In this issue:

• Santa Cruz council advances stricter rules for homeless camps
• Two apartment projects approved in Watsonville
• Opioid overdoses decrease, fentanyl use rises in Santa Cruz County
• Five-minute survey: What is Santa Cruz Local’s impact on you? (Enter to win $50 in Santa Cruz Downtown Dollars!)

Santa Cruz council advances stricter rules for homeless camps

• After several changes to the proposed law, the council voted 5-2 in favor of it with Councilmembers Sandy Brown and Justin Cummings in the minority. Mayor Donna Meyers, Vice Mayor Sonja Brunner and Councilmembers Martine Watkins, Renee Golder and Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson voted in favor of it. 
• The council is expected to review the proposal for final adoption at its March 9 meeting.
• The revised law would allow camping in Moore Creek, Pogonip, Arana Gulch and DeLaveaga Park. Tents must be at least 75 feet from trails. 
• Camping would be illegal on public property in residential-zoned areas, parks, city-owned beaches, downtown, the river side of the San Lorenzo Riverwalk, Neary Lagoon, Jessie Street Marsh, Arroyo Seco Canyon, areas prone to fire or flood and areas that block access to emergency responders. 
• Proponents of the law cited reasons including not feeling safe in parks, risk of fires in homeless camps, crime and noise related to camps. Opponents said ticketing the homeless has made it harder for people to become housed because fines and court cases show up on landlords’ background checks. 📰Read Kara Meyberg Guzman’s story