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Constituent Meetings
Supervisor Leopold
meets with constituents on Wednesdays at
various locations in the First District:

       

Wednesday, Dec 10
5:30-6:30 p.m.
People's Coffee
1200 17th Avenue
  
Wednesday, Dec 17
5:30-6:30 p.m.
Loma Prieta
Community Center
23800 Summit Rd 
  
Wednesday, Jan 7
5:30-6:30 p.m.
Michael's on Main
2591 Main Street
Soquel
 
Other Important Events

County Parks Commission Meeting
Monday, Dec 15
7-9 p.m.
979 17th Avenue
 
Las Posadas 
Live Oak 
Saturday, Dec 13
Live Oak Family Resource Center
1740 17th Ave
 

County Offices Holiday Closures

Noon, Dec 24
December 25
January 1

Contact John 
 
454-2200
701 Ocean Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
  
Off Leash Dog Discussion
On Monday December 15th, the County's Parks and Open Spaces Commission will be discussing recommendations to make to the Board of Supervisors regarding off-leash dog policies.  
This has been a hotly debated topic that has been reviewed by the Animal Shelter Board and at the Parks Commission. The Parks Commission has previously held a series of public meetings with opposing sides in the discussion and recognized the difficulty of finding common ground. 

The meeting on December 15th will continue this discussion and likely result in recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. 
Happy Holidays
from the
First District Office!


John, Dave, Allison, and Tony want to wish you and your families a happy holiday season, and a happy New Year. We look forward to hearing from and serving you in 2015. 
Soquel Village

Big Changes with a Little Paint

 

 

As a number of construction projects in the Soquel Village area are winding down, I know many of you who frequent the area are happy to see traffic flowing smoothly again. These projects have brought exciting changes to Soquel Village!

 

Given our scarce road maintenance funds, I was initially frustrated to see that the recent Soquel Creek Water District (SCWD) upgrades along Soquel Drive would cut into a significant portion of this relatively new road surface. Fortunately, County Public Works staff together with the support of the SCWD worked to re-surface this entire stretch of roadway. I saw this as an opportunity to address a long-standing bicycle safety issue in Soquel Village. Vehicle speed and awareness of bikes and pedestrians in Soquel Village is vitally important, especially as the new Heart of Soquel Park comes closer to reality. With guidance from Soquel resident and avid cyclist Steve Piercy I asked Public Works staff to consider new roadway treatments to enhance the bicycle safety in Soquel Village. Jack Sohriakoff and Public Works staff took my request and sought a solution. What you now experience are not only the FIRST green bike lanes in the County, but a complete bike lane all the way through Soquel Village in the east bound direction. To achieve this Public Works staff slightly narrowed the vehicle travel lanes between Porter Street and Daubenbiss Avenue. By narrowing the vehicle lanes it provided enough room to create a full bike lane through Soquel Village and will help reduce vehicle speeds providing a safer environment for bikes and pedestrians. 

 

I want to extend my gratitude to Steve Piercy for his expertise and guidance and to Public Works for finding this solution and helping create a more pedestrian and bike friendly environment in Soquel Village.

Economic Vitality Study

 


    

The Board of Supervisors continued its efforts to chart a course for sustainable economic development in Santa Cruz County.  At the November Board meeting, Supervisors heard a presentation on the economic vitality study that has blossomed over the last year (click here to see economic vitality documents).  Originally begun as simply a set of strategies, the Study has now incorporated parts of the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan to look at future development plans over the next 20 years. 

 

The study is a reflection of an economic analysis done as part of the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan (click here to read this economic conditions report), public meetings, and a series of stakeholders meetings over the last couple years.  It incorporates the values that we adopted towards sustainability and sets out goals for housing, transportation, the arts, and key job sectors of our local economy.  You can read the entire Sustainable Santa Cruz County report here

 

The Board will be considering the establishment of an Economic Development Office which will oversee this activity. Key focus for the County will be on our existing town centers and partnerships to help keep some of the talent that is driving over the hill here to work in our community. Recognizing that we need the appropriate infrastructure to support any new development is identified as a priority with a special emphasis on how to grow the Dominican/Sutter medical center located in the 1st District. Any new growth will need to be balanced with the availability of water and transportation improvements that benefit all County residents. 

 

This work is just beginning. I encourage you to read the whole report and remain engaged as the Board considers the new elements of this plan.