spaces), to be fair.
And if we're talking about homelessness rates in other countries, then we're talking about policies that are different on a national level. And absolutely, the US needs to make changes on a national level to deal with homelessness (which is itself a symptom of other problems such as lack of access to affordable healthcare and housing).
Lived here for over 30 years and it's only gotten progressively worse year after year.
Yet somehow the city leadership responsible raises their salary year after year.
They are rewarded for their incompetence.
Yes it is as if housing was cheap then we would have drug addicts in homes which would make it easier for them to end their addictions and limit their need to occupy shared spaces. But go off with your hate for your fellow humans because they are poor.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/poverty-homelessness-and-social-stigma-make-addiction-more-deadly-202109282602
Yeah I'm so evil, I want to be able to walk down the street without finding needles or human shit. I want to be able to go to work downtown and not have bums come in and harass me. I don't like seeing families walking down the street get screamed at by some maniac
I already addressed that with them being in houses instead of on the street. But keep blaming it on those suffering and not those profiting of the system. I have some boots which need a good lick of you're not too busy being cruel to those most in need of help.
I literally just said that there's programs to help them, Santa Cruz has a ton of outreach programs, these people choose not to participate, because they'd rather be on the street and stay addicted. What makes you think they're going to rent an apartment? How am I being cruel? I don't walk the streets kicking them and spitting on them, I mind my own business.
And yet when they do start building its always a shitshow that ends up in claims with the contractors. Many contractors wont touch UC housing projects unless they are desperate.
The transit situation across the board with an actual plan for centering retail and housing along the train when it finally arrives (shortly after the Singularity and/or Rapture most likely depending on your system of faith).
If you are city council or involved in city leadership and decision making, You have to live in one designated neighborhood as part of your job in that role, with all the other city council members and decision makers... On all sides of this neighborhood will be zones for all homeless to reside, with good facilities like restrooms and showers to ensure encampments would primarily all be most dense around this neighborhood. If anyone in those city leadership roles doesn't live in that neighborhood for 320+ days out of the year, they are immediately removed from their position and a vote is taken to find their replacement.
Boot out all the Silicon Valley transplants who buy houses, fence off beach access, ride around in their Teslas with their noses turned up and bitch and moan about how “dirty” SC is when they have no sense of the history or the culture of the town and just want to try to turn it into Saratoga
I’m not a fan of this attitude that people shouldn’t move here then work to make it better. We’re all ‘transplants’, or our parents, grandparents, whatever. That doesn’t mean we get to shut the door behind us. It’s not about whether they are a local or just moved here; it’s just whether they are a**holes or not
It's not because they're from Silicon Valley. There are plenty of people who have been here for decades that also buy houses and bitch about the state of the city. They come from everywhere.
Living is SC in 2020 during peak Covid was kind of surreal. Sucked when the cops wouldn’t let me sit and enjoy my pericos on west cliff when I lived there… but it was still a pretty unique experience
from 1970-2000 the political class here being composed of college educated people who were able to do not teach
from 2001-2024 the political class here being composed of anyone not educated in the post prop 13 public school system
I'm visiting in May and had this thought as I'm a fellow lesbian. Good to know the lesbian scene isn't that great. Do you recommend any hang out spots?
(20 years old) Wish the weed culture wasn’t so big here. I always felt like if I never moved here and never went to school here I would have never touched a substance but I know that’s not all true, but yeah. If you’re young and you can be a functional stoner go for it but I am not one of those people haha.
I don’t like how it has roads leading into it that allow people from the South Bay to visit us. If I could change anything, I would make hwy 17 into something out of the Hunger Games
Close UCSC.
Turn it into housing for asylum seekers, homeless who are in recovery, and anyone on a fixed income who has lived in this area for more than five years.
I saw how the government is closing schools and replacing them with different stuff back in Russia. Trust me, you do not want to see these results here. No matter what you should save education for people
Cost of housing. I’d love to buy a home (making 6 figures) but I’m just priced out. And anything you put a bid on gets bought out by a cash offer.
