Vacation Rentals, the Beach Flats Garden and Homeless Shelters. Wow.

Dear Constituents,

I hope that all of you know we have a mail-in election to support our school system with ballots due by Nov. 17th. I do not endorse every tax measure that comes along, but I will be voting for these two tax measures- O and P. In my opinion, supporting our public schools can be an excellent investment. I have been following the newly elected School Board and Superintentdent and I do think they will do a reasonably good job in allocating the money.

Apart from voting, there a few issues coming before the City Council on Oct. 13th that I invite you to participate in. At 7PM, we will be reviewing a draft of a Master Plan for our City Parks, from tiny neighborhood playgrounds to the Pogonip and Arana Gulch and Lighthouse Field. If you can't make the meeting and are interested, check out the plan under City Council tab of October 13th at cityofsantacruz.com. And send us your feedback.

One particular City parkland that is getting a lot of attention is the Beach Flats Garden, after the Seaside Company (which owns the Boardwalk and much of the Beach Flats) announced plans to close the garden after allowing it to operate on their land for 20 years. While no one can fault the Seaside company after 20 years of generosity, over two thousand people have signed a petition asking the City to intervene in keeping this little oasis of green open in the midst of one of our densest and poorest neighborhoods. On October 27th, I will be bringing the issue to the City Council to ask the Council to allocate time and money to insure that some kind of garden in the Beach Flats comes under public ownership and continues into the future. This is a fascinating issue wherein we need to find a way to balance the property rights of Seaside with the entirely legitimate needs of this neighborhood for open space, nutrition and cultural identity. Please consider attending on October 27th. I believe it will be heard at 7PM.

Also, on the agenda on the 27th will be a staff recommendation to join with the County in providing monetary support towards keeping the Paul Lee loft shelter and the Armory Winter Shelter open. While there is no staff report yet, if you already have an informed opinion on either the Beach Flats Garden or the funding of the shelters, you are welcome to email the Council right away. If you send in an email next week, it should appear in the 'packet' of information provided for the October 27th meeting: Email citycouncil [at] cityofsantacruz.com and mention that it is for the meeting on the 27th.

Another interesting issue on the agenda for this Tuesday, October 13th, is the next iteration of attempting to limit vacation rentals in Santa Cruz with a specific focus on precluding vaction rentals in Accesorry Dwelling Units (small units behind a larger house on a single property, known as ADUs). ADUs are being singled out because they were created specifically to provide terribly needed rental housing, but some are being used to house vacationers and not locals. On the other hand, the question has come up about why we should single out ADUs, whose owners are legally required to live on site, while absentee landlords buy whole houses and use them for vacation rentals thus reducing rental stock AND creating vacant and/or party houses in the middle of neighborhoods. Morevover, if we eliminate short term rentals as a group, what about the common sense efficiency of the shared economy? Is it really reasonable for a local government to tell a homeowner or renter that they can't rent out their house on AirBnB for a few days or a week to make some extra money while they go on a trip? That's a tough one. And, is it reasonable for us to shut off the income stream of people who are currently basing their incomes on their legal vacation rentals (I don't think so, and support 'grandfathering in' vacation rentals who have paid their taxes up to date.)

While I continue to struggle with how to regulate vacation rentals, my resolve has been strengthed by a few things that have happened in the last few days. An acquantance who lives in Live Oak recently took me for a tour of his oceanside neighborhood, where vacation homes now occupy approximately 15% of the streets, causing a significant erosion in the quality of the neighborhood and a signficant increase in rents. At the same time, friends of mine continue to get evicted from their rental homes and I have been trying to get them interested in buying the house and lot across the street from me which has gone on the market. The other day, I talked to a woman who was considering buying the property. She was from San Francisco and was considering renting it out as a vacation home. In San Francisco, 30 to 35% of the rental housing is being used for vacation housing. Clearly, this could happen in our town, starting with across the street from me, and it would be a complete DISASTER for families and working people and students who are trying to rent here. There is absolutely NO WAY that our city can build anywhere near enough rental housing to mitigate even a 5 or 10 percent decrease in rental housing due to vacation rentals.

So far the Council has heard mostly from people that think of themselves as directly affected by regulations and not very much from people concerned about the rental market. Whether you fall into the former category or the latter, or both, this is the time to make your thoughts known, especially if you have some ideas about how to create the right kind of balance in this situation.

A few compromises that have occured to me: Allow residents, and only residents, to rent their unit up to 30 days a year?? Alow vacation rentals in the summer, thus encouraging long term rentals the rest of the year?? Please chime in by attending the meeting and/or sending an email to citycouncil [at] cityofsantacruz.com.

Lastly, I am still seeking an Senior to represent the City on the Aging Advisory Board- a small and fascinating position for the right person. Contact me at micahposner [at] cruzio.com for more info.


Searching for the Public Good in Local Government,

Micah Posner