There could not be a better (or worse) parody of Santa Cruz then what I witnessed last week while dropping my kids off at school:
With climate change, fires, drought, a global pandemic and Republican-led voter suppression closing in, a white man with a clipboard stands outside a Santa Cruz elementary school explaining to a group of white parents that the South county Latino population won’t use the trains in the future, and that we need to stop trains from coming to Santa Cruz County.
Isn’t there something more important to fight for in these hard times than trying to stop a train?
Jacob Sackin
Santa Cruz
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I seriously doubt this author’s letter is legitimate. As I have had several thugs from Friends of the Rail and Trail target me and make similar allegations by calling my employer saying that I was a representing my employer and stating “I did not want Mexicans in my neighborhood”, yet the two people didn’t seem to do much more homework than stalk my LinkedIn. If they would have dug further they would have seen my spouse is LatinX and my daughter was the Vice President of the Migrant Student Union in her graduating year at Aptos High and gave her commencement address in Spanish, I could not have been prouder.
I think it’s disappointing when rail extremists stoop to the level of calling out claims of racism and mandating what is best for South County and how hey want to get around. Recent polls by the City of Watsonville have shown that having a train is no where near the top concerns of South County residents.
I am proud to say that I have been gathering signatures from all over south county and the support for a Greenway is very high. It’s time the rail folks work with us to create a world class Greenway and ensure we improve Paratransit, transportation for the elderly with Lift Line and modernize Metro to have a superior system that is right sized for the community, not a train that simply is not financially viable and doesn’t have the ridership forecasts that warrant such an expense.