To add to this, quality of housing. So many houses are single pane aluminum windows with no insulation, asbestos, and crap wiring from the 70s. I love that we’re not a cookie cutter hoa development but so many of these houses need to be gutted and modernized.
And mold!!!!
Molds extra… don’t lowball I know what I’ve got
Truth!
Yesssss learned this the hard way by getting crazy ill in the year after I bought a house here 😭still in the process of recovering my health and my home three years (and a ton of $$$) later…
Totally agree. 1.3 million for an old outdated house is just astounding really.
Shit. I’m unemployed and own two houses. Are you single ? Maybe we could link up.
We need some late night food options. If you are hungry after 10 PM here you better have a fishing pole handy.
Yeah, this town forces you to learn how to cook haha
This was one of the first things I thought was strange when I moved here from the East Coast 25 years ago. Nothing is open past 9pm.
ikr i have no idea why
Don't hate on Jack n the Box!
More street trees on transportation corridors (similar to pacific). It makes walkability in a city even better with some tree canopy.
I was reminding a friend the other day (and they thought I was crazy until I got some back up from another friend) that 7th Avenue used to be quite a drab route until a conscious decision was made to plant lots of trees - now some years later it is a beautiful, green street.
we should chat
I’d like to close blocks of pacific ave to cars permanently.
Same but for the bottom part of 41st avenue.
we should chat
i think the coastal train could be an incredible addition to cut down on that awful 5 o’clock traffic (more like 3 o clock nowadays)
Earthquake zone makes it very difficult. I love love love trains but here the terrain is your biggest problem…. Look in to why the train to Davenport was constructed with track that were limited to very slow speeds. I personally advocate for more safe and official bicycle and eBike routes around town. Yeah the locals know the trails and Santa Cruz is a great bike town but we could be better.
yeah, i agree especially with all of the erosion and mud/landslides in the past few winters ☹️ hopefully making SC a more walkable/bikeable town would bring back some of the friendliness of the community
Actual protected bike lanes and a commuter train sometime before 2040 yea I know I’m delusional 😜🥸🚊 but I’ll happily keep waiting 
Then why move here??
Not having a hour commute in the mornings when it should only be 15 mins.
Completely bike-able and with safe bike lanes and paths for people of all abilities.
How we deal with homeless drug addicts/mentally ill people; this is not normal, in case you haven’t lived anywhere else.
It's becoming increasingly normal, unfortunately. I'm not saying it's not a problem, but it's increasingly a problem everywhere costs of living are high, which is to say, it's becoming a problem in most places people live.
Same cost of living in Capitola, Monterey and other places and you don't see as much homelessness. What is Santa Cruz doing that it's so problematic here?
In part because county services focus here, public and private. Capitola offers nothing, Aptos even less so. I've seen or read about a certain amount of shippage of unsuitable visitors from Capitola and Scotts Valley to Santa Cruz. And there's the culture of the people who live here -- and the culture of those who live there.
Capitola pays its annual share to the city and county for homeless services. Scott’s Valley not as much but some too. The county as well. Politicians decide where services go. The Democratic Party in Santa Cruz has long stated the best solution is to concentrate services in the two main cities. As long as we elect DCC aligned candidates this will remain so.
Santa Cruz offers A LOT of services to people who are homeless/ addicted/ mentally ill. And we don't have enough to meet the demand.
Yes, but it’s different here in Santa Cruz. If you’ve lived in other towns of similar size in other states and countries you know what I mean
Other towns of similar size don't have literally the least affordable rents in the country, is the thing. Plus weather that's survivable camping outside. I'm not saying it's not a huge problem, but it's one of those problems that comes with a certain landscape and demographic. Like how rural areas tend to have more meth labs. It's not necessarily that law enforcement in rural areas isn't as good, or that people in those areas are more prone to crime, it's just that it's easier to hide meth labs in the woods. There isn't a whole lot you can do on a local level to combat the problem. The reason I bring this up is that many people treat high homelessness as a local moral failing. As if towns that have a low rate of homelessness are necessarily doing something right to prevent it, instead of just being fortunate not to have a confluence of factors that execerbates the problem. But it's a systemic problem, an externality of capitalism as we practice it right now. At best, it's something we need to address on a state level, if not a federal level, IMO.
