ARTICLE
Last Friday afternoon, the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Lookout Santa Cruz held a 90-minute zoom conversation with Mayor Yvette Brooks (Capitola), Mayor Jimmy Dutra (Watsonville), Mayor Donna Meyers (Santa Cruz), and Mayor Derek Timm (Scotts Valley). The Zoom meeting environment has its moments of humor (You’re on mute!) To a polite yielding of the microphone by one panelist to another panelist, all deftly guided by our moderators, Isa Cueto and Chris Fusco, who were able to navigate through a series of prepared questions as well as impromptu chat questions from the audience. The informal conversation showed how much each city has in common and how each mayor determines a path forward for their respective city. In my many years of public policy work, I have attended thousands of public meetings. There is the usual decorum that is necessitated by the formal city council or a board of supervisors meeting process meetings that are functionally designed (and scripted in some cases). The mayor or board president leads the conversation through a Roberts Rules of Order process, letting the public staff give a presentation, followed by a period of clarifying questions from the elected officials to the staff, and then a timed public comment period limiting individual public comment to three minutes. Well, happily February 5th was nothing like that! The intent of this a collaborative conversation with our members was to step away from the formality of those public meetings. It was invigorating to witness the mayors lively engagement and true enjoyment of listening and learning from each other. Insightful discussion can lead to innovative solutions. An example was highlighted by Mayor Brooks who stated: “When I brought the idea forward (to the mayors) that we should align our policies on outdoor dining, it was in response to the impact that the pandemic has had on our entire community. It is in times like these, that we as the mayors need to work together and continue to collaborate as we begin to heal from the fallout.” What a thoughtful comment that the cities should create a consistent policy from one jurisdiction to the next on something like outdoor dining. What about the observation from some of the attendees? I thought it would be interesting to hear from the Chamber’s interns. For our interns, this was one of their first opportunities to participate in a conversation with elected officials. Aria Drake: Attending the 4 City Mayors event reminded me that the average citizen is able to interact with politics at the local level. As a UCSC student I had heard much about the Santa Cruz housing crisis. I had not, however, heard the “behind the scenes'' dialogue in regard to the crisis. This event provided the opportunity to listen in as the mayors discussed affordable housing projects and the implications of them. Their conversation helped me realize why housing is a long-running issue: The push for affordable housing is countered by protests about new housing being built. I was fascinated to hear the thoughts of all of the mayors on this topic, and this inspired me to seek further interaction with local politics in the future. It was also refreshing and reassuring to see the respect the 4 city mayors had for one another, and work they put into coordinating their cities.” In response to a written question about one tangible effort he has made during the pandemic, Mayor Timm noted: “I enjoyed the region-wide vision shared by all the mayors on the panel. With respect to the Rail-Trail issue, I would like to see the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) consider connecting Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley into the system, effectively with a safe bike/pedestrian corridor down either Highway 9 or Graham Hill Road. As it stands, when the rail trail is finished, a large portion of the County will left ‘unconnected to the system which I believe is a lost opportunity in the current rail-trail debate that is on-going.” Katelynn Yates: “As a fourth-year undergraduate student at UCSC, the 4 City Mayor event was an enlightening event to observe, because the informality of the event ignited a conversation that was particularly candid and interpersonal. The conversations between the mayors reminded me that our local government exists and seeks to serve our community to the best of its ability, despite jurisdictional boundaries and financial limitations. Even though each mayor individually expressed issues challenging their city, all the issues were (in one way or another) collectively challenging all four of the cities. The big take-away theme that I got from the event was that we are all in this together as challenges like homelessness and natural disasters are not bound by our city limits. I hope that the four city mayors do continue to collaborate with one another like they said they aspired to do, especially when it comes to responding to issues that affect our community. As they say, four heads are always better than one." In follow up with Mayor Dutra, I was particularly impressed with his closing comments about what he hoped to have achieved at the last meeting of his one-year tenure as mayor. He stated that there are a lot of issues he hoped to accomplish in terms of more affordable housing, safer streets, and an improved economy for small businesses. But his heartfelt comment was a major takeaway: “He stated that he wanted to make sure every resident in Watsonville receives their vaccine. He concluded, Thank you Casey for organizing this event.” “I deeply appreciated the conversation between the four mayors. One could see the mutual respect and dedication to not only our communities but to our County as a whole. I look forward to working with my fellow mayors in creating an equitable place for all of us in Santa Cruz County.” And finally,Mayor Meyers noted, “That the opportunity for regional cooperation is here now as evidence in the panel conversation with four mayors sitting down discussing issues that mutually impact our region -- whether it is addressing affordable housing, climate change, a better regional transportation network for the entire county or laying the groundwork to address our homeless population. Together we share a common goal of making Santa Cruz County a better place for all.” So last Friday’s collaborative conversation with Mayors Brooks, Dutra, Meyer and Timm is a starting point to turn the pages on the Year of COVID and the Year of Wildfires into a Year of Progress. A big shout out of thanks to our mayors for your dedicated public service, thank you to our moderators, Isa and Chris for leading a thoughtful conversation. The Santa Cruz County Chamber will continue to produce zoom programs like this event as a way to ensure our community stays well informed. Stay tuned.
