Santa Cruz For Real Library and Housing Solutions Needs Your Help!
Santa Cruz For Real Library and Housing Solutions is a campaign coalition established to support the Downtown Library and Affordable Housing Project. The coalition, led by library advocates, affordable housing advocates, and advocates for a thriving downtown, believes the Downtown Library/Housing Project will offer many benefits to the community, including:
A 21st Century state-of-the art library with incredible features for children and youth
124 units of permanently affordable housing
A child care facility serving downtown residents and workers
Parking, including secure bike parking and EV charging, to replace the spaces that will be lost to other planned development projects and parklets created in response to the Covid pandemic
Planning for a new permanent home for the Farmers’ Market that will include access to utilities and an all-weather structure which the market has been wanting
The future of the Library/Housing Project is being challenged by a November 2022 ballot measure that if passed would halt construction of the new city library with an attached parking garage, as well as the affordable housing project. The Our Downtown Our Future (ODOF) initiative garnered enough signatures to place the project’s fate in the hands of the voters. We believe that many community members who signed the ODOF petition were presented with misleading and inaccurate information and we feel certain that many petition signers would actually not support the ballot initiative if they had the real facts about the proposed library project. HSCC is working with the newly established coalition of community organizations and affordable housing advocates to correct the untruths and set the record straight so when people go to the polls in November they will be better informed about the library project and understand what’s at stake should the ODOF ballot measure pass.
Setting the Record Straight
The Library project has undergone five years of planning at a cost of approximately $2.5 million. The city has also conducted extensive outreach to community members to obtain feedback on the project at every step of the planning process. If the ballot measure is successful, it would alter the city’s general and downtown plans and bring the library/housing project to a grinding halt. The ballot measure includes three main items:
Renovation of the library at its current Church Street location
Requiring Lot 4 to become the permanent home for the Farmers’ Market
Building affordable housing on other city-owned lots
The inaccuracies and misstatements included in the ballot measure are addressed below and the misinformation being spread by ODOF supporters is corrected by presenting the straight facts about the Downtown Library Project.
Renovation of the library in its current Church Street location
FACT: According to both the former as well as the current Library Director (Director memo), renovation of the library at the current site would result in an inferior library and one that is smaller than the current library with significantly fewer benefits to the community. The ballot measure would have library bond funds spent on fixing obsolete, failing infrastructure and outdated systems, leaving no excess funds to provide a state of the art library that the city can be proud of.
Create a permanent home for Farmers Market on Lot 4
FACT: The Farmers’ Market has not expressed a strong desire to remain on Lot 4 and it has NOT endorsed the ODOF ballot measure that would require Lot 4 to become its permanent home. In fact, the City has been working with the Farmers’ Market Director for two years on plans to relocate the market to another city location that would provide access to utilities and an all-weather structure.
Build Affordable Housing on Lot 7
FACT: The City is already pursuing affordable housing on its larger lots. While Lot 7 (where the Farmers’ Market might relocate to) might accommodate an affordable housing project, it could not support a project as large as ODOF advocates claim. According to experienced affordable housing developers, most of the city lots that ODOF ballot measure highlights are too small to feasibly support affordable housing projects. The city lot where the proposed library/housing project would be built and the city parcel where the current library is situated are best suited for affordable housing projects. The ODOF measure will block these housing opportunities.
In summary, the ODOF ballot measure will:
Impede progress on affordable housing
Block a 21st Century state of the art library
Interfere with Farmers’ Market plan for the permanent space it wants that provides access to utilities and an all-weather structure
Stop the creation of new child care facility to serve downtown residents and workers
Hurt Downtown Santa Cruz because there will be no replacement parking spaces for spaces lost to parklets created due to COVID and spaces that will be lost due to other planned developments
Eliminate positive climate change impacts: Building new housing near transit and jobs has significant positive impacts on reducing carbon emissions. Each 30-mile car commute to a job in the middle of Santa Cruz has a quantifiable carbon cost. Each worker that will live and work in downtown Santa Cruz means a quantifiable carbon reduction.
The proposed Downtown Library/Housing Project will provide all of these community benefits, but only if the ODOF ballot measure is defeated!
Share this information with your family and friends.
Help set the record straight and correct the misleading information in the ODOF Ballot Measure.
How You Can Help!
Join the Santa Cruz For Real Library and Housing Solutions efforts to support the Downtown Library/Housing Project. Add your name to list of individuals and organizations who have endorsed the campaign coalition or sign up to volunteer to help save the Library Project. Also please consider a donation if you’re able to help raise funds to defeat the ODOF ballot measure that threatens the future of this important project for community members and for people in dire need of affordable housing.