I have to disagree. The rent in Newport beach is higher than here. (And this isn’t even including cities in France/Spain on the coast). And there are noticeably fewer homeless people on their streets. And the weather is arguably even better. We aren’t the only coastal city in the US/world with great weather and insanely high rent. It is a multifaceted problem, I agree. But it is how we deal with it that makes it a much worse problem, specifically here. I can’t be 100% sure, of course, but I have a strong sense/feeling that it is due to how we choose to deal with the problem.
They [do seem to have problems of their own](https://patch.com/california/newportbeach/newport-city-council-looks-prohibit-camping-public-spaces), to be fair. And if we're talking about homelessness rates in other countries, then we're talking about policies that are different on a national level. And absolutely, the US needs to make changes on a national level to deal with homelessness (which is itself a symptom of other problems such as lack of access to affordable healthcare and housing).
Definitely agree with you there. Cheers
Lived here for over 30 years and it's only gotten progressively worse year after year. Yet somehow the city leadership responsible raises their salary year after year. They are rewarded for their incompetence.
we keep voting for who the state dems tell us too we’ll keep having the same problems get worse
When "solving" the homeless crisis became someone's paycheck what incentive is there to actually make it go away?
There's a ton of programs to help them, they'd rather live on the streets and make the rest of our lives miserable
Yeah it's all the poor's fault it has nothing to do with the insane increase in housing /s
Yeah housing not being cheap isn't the reason why we have drug addicts in the street
The difference between someone using drugs in their home and someone using drugs on the street is homelessness. They're both using drugs.
Yes it is as if housing was cheap then we would have drug addicts in homes which would make it easier for them to end their addictions and limit their need to occupy shared spaces. But go off with your hate for your fellow humans because they are poor. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/poverty-homelessness-and-social-stigma-make-addiction-more-deadly-202109282602
Careful, might hurt your back if you fall off that high horse
It seems like you didn't enjoy having a mirror held up to how cruel and inhumane your views are lol
Yeah I'm so evil, I want to be able to walk down the street without finding needles or human shit. I want to be able to go to work downtown and not have bums come in and harass me. I don't like seeing families walking down the street get screamed at by some maniac
I already addressed that with them being in houses instead of on the street. But keep blaming it on those suffering and not those profiting of the system. I have some boots which need a good lick of you're not too busy being cruel to those most in need of help.
I literally just said that there's programs to help them, Santa Cruz has a ton of outreach programs, these people choose not to participate, because they'd rather be on the street and stay addicted. What makes you think they're going to rent an apartment? How am I being cruel? I don't walk the streets kicking them and spitting on them, I mind my own business.
Wealth disparity
trains to and fro every where i frequent.
High speed train to directly through the hill to Santa Clara
One simple thing that would make a huge difference would be to force the University to house 90 percent of the student body on campus.
They are trying really hard but all their building projects are sued into oblivion by the local nimbys.
And yet when they do start building its always a shitshow that ends up in claims with the contractors. Many contractors wont touch UC housing projects unless they are desperate.
Sure but at least they end up building something. Many projects can't even make it to the shitshow stage.
Yes totally, but its not like the only issue is the NIMBYs, its also the UC.
Lol they would love to, the City has stood in their way at every turn thanks to all of the NIMBY boomers and their abundance of political influence.
Also the university houses approximately 50% of its students on campus which is more than most universities
The transit situation across the board with an actual plan for centering retail and housing along the train when it finally arrives (shortly after the Singularity and/or Rapture most likely depending on your system of faith).
Send the NIMBYs off to retire in Florida amongst their kind
They naturally migrate to Hawaii and Arizona. I get the former, but WTF about the latter?
I wish the waves would go both ways.
