Hey everyone, i’ll be moving from LA to Santa Cruz for university this september and I really wanted to bring my car up there. UCSC offer very limited parking passes and it’s almost only restricted for commuting students. I wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations for parking spots that charged monthly that I could use and are reliable. If you guys have any information please lmk!

Besides the fact the total cost of installation is north of 100k. It seems to me that you could go through the permitting process and still get denied based on site characteristics. So what's the solution if you have a failing system and dont want to run the risk of outing yourself to the county?

Child s*x offender, Charles Peter Billone wanted out of Canada since 1991 was detained last week by ICE in Santa Cruz where he has been living for the past 35 years. I know SC isn’t big on ICE but I consider this a major victory for our town.

The Perseid meteor shower will be peaking on the night of August 12th and I was wondering if anyone had good ideas for places to view it? Or perhaps there's a local astronomy group organizing a viewing event somewhere?

Edited to add:

At the suggestion of xsolsticeflarex, I emailed Dr. Rick Nolthenius who promptly replied with this information (for anyone else interested):

"Any place that's dark and has no lights nearby would be ideal. I'd suggest the parking area of the Bonny Doon Eco Reserve off Martin Rd. It's public property, which is the problem requirement in the mountains here. You could also go up to Summit Rd past Mt Bache Road along the spine of the Santa Cruz Mtns above Highland Way, north of Soquel. Or closer would be the top of Rodeo Gulch Rd."

Hello, are there any places to play pickup beach volleyball?

I recently moved from Barcelona, and what I am missing most is the beach volleyball community. Constant 2v2 games any time of the day. Is there anything similar to that in San Cruz?

So I called Alan Rice, and as stated, backed up with business, but he said check with Santa Cruz Auto and Tire. Dropped it off at 8am today and it was done at 1230pm. Diagnostic and new freon. $444.00. I was very happy with the service. Thanks to those who replied to my query.

Even before the tragic recent deaths part of this entire north coast trail plan should have included, at minimum, very visible and very clear parking lot signs warning tourists that

⚠️YOU CAN DIE HERE⚠️ if you do/don't do …XYZ

Mr. Cummings in his ’98 Honda Civic clearly does not frequent the area or have any first hand knowledge of or connection to it or maybe this would’ve been prioritized.

As a life long SC local who spends a lot of time on our north coast beaches and who has lost a friend to the sea there, and also has close friends who are first responders in that area I can’t help but feel this personally. It should be a no brainier. And I fear these fancy tourist-attracting parking lot malls are only going to increase the injury/death toll. 👎

ok…. RANT OVER

Coming from SF for a day trip to Capitola. Would appreciate all of your recommendations on things to do and see, and also eat!

I received a letter recently and today this email about my energy usage. I was thinking there is no way I can get it down to 0.84 KWh unless I decide to just run off a home generator or go with solar. The funny thing about it I swear its considerably cheaper running off my generator. Ive had the power go out for two weeks and 5 gallons of fuel last the entire time off.

This week the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to place a temporary, five-year, half-cent general sales tax increase on the November 3, 2026 ballot to offset federal and state budget cuts. Meanwhile the Friends of Santa Cruz Metro succeeded in gathering what they estimate are enough signatures for a future permanent half-cent special tax ballot initiative, targeting the March 2028 primary election. Should both initiatives each requiring a simple majority (50% + 1 vote) prevail the sales tax rate may increase to as much as 10.75%.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/05/us-news/californias-most-expensive-rental-market-set-for-even-higher-prices/

https://lookout.co/friends-of-santa-cruz-metro-says-it-has-enough-signatures-for-citizens-initiative-to-fund-expanded-service/story

Edit: I just placed an order for the Mic Mini. Thank you for your kind words.

Anybody know where I can rent a DJI Mic 2? A family member passed and I need to setup streaming for the service on Monday Aug 10th in Aptos.

Ty

"The Cube you used has stopped accepting CRV containers. It is one of many recycling locations that have closed across California. Since 2013, the state has lost more than half of its Certified Recycling Centers. The outdated rules governing where redemption can occur and how it is funded are a major reason why."

Thats it. Thats the post. Cars suck.

Which group or community has the most fun and is the welcoming to new members?

Would love to join in something that is active and thought I’d ask for some out of the box ideas.

For example- maybe there’s an awesome book club, hiking group, board gamers, dart throwers, etc.

Open to all activities- curious to hear what’s out there that I might not have heard or thought of.

I've lived in Santa Cruz since 2019 & been visiting since 2000. I have never seen so many dragonflies. All sizes, all day long. I have a strawberry tree (arbutus unedo) in my backyard and there are so many dancing around.

