Santa Cruz Observer

Desal and UCSC growth -- a student environmentalist's perspective

EDITOR'S NOTE: Recent posts have focused on growth at UCSC and the attitudes of some longtime residents. The following piece is written by a current student at the university -- a self-described environmentalist who has a unique and worthwhile take on an important issue -- water, UCSC growth and how local politics should function.

By ROBERT SINGLETON

I am first and foremost an environmentalist. Before I came to Santa Cruz to attend UCSC, I had worked for a progressive, slow growth, non-profit in my own hometown of Santa Rosa. During that time I fought against development of all types. I helped to pass Urban Growth Boundaries, enact slow growth measures, fought against ridge top development and even helped elect a slow growth majority to the city council. All of this I firmly believed in, and still do for the most part.

However, I have always attempted to be practical when dealing with local politics, and I would say that I am one of the few. I have definitely had long conversations with people I see eye to eye with 97% of the time, only to fight about something minor like prospective green building standards, or the phrasing in a campaign leaflet. To me these encounters are all part of the process, a process that albeit painstaking, is absolutely necessary for the proper adoption of policy.

In Santa Cruz this decision making process is very similar, there are those who stick to their ideological guns give hell or high water and then there are those like myself, who continually question, sometimes to the dismay of my peers, the stances of everyone involved. This has been my continual stance throughout the local debate concerning desalination. I have met the leaders of both camps, heard their perspectives and questioned their beliefs and assumptions, with rigor. In fact, I have felt more like an outsider looking in than I should given my previous work, but I can’t help but play devil’s advocate.

Given this experience, I have come to the following conclusions, some of them localized and unique to Santa Cruz, others transcendent and to some extent universal.

1. The Soquel Creek water district is in dire straights and must act quickly to develop a supplemental supply because conservation alone will not be enough to curb their current usage.
   1. Private well owners cannot be expected to reduce their consumption without some extreme coordination, and currently many refuse to even put meters on their wells, let alone take steps for major reductions.
2. The city of Santa Cruz is better off, but is operating on the same supply that it had during the 76-77 drought, despite its population having doubled. This has left the city particularly vulnerable to future droughts, even without considering the mandatory reductions needed to preserve fish habitat.
3. UCSC is going to expand, no matter how much local resistance it faces. It has a state mandate, an underlying agreement with the city for resources and the strong support of many a passionate and pragmatic individuals. Get over it.
4. People must be willing to overcome their hard-line stances on growth and be willing to compromise. It is a sad day when local progressives become the obstructionist conservatives they so typically despise.
5. If people on both sides are really serious about having a genuine political discussion than both must be willing to acknowledge one another’s opinion and more importantly, a common set of agreed upon facts. If factual disagreements remain, than a proper explanation must be given, with both sides championing a common explanation for the disagreement.

Academic freedom and UCSC growth

SECOND IN A SERIES

By TOM HONIG

There are a lot of harsh words for UC Santa Cruz and its plan to expand city services to a portion of campus. What gets under the skin of some critics is that the university doesn't legally need the permission of local agencies to expand -- the university is a state agency with an equal legal standing to local agencies like the Santa Cruz City Council or the  Local Agency Formation Commission.

UC went before LAFCO this week and received approval of its growth plan -- even though technically it didn't need to do so.

That standing gets under the skin of some critics. But there are a couple of reasons why, and the explanation is worth keeping in mind.

1. UC's legal standing has to do with academic freedom. For example, imagine a fictional local jurisdiction that takes offense to, say, the teaching of evolution. That local agency could withhold zoning approval until the university changed its curriculum. That's the principle behind establishing UC as a state agency with a legal standing equal to any other.

2. Any campus of UC serves a public much wider than just a local town or city. True, UCSC exists in Santa Cruz, but it serves a statewide clientele. And what's good for local neighbors isn't necessarily the same as what's good for prospective students from Silicon Valley, the Bay Area and even Southern California.

This week, the university went before LAFCO to win approval of its plan to build housing and provide services for up to 2,000 new students. Opponents testified that there's not enough water to adequately allow for the expansion.

Legally, UC didn't even have to go before LAFCO, but officials did as part of an earlier agreement with the city. In fact, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal reminded people of that fact prior to the meeting. In a letter to LAFCO, Blumenthal said: that if the agency slapped unacceptable conditions on the plan "the university will seriously consider withdrawing its application or judicially challenging the approval."

That comment got under the skin of opponents. One letter-writer to the Sentinel remarked: "The chancellor's saber rattling about new lawsuits is unfortunate and a sad reminder of UCSC's historical arrogant attitude that no one, citizens or other government entites, has any business trying to interfere."

Strong words, but the evidence is otherwise. The university doesn't legally have to cooperate at all. And Blumenthal's willingness to negotiate with the city and with LAFCO shows that at least he's sensitive to the local community.

That's' not to say that UCSC officials are always right. But it's worth remembering that they have a wider public than just Santa Cruz and they also have constitutional rights that require protecting. 

NEXT: The growth argument.

Can you stop growth by withholding services?

FIRST IN A SERIES

By TOM HONIG

It doesn't make sense on the face of it: some are protesting the idea of a desalination plant in Santa Cruz because there's enough water here if people just conserve. But some of the same people are fighting any future expansion at UC Santa Cruz because -- among other reasons -- there's not enough water to accommodate further expansion.

But it does make sense if you look even slightly below the surface. It's an old strategy around Santa Cruz: fight new services in order to keep a lid on growth.

The strategy, whether it's about water or infrastructure like new roads, is inherently dishonest. Withholding services as a strategy isn't really about the services themselves. Imagine, for example, if you went about trying to fight homelessness by withholding homeless services. It's the same argument.

What's surprising about the limiting services argument is that it's seen around Santa Cruz as a "progressive" argument. But what it really amounts to is a kind of generational warfare offered up by those who have lived in Santa Cruz a long time and bought a house in, say, Bonny Doon when it might have cost $80,000. What they're saying, in effect, is "I've got mine and it's time to shut the door. We can't support new people and we're going to limit services in order to guarantee that."

UCSC is front and center in the argument. A growing university is judged by old-timers to be a bad thing. To others, a growing university offers opportunity and a better life. It's a fault line for disagreement -- and that's what is playing out.

NEXT: More about the university and the public it serves.