One year ago, Watsonville’s Annieglass installed 249 solar panels on the factory’s roof, a 16,000-square-foot project that has reduced the company’s annual electricity bill by more than 86%.

The $320,000 project came thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda. 

Under that legislation, small manufacturers that use large amounts of energy were chosen to convert to eco-friendly systems, with emphasis on businesses owned by women and minorities.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who attended the one-year celebration for the project, praised that legislation.

“We believe that investing in America and lifting up America was the right thing to do,” she said. “And not only would we do that—lift up small businesses across the United States—but also reduce greenhouse gasses, and attack climate change, which is an existential threat to our children and our grandchildren.”

Owner Annie Morhauser told a crowd assembled in her factory and outlet at 310 Harvest Drive that she has seen significant cost savings.

Last year, she paid $83,000 in electricity costs, which comes largely from operating 30 ovens, with which she creates some 60,000 pieces annually. That number has since dropped to $11,000.

Morehauser said she had to repeatedly push PG&E to approve her project. 

That mission took on increasingly more significance as the 2024 election approached, and the likelihood that Donald Trump—if elected—would impose his anti-environmental agenda.

“We got it through, but it was a little white-knuckle there for a while,” she said.

Cale Garamendi, chief revenue officer at Sandbar Solar & Electric—the company that installed the solar panels—said the project produces 200,000 kilowatt hours per year.

That’s the equivalent of 300,000 pounds of carbon kept out of the environment, Garamendi said, the weight equivalent of an adult blue whale.

“That’s about 25 or 26 homes of annual electricity usage,” he said. “That’s pretty impressive stuff, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”

The numbers of Santa Cruz County residents experiencing homelessness dropped 20% from those of last year to the lowest number in the count’s history.

Volunteers on Jan. 30 counted 1,473 homeless people in the annual Point in Time (PIT) count, whose results were released Thursday by the Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Partnership.

But while the 20% reduction showed progress in housing some populations, the report reveals persistent challenges in helping people with disabling health conditions secure stable homes, said Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Director Robert Ratner.

“The results reflect both our year-over-year progress and the serious work that remains,” Ratner stated in a press release. “We’ve reduced the overall number of people experiencing homelessness and see signs of significant progress with youth, working adults, and veterans, populations benefitting from more consistent funding and community support for housing and services. We need similar commitments to see progress among those with disabling health conditions.”

While the largest decline was in Scotts Valley, dropping 84% from 44 to 7 people experiencing homelessness, the most significant decline was in Watsonville, where the numbers dropped 50% from 673 to 335, the report shows.

The PIT Count is a federally mandated snapshot of people and families experiencing homelessness on a single day to create a census of homeless individuals in the community. 

Follow-up surveys are used to develop additional information about the population and the challenges they face. The county’s annual survey was conducted using 85 volunteers who were previously homeless.

Despite the progress shown in the PIT count, funding for homelessness reduction is at risk as the current Republican administration threatens cuts and reductions to programs such as  State Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grant funding. 

Federal budget proposals also include proposed cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the source of Section 8 funding used to house an estimated 10,000 local homeless people, including seniors, veterans, children and people with disabilities.

The data is used to guide policy decisions, secure state and federal funding, and inform the county’s efforts to help the homeless population.

Other takeaways from the 2025 PIT Count:

• Unsheltered homelessness remains high: While overall numbers declined, 76% of individuals experiencing homelessness were unsheltered, residing in places not meant for human habitation.

• First-time homelessness on the rise: 40% were experiencing homelessness for the first time, up from 30% in 2024, highlighting growing economic pressures and rising costs of living.

• Economic causes: Loss of employment (18%) and high cost of living (15%) were leading causes of homelessness.

• Local Roots: 78% of respondents became homeless while already living in Santa Cruz County, reaffirming that homelessness remains a local issue requiring local solutions.

• Chronic homelessness is growing: People meeting the federal definition of chronic homelessness (disabling health condition and more than one year homeless) now represent 60% of the overall count, up from 38% in 2024

• Health-related challenges: 75% of survey responders reported having at least one disabling condition, with 54% reporting a psychiatric or emotional condition, and 43% having a physical disability.

