HERE’S ONE TO INCLUDE IN THE TOP 50
Not to disparage the 50 honorees in your list, but Celia Scott, always supported by her husband, UCSC Physics Professor Peter, surely deserves a place for her years-long leadership of the efforts to secure the magnificent greenbelt that surrounds Santa Cruz, from Pogonip and Lighthouse Field up the coast to the Moore Creek Preserve, Wilder/Gray Whale State Parks and Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument.
Starting in the 1970s, Celia led the campaigns to keep these cherished lands from development, and to insulate Santa Cruz from the urban sprawl that affects the Santa Clara Valley.
A city planner and an attorney, Celia helped win passage of the California Coastal Act in 1972. As a Santa Cruz City Council member, mayor and force behind the local Friends of the North Coast organization, as State Sen. John Laird wrote after her death last year at 89, “I cannot recall a major environmental issue in Santa Cruz that she was not involved in.”
Those issues included the ban on offshore oil drilling and the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
As you jog along West Cliff, whale watch on the Bay, ride the trails at Wilder/Gray Whale or hike at Cotoni-Coast Dairies, imagine what Santa Cruz would be like with Lighthouse Field the site of a convention center, a town of 30,000 on Wilder Ranch, and our new national monument cut up into several dozen parcels dominated by huge mansions. All real possibilities! That we and generations of our descendants are now and forever will be able to enjoy these precious lands preserved in their natural state is thanks to no one more than Celia Scott. She should not only have been on your list, but at the top.
Ted Benhari | Bonny Doon
WELCOME TO THE NEW HOTEL
La Bahia Hotel has finally opened, finally, despite the vitriolic opposition over the years from a cabal of obstructionists who used the issue to fuel their personal political agendas. The new structure fits in beautifully on Beach Street between the Wharf and Boardwalk. The original building with its bell tower has been meticulously restored. More importantly, the hotel provides jobs for many local people, even from the adjacent neighborhood, and brings in tax revenue to support municipal services. And, of course, visitors will spend money in locally owned small businesses. Standing on the Wharf, the forested mountains are clearly in view, contrary to the hyperbole from the opposition. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this project.
Robert deFreitas | Santa Cruz
BONDS ARE NOT A GIFT
The people who live in the Pajaro Valley School District have voted for bond measures for infrastructure improvements in our schools. These improvements are long overdue. Bonds are not gifts. They are essentially loans that need to be paid back by the taxpayers. I was shocked that in the Sept. 10 PVUSD board meeting my trustee, Joy Flynn, had to ask what a bond is. She is a voter in the district. Did she not know then what she was voting for? Now she gets to vote how the money is spent. How can the people of our district trust the board to make good decisions with such incompetent people sitting there?
Gil Stein | Aptos