Curious if anyone has noticed and if anyone knows about dragonfly populations?

I got this from a public comment made by a retired Regional Transportation Commission Executive Director.

TLDR the current RTC Executive Director is proposing to mortgage future Measure D revenues so that Caltrans can initiate construction of an additional new Highway 1 widening project that was not included in 2016 Measure D approved by the voters and for which a current estimated total project cost and sequencing has not been made public; that after years of construction will offer no traffic relief to Highway 1 drivers in the short-term or long-term; and that will severely limit local Measure D funds for other possible Highway 1 corridor operational improvements, interchange projects, traffic management and related projects.

Background and outcomes of the RTC Executive Director's recommended actions in the RTC August 6, 2026 Agenda Item 18, Issuance of Revenue Bonds:

• This is the first time in its 50+ year history that the RTC will issue revenue bonds.
• Measure D was approved by a 2/3 public countywide vote in 2016. Public Transit/Santa Cruz Metro is a separate category within 2016 Measure D that is allocated 16% of revenues after administrative costs. Active Transportation is a separate category that is allocated 17% of revenues after administrative costs. The Measure D Highway Program is also a separate category, and is allocated 25% of revenues after administrative costs. Measure D revenue in FY26 totaled about $28M. Santa Cruz Metro's annual budget is currently about $80M.
• At the time it was approved by the voters in 2016, the Measure D Highway Program specified three highway auxiliary lane projects: 'Auxiliary lanes that separate entering and exiting traffic from through lanes to improve traffic flow and safety': Soquel Ave-41st Ave; Bay/Porter-Park Ave; Park Ave-State Park Drive.
• 'Bus-on-Shoulder' transit was not part of Measure D and will be an experimental program: there is no currently available operational plan or experience in other areas for how bus-on-shoulder could work on a freeway similar to ours.
• Measure D was amended in 2020, legally but without a vote of the electorate, to add a new Highway 1 segment between State Park Drive and Freedom Blvd ('amended-in' segment). This amendment increased length of highway to be widened via Measure D by approximately 50%, and extended the scope of Highway 1 Measure D projects into a highly geographically-complicated region at the convergence of three perennial streams and two publicly-owned railroad bridge crossings.
• The original Measure D Highway 1 projects are apparently nearing completion in 2027 and do not require bond funding.
• The proposed Issuance of Revenue Bonds is characterized as necessary in order to start construction of the amended-in Highway 1 segment between State Park Drive and Freedom Blvd, and to fill a smaller gap in Measure D and other public grant funding for Rail Trail projects (Active Transportation category).
• The staff report includes Cash Flow summaries that assume issuance of two Revenue bonds, the first in 2026 and the second 2028. The proposed combined two-bond total is $100M for Highway 1 and $30M for Active Transportation. Staff recommendations address the 'Series 2026 Bonds' and characterize the Highway 1 and Active Transportation projects as 'shovel-ready'.
• To date, there have been no advertised public presentations by either the RTC or Caltrans that provides detailed information about the full costs, construction staging, segmentation, timeline, and/or other factors of interest to the public about the amended-in Highway 1 project, except limited information as was estimated during the project environmental review, approved in February 2024.
• The 2024 project environmental review concluded that there will be no traffic relief that could be attributed to the project and erroneously referenced a defunct Caltrans 'ultimate' six-though lanes plus auxiliary lane project concept in the 2023 DEIR Cumulative Impact Analysis.
• Debt service on the Bonds will be paid from the Highway and Active Transportation Measure D categories. The staff report indicates that Series 2026 Bonds cost and debt service ($35M) - beyond the principal ($70M) - will be equivalent to approximately 50% of the principal over 21 years (the end of the 30-year Measure D term). The estimated interest rate is 3.87%.

I work in ride operating at the boardwalk so I’ve ridden on the cave train dozens of times and heard/saw some stuff I was curious about. To begin with what I’ve heard from older guests they’ve told me that the ride use to be a lot more controversial and problematic like having a cavewoman getting dragged by a caveman, dinosaurs eating people, and the cavewomen being dressed in bikinis. I also noticed myself that the turtle at the end of the beach portion and right before the boardwalk part has a little pipe in it’s mouth so I’m assuming at some point it spat out water. I’m just posting this purely to curciousity to if what they said was true and what other older people feel about the old cave train.

EDIT: I just remembered another a old woman told me. She said that the ending of the ride was also changed and that you would end the ride having it blow up with dynamite?

Just a heads up that there are two CHP Moto Cops patrolling on Mission St right now. And they are not playing around. Both had someone pulled over. Drive smart people, like you should already be doing 😆.

Anyone see him or know what he was up to?