To see the full report, visit bit.ly/41vyzDL

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission on Aug. 7 had its first discussion about its Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail project concept report since it was released to the public on July 30.

But the commissioners agreed that they wanted more information before making any decisions about the controversial rail-trail project, saying they would wait for the final plan to be released in December.

Plans to build a passenger rail line spanning the length of the county have long been controversial, with supporters saying it would be a sound infrastructural investment for the future, and opponents calling it an expensive, impractical boondoggle.

That disagreement came to a head in June, when a preliminary report put the cost estimate for the project at a staggering $4.2 billion, and as much as $41 million a year to operate.

Those numbers are more than four times the estimated costs released in 2022.

The draft report estimates that the passenger train would run every 30 minutes, and could make the cross-county trip in 40-55 minutes, with stops at nine stations. An estimated 4,200-5,400 riders would use the train on weekdays, the report says.

It is still unclear how the county will fund the project, but what seems certain is that residents will be asked to pay for 20%–50% through a sales tax measure starting in 2031, depending on the amount of state and federal funding the RTC is able to secure.

For the 20% scenario, residents would see a 1.5% sales tax increase, along with $345 million in bonds that would last through 2067-68.

The higher 50% scenario would mean a 2.25% sales tax with $900 million in bonds through 2071-72.

Commissioner Steve Clark worried about how the increased taxes would affect the senior community living on fixed incomes. He also said that the $4.2 billion price tag for construction is the combined 16-year budget for Scotts Valley, Capitola, Watsonville and Santa Cruz.

“It’s a big lift,” he said. “It’s a lot.”

The numbers—and the estimated $10 one-way ticket price—did not sit well with RTC Commissioner and Santa Cruz County Supervisor Kim De Serpa, who pointed out that people living in rural areas would have to shoulder the cost while not directly benefitting from the train.

“It’s just not affordable for people,” she said. “The costs are staggering and I don’t think they make sense.”

Commissioner Manu Koenig, also a county supervisor, expressed concern that the California Coastal Commission—which has oversight on construction projects near the ocean—will impose unforeseen requirements for the project. This includes possibly ordering the RTC to move the tracks 100 feet inland, and to build a tunnel under La Selva Park.

“These are major infrastructure implications, major cost additions, to this project,” Koenig said. “I think we need to be very clear with the Coastal Commission if they would impose any impacts on this project that would impact our costs in a significant way. They must outline them or we will assume they don’t exist. We need to know from them what they want.”

As part of the final report in December, Koenig also said that he wants to see any added costs, information on constraints on Walker and Beach streets in Watsonville, a financial analysis of cost per-passenger mile compared to other systems and a peer review of the study.

Commissioner Andy Schiffrin had a slightly less bleak view, saying that while the cost is not affordable “at this time,” that could change if outside funding becomes available. 

“While it looks from my perspective very bleak in terms of passenger rail at this point, that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be that,” he said.

Schiffrin, who made the motion to delay the discussion to December, said that he wanted to see the final report before moving forward.

Whatever the RTC decides to do, Schiffrin said that South County’s rail system should see improvements.

“No matter what we do on rail, we need to pursue the rail trail segments from Freedom to Watsonville,” he said. “They’re really critical.”

Commissioner Vanessa Quiroz-Carter, who also serves on the Watsonville City Council and has long supported the rail-trail, asked the RTC to look for other funding sources to help alleviate the tax burden on residents.

“We in Watsonville are completely capped with our taxes, and placing that on Santa Cruz County I think is too much of a burden to shoulder at this time,” she said. 

But the train, she said, would be a win for Watsonville residents, particularly those who contend with the daily traffic to and from North County.

“People who commute I think would rather spend 45 minutes in a train or on the bus doing something rather than driving in gridlock 2-mile-per-hour traffic, because it is very exhausting,” she said. 

Commissioner Felipe Hernandez said that families who don’t purchase a personal vehicle can save around $1,000 monthly in payments, gas, insurance and maintenance. 

“Rail means real economic relief and greater access to jobs, schools, health care across our county and even the region,” he said.

And connecting to rail lines in Monterey County, Hernandez said, would be “transformative for our county.”

“Public transit is one of the most effective investments a community can make,” he said.