Last Friday afternoon, the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Lookout Santa Cruz held a 90-minute zoom conversation with Mayor Yvette Brooks (Capitola), Mayor Jimmy Dutra (Watsonville), Mayor Donna Meyers (Santa Cruz), and Mayor Derek Timm (Scotts Valley). The Zoom meeting environment has its moments of humor (You’re on mute!) To a polite yielding of the microphone by one panelist to another panelist, all deftly guided by our moderators, Isa Cueto and Chris Fusco, who were able to navigate through a series of prepared questions as well as impromptu chat questions from the audience. The informal conversation showed how much each city has in common and how each mayor determines a path forward for their respective city.
In my many years of public policy work, I have attended thousands of public meetings. There is the usual decorum that is necessitated by the formal city council or a board of supervisors meeting process meetings that are functionally designed (and scripted in some cases). The mayor or board president leads the conversation through a Roberts Rules of Order process, letting the public staff give a presentation, followed by a period of clarifying questions from the elected officials to the staff, and then a timed public comment period limiting individual public comment to three minutes. Well, happily February 5th was nothing like that!
The intent of this a collaborative conversation with our members was to step away from the formality of those public meetings. It was invigorating to witness the mayors lively engagement and true enjoyment of listening and learning from each other.
Insightful discussion can lead to innovative solutions. An example was highlighted by Mayor Brooks who stated: “When I brought the idea forward (to the mayors) that we should align our policies on outdoor dining, it was in response to the impact that the pandemic has had on our entire community. It is in times like these, that we as the mayors need to work together and continue to collaborate as we begin to heal from the fallout.” What a thoughtful comment that the cities should create a consistent policy from one jurisdiction to the next on something like outdoor dining.
What about the observation from some of the attendees? I thought it would be interesting to hear from the Chamber’s interns. For our interns, this was one of their first opportunities to participate in a conversation with elected officials. Aria Drake: Attending the 4 City Mayors event reminded me that the average citizen is able to interact with politics at the local level. As a UCSC student I had heard much about the Santa Cruz housing crisis. I had not, however, heard the “behind the scenes'' dialogue in regard to the crisis. This event provided the opportunity to listen in as the mayors discussed affordable housing projects and the implications of them. Their conversation helped me realize why housing is a long-running issue: The push for affordable housing is countered by protests about new housing being built. I was fascinated to hear the thoughts of all of the mayors on this topic, and this inspired me to seek further interaction with local politics in the future. It was also refreshing and reassuring to see the respect the 4 city mayors had for one another, and work they put into coordinating their cities.”
In response to a written question about one tangible effort he has made during the pandemic, Mayor Timm noted: “I enjoyed the region-wide vision shared by all the mayors on the panel. With respect to the Rail-Trail issue, I would like to see the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) consider connecting Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley into the system, effectively with a safe bike/pedestrian corridor down either Highway 9 or Graham Hill Road. As it stands, when the rail trail is finished, a large portion of the County will left ‘unconnected to the system which I believe is a lost opportunity in the current rail-trail debate that is on-going.” Katelynn Yates: “As a fourth-year undergraduate student at UCSC, the 4 City Mayor event was an enlightening event to observe, because the informality of the event ignited a conversation that was particularly candid and interpersonal. The conversations between the mayors reminded me that our local government exists and seeks to serve our community to the best of its ability, despite jurisdictional boundaries and financial limitations. Even though each mayor individually expressed issues challenging their city, all the issues were (in one way or another) collectively challenging all four of the cities. The big take-away theme that I got from the event was that we are all in this together as challenges like homelessness and natural disasters are not bound by our city limits. I hope that the four city mayors do continue to collaborate with one another like they said they aspired to do, especially when it comes to responding to issues that affect our community. As they say, four heads are always better than one."
In follow up with Mayor Dutra, I was particularly impressed with his closing comments about what he hoped to have achieved at the last meeting of his one-year tenure as mayor. He stated that there are a lot of issues he hoped to accomplish in terms of more affordable housing, safer streets, and an improved economy for small businesses. But his heartfelt comment was a major takeaway: “He stated that he wanted to make sure every resident in Watsonville receives their vaccine. He concluded, Thank you Casey for organizing this event.”
“I deeply appreciated the conversation between the four mayors. One could see the mutual respect and dedication to not only our communities but to our County as a whole. I look forward to working with my fellow mayors in creating an equitable place for all of us in Santa Cruz County.”
And finally,Mayor Meyers noted, “That the opportunity for regional cooperation is here now as evidence in the panel conversation with four mayors sitting down discussing issues that mutually impact our region -- whether it is addressing affordable housing, climate change, a better regional transportation network for the entire county or laying the groundwork to address our homeless population. Together we share a common goal of making Santa Cruz County a better place for all.”
So last Friday’s collaborative conversation with Mayors Brooks, Dutra, Meyer and Timm is a starting point to turn the pages on the Year of COVID and the Year of Wildfires into a Year of Progress. A big shout out of thanks to our mayors for your dedicated public service, thank you to our moderators, Isa and Chris for leading a thoughtful conversation. The Santa Cruz County Chamber will continue to produce zoom programs like this event as a way to ensure our community stays well informed. Stay tuned.