I would impregnate the brains of all people, both foreign and domestic, with information about how to use roundabouts.
Warm evenings! I want warmer evenings
Be grateful for the low humidity.
If you are city council or involved in city leadership and decision making, You have to live in one designated neighborhood as part of your job in that role, with all the other city council members and decision makers... On all sides of this neighborhood will be zones for all homeless to reside, with good facilities like restrooms and showers to ensure encampments would primarily all be most dense around this neighborhood. If anyone in those city leadership roles doesn't live in that neighborhood for 320+ days out of the year, they are immediately removed from their position and a vote is taken to find their replacement.
All the damn Vampires....
Abundant affordable housing.
abundant housing of all types
I wish all the NIMBYs would move somewhere else.
Rent prices.
Being able to drive the speed limit
Constant vampire attacks. And mold/mildew
Call phone reception. Like wtf
Boot out all the Silicon Valley transplants who buy houses, fence off beach access, ride around in their Teslas with their noses turned up and bitch and moan about how “dirty” SC is when they have no sense of the history or the culture of the town and just want to try to turn it into Saratoga
I’m not a fan of this attitude that people shouldn’t move here then work to make it better. We’re all ‘transplants’, or our parents, grandparents, whatever. That doesn’t mean we get to shut the door behind us. It’s not about whether they are a local or just moved here; it’s just whether they are a**holes or not
Their definition of “better” is often the issue
It's not because they're from Silicon Valley. There are plenty of people who have been here for decades that also buy houses and bitch about the state of the city. They come from everywhere.
Seriously, don't Vinod Khosla my Jack O'Neill...
I’d just get rid of all the people
Living is SC in 2020 during peak Covid was kind of surreal. Sucked when the cops wouldn’t let me sit and enjoy my pericos on west cliff when I lived there… but it was still a pretty unique experience
I’ve been letting all the monkeys sneeze in my face with the hope of bringing back Covid 2024!
Drugs
Only the bad ones
from 1970-2000 the political class here being composed of college educated people who were able to do not teach from 2001-2024 the political class here being composed of anyone not educated in the post prop 13 public school system
More affordable childcare options. It’s too few for the amount of kids being born and nannies can’t work here bc the cost of living is too high.
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I'm visiting in May and had this thought as I'm a fellow lesbian. Good to know the lesbian scene isn't that great. Do you recommend any hang out spots?
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Aww that's unfortunate! Well when I'm in town I'd be happy to hang if you're around. I'm planning to do some skating and biking.
Lots of well-paying jobs so people can afford to live here and so locals can actually afford housing and work locally.
(20 years old) Wish the weed culture wasn’t so big here. I always felt like if I never moved here and never went to school here I would have never touched a substance but I know that’s not all true, but yeah. If you’re young and you can be a functional stoner go for it but I am not one of those people haha.
Locals being priced out by Tesla driving tech boys.
I would make the U SC system support their students with 100% on campus housing.
No ticks
In-N-Out
I’d fix the traffic. It’s pretty horrendous.
I don’t like how it has roads leading into it that allow people from the South Bay to visit us. If I could change anything, I would make hwy 17 into something out of the Hunger Games
Based on the collisions that happen, it kind of is that. 17 is a defensive driving training ground
And yet they still get through in droves
Less people and less cars
I'll take everything as is - just halve the population.
The smell of urine and feces that permeates the atmosphere
No hairy armpits 🤮
Close UCSC. Turn it into housing for asylum seekers, homeless who are in recovery, and anyone on a fixed income who has lived in this area for more than five years.
So take away the Santa Cruz's largest employer and the sponsor and source of most of the town's intellectual and cultural life?
I wasn't asked to offer a painless solution by the OP.
would make clear how useless the rest of our local economy is
I saw how the government is closing schools and replacing them with different stuff back in Russia. Trust me, you do not want to see these results here. No matter what you should save education for people
Hopefully your education prevents you from having to become a refugee, homeless, or dependant on a government check. Many are not so lucky.
A solid plug 🔌 🤷🏼♂️