It is essential for an informed public to have at least a little knowledge of the current policy changes being implemented and how the sausage gets made. Therefore, I went to a City Water Commission meeting, City Planning Commission meeting, and, for a more school-specific scoop, a PCS School Board meeting. The content of the meetings is important and will affect all of us.
At the School Board meeting, attendees discussed the school’s proposed wage increase of 1% which is about $600 for most teachers. When the meeting started, the teachers read a statement explaining the value of low turnover and higher wages. They explained that current proposed wage increases are based on the enrollment of the past 3 years. However, that is not representative of the future because of the low enrollment during those years was a product of Covid. They stated that non-competitive wages deteriorated the school’s ability to get good teachers. Then, the board went into closed session to discuss contract bargaining. After the closed session, the agenda featured a series of presentations. The pattern was clear: every contribution counts and is vital to this school’s excellence and existence itself.
At the Santa Cruz City Planning Commission Meeting, only 4 of the 7 commissioners were there. The way the rules work, a bill can only be passed if the majority of the commissioners agree to it, so with only 4 of them, everything required a unanimous vote. Hence, when a long-planned for bill to build a shelter building owned by Housing Matters with 600 units that was 8 stories tall was brought to a vote, 1 commissioner blocked it. Eventually, she got the commission to agree to reduce the building to 5 stories. This might be problematic because even if we reduced the number of units to the minimum 400 required by California law, the units will still be more closely packed. It’s also disruptive since this had been planned for a long time and was fully expected to pass.
The Water Commission meeting was mostly just business as usual, but a new chair was elected, Jonathan Leer, and, more exciting, there was a 5-year report on climate prediction for the next hundred years. Over this period of time, the temperature in Santa Cruz is expected to rise 2°C; that’s about 4°F! Additionally, we’re expected to have a pattern of droughts and storms. These things could have major environmental impact. In brighter news though, we are doing better than expected this year, with a fuller than expected reservoir. Then news went to the commission’s projects. There are several maintenance and replacement projects going on right now, and they seem to be going well.
They’re almost all well within budget and ahead of schedule. But, what some of them are fixing is concerning. Apparently until very recently there were water facilities with lead paint that were contaminating water supplies. Additionally, one of the projects is removing ammonia from the water supply! Those were low levels, but still–poison!
This was just 1 week’s worth of important meetings. Every day important decisions are being made that affect us for good or for bad, and often we neglect and don’t pay attention to the decisions that affect us most directly. It is vital for an informed, misinformation-resistant public to pay attention to politics first hand if possible. Our school needs all of us to pay attention, too. We all can influence policy and donating provides the ability to make good ideas come true and to pay our staff and faculty fairly.
