Letters to the Editor

Time for Watsonville to work together

The passage of Measure Q by voters shows that Watsonville citizens want to see the city grow in an orderly manner, which does not involve willy-nilly searching around for nice flat pieces of farmland, to put up a Costco or Walmart for city revenues, or to build out a nice big subdivision with “single-family homes” that some City Council members think will be so good for our population.

Let’s all work together on growth issues that can be addressed as we embark on the 2050 General Plan. City Council members knew since 2018 that some people in the community were talking about Measure U expiring and what that would mean. We reached out to the city, with meetings with the city manager and council members, but they stonewalled us, when they could have initiated the “community process” that they accused us of ignoring.

Now there is a real opportunity for a community process. With a new city manager and new city council, we can move forward on these important growth issues: get started on implementing the Downtown Specific Plan; get community committees working on the 2050 General Plan; look at the industrial area along Walker Street for mixed use potential; take another review of existing vacant and under-utilized sites throughout the city.

People on all sides of the recent vote to renew our Urban Limit Line have a lot in common in their visions for Watsonville in the future.

The future is now: let’s work together and move forward.

—Sam Earnshaw, Watsonville

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Cabrillo’s name change is on the right side of history

Most changes in the U.S. in which a social justice matter is at stake have been met with wide resistance—i.e., desegregation, voters’ rights, marriage equality, etc. However, time has proven that these social changes were on the right side of history. 

I applaud Cabrillo’s Board of Trustees for voting in favor of a name change. Nov. 14’s 6-1 decision was a vote for social justice, anti-racism and decolonization. As a community, we can and will come up with a better name, one that is not associated with a Spanish explorer who brutalized Native peoples. 

Although some have expressed discontent with the Board’s decision, I trust that, in time, we, as a community, will adapt and evolve and put the name “Cabrillo” behind us. I look forward to working at an institution whose name I can be proud of.

—Dr. Victoria Bañales, English Professor, Cabrillo College