I've lived in Santa Cruz for 25 years now - not counting 8 years off in New York - and like any long term relationship, it's had it's up and downs. Even though at times the town's flaws are grossly magnified, and the grass may look greener elsewhere, I'm trying to take responsibility for my own input to the dynamic, and I've begun to see her in a new light that illuminates the opportunities within her challenges, and even some endearing qualities to her awkward growing pains.
That being said, some changes I've seen over time have hurt me to witness, and I see a lot of good people leaving town because of them. The best way to sum it all up for me is that this place has become way more cutthroat.
I blame this on the expensive housing market and the fact that the town has a limited local economy to support the high cost of living for it's citizens. This has led to a sort of transitory residence of students, tourists, and silicon valley types that build large houses, but have to commute over the hill to pay for them.
It seems these days that only kind of people that can afford to put down roots here come from the very high end of the economic scale, and working families have been fleeing in droves to more affordable areas since the aftermath of the earthquake in 1989.
This leads to a more competitive, less altruistic environment overall. On the roads, in the work place, and in community attitudes towards the poorest members of our society. Stress and struggle for basic survival can make people do horrible things to each other, and to be fair I've been guilty of some Machiavellian moves in my early business decisions here. Experiencing the intense desperation of scarcity, I simply felt I had no choice.
It shouldn't have to be that way, and it hasn't always been. When my family moved to Santa Cruz in 1980 it was a decision prompted by something my mother experienced here while my academic parents were exploring which university towns they could relocate to. Although Santa Cruz was low on the list due to it's relative isolation and backwater reputation, my mom was charmed by the random kindness shown to her by strangers just walking around town. On her last day here, she fell on the concrete stairs and broke her ankle while attending a hippie music festival in San Lorenzo Park. Many bystanders rushed to her aid and offered her a ride to the hospital. No one would leave her side until she was stabilized and on her way to the doctor, and upon hearing her story, several in the crowd offered up their phone numbers in case we decided to move here and needed help getting set up.
Although this scene could have played out similarly today, sadly there are hardly any commercial-free music festivals in the park these days, and I can see it's teen-age-homeless-meth-head population laughing at my mom falling down the stairs, and certainly I imagine less people offering her help finding housing.
My point is that the prevailing mascot of the town has slowly and incrementally turned from one of a mellow, slightly backwards, well intentioned hippie, to that of a stressed out and ambitious LA-style go-getter that can't be bothered helping his neighbor.
Of course these are my own stereotypes, but I think long time locals that have seen these changes will back me up. I'm leaving some annoying things about the past out, like the conservative political power structure, but one could argue that today's 'progressive' status quo offers about the same diversity of opinion, and very similar results.
My personal response to the increasing expense of living here has been to level up my professional game, and to help create jobs locally that can provide a good living and a fulfilling vocation for folks who choose to stay here. I try and see the daily challenges as less of a curse, and more of a puzzle that I've got to change my perspective about if I want to enjoy solving it.
These days Santa Cruz has more economic opportunities and a growing support network for entrepreneurs. You just have to look for the silver lining in changing conditions. For instance, when I moved back here after the 90's, I was struck by the increase in traffic congestion, as well as the higher income bracket. My formerly sleepy surfer town had turned into a grinding mess of Beamers and Mercedes taking an hour to get across the city during three maddening rush hours a day.
Of course coming from Manhattan I could recognize that these were the perfect conditions for a professional bike messenger company. Santa Cruz was rapidly outgrowing it's britches and needed help managing it's now precious time.
I've been helped in my long term attitude towards my home by the ability to get away at times, and I'd advise this for any relationship that you want to sustain, even if it's only for a couple of days. Also, lately I try and concentrate more on the things I can do with my time here that I love, like gardening in my back yard, or biking up into the mountains.
As far as the long term intractable problems here. I believe they are caused and compounded by short-sighted planning by uninspired local leadership that is pushed around by the biggest players on the block like the Seaside company, McMansion developers, and a University system seemingly hell bent on endless, unjustifiable growth in a limited housing market, squeezing locals out.
Meanwhile crime statistics and police budgets continue to rise while the homeless, drugs, and gang problems remain largely unaddressed.
What can we do? For me it's about committing to the community. Not running away. Sure these problems are huge, but they are everywhere and require the same shift in all of us if we want to preserve our way of life.
We need to change our attitudes first. Take responsibility for the problems in our society and for the worst off among us, rather than hiding from and denying them. We need to love our community and forgive our neighbors for their trespasses against us. And finally, we need to be grateful for this amazing place we find ourselves in, and pledge to do our best to leave it an even better place for those that come after us.
-RG
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