Every time I drive through downtown Watsonville, I think this place should be bustling with great businesses and foot traffic. It’s quaint, historical and should be as popular as, say, San Juan Bautista on a Sunday, which is jammed full.
Our story in the news section by Todd Guild gives me hope that the vision will come true. People are working on developing the city, which is about the same size in population as Santa Cruz.
Construction crews are working on the foundation for a new building, which will be called The Residence at 558 Main, says William Hansen of Pacific Coast Development, the company that owns the property.
The 65,984-square-foot building features 50 apartments, including six two-bedroom apartments, 29 with one bedroom, and five studios. A restaurant—which he declines to identify—will occupy the bottom floor. It should be done in two years.
“Every little piece helps bring the downtown up a notch, and so we just need a few more players to be involved in downtown development,” Hansen says. “We need more people at the table making a positive impact downtown. There is not a lot of available vacant land, and you have to be pretty strategic as far as acquiring properties that can be reused.”
Housing and new businesses is the same formula Santa Cruz is using and it makes sense, so far. We are excited about the possibilities for a booming downtown.
Of course, our cover story celebrates 50 years of Santa Cruz County, as part of our own celebration of 50 years of Good Times being the area’s top alternative community newspaper. While we found 50 people to profile, we also think, only 50. Yes, there are plenty more and we’d love to hear from you about the ones we’ve left out. Tell us the who and why we should write about them and we’ll print your letters. Write to ed****@we*****.com.
That’s been one of the great things about being a community newspaper. We get so much mail and so many ideas from readers, we have a chance to give voice to those who feel voiceless. It’s a joy to share your ideas and let the community know about the things they don’t already know. Thanks for all of your cards, letters, calls and emails.
Some of the other things you’ll learn about in this issue include a class on lap dancing, the endless returns of the classic beloved band Slow Gherkin, and a restaurant with what may be the worst or best name ever: Death Box. I walked by and thought a punk band must be playing there, but nope, it’s food—and if great food can change a name’s first impression, this place will do it.
Check Mark C. Anderson’s dining column for the skinny.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
RINGS OF PEACE I came upon this eye-catching local rock spiral up on Spring Trail, in Pogonip. I’d seen it there before but it looks like someone gave it some TLC and it’s looking magnificent. Photograph by Russ Levoy
GOOD IDEA
California State Parks and Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks will hold a community presentation Sept. 11 at Cabrillo College to share the findings of the Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment and Shoreline Adaptation Alternatives Final Report for Seacliff and New Brighton state beaches. The presentation (in person or via Zoom) will review the results of a multi-year study that assessed climate change-driven hazards and identified adaptation strategies to protect these beloved beaches. Register at: bit.ly/seacliff-meeting.
GOOD WORK
The California Children and Families Commission, also known as First 5 California, approved a $10 million investment to launch the Children, Families, Immigrants, and Refugees: Support and Tools (Children FIRST) initiative, a first-of-its-kind statewide effort to support children, prenatal to 5, being impacted by immigration policy changes and enforcement.
Children FIRST represents a step forward in ensuring children, in the wake of federal enforcement activities, are supported. It will create a statewide communications and resource infrastructure designed to expand existing tools, programs and information across all 58 counties. It will also provide funding for local partners to address needs and respond rapidly to unforeseen challenges.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘We’ve been reuniting so much longer than we were a band the first time around.’
—Slow Gherkin singer James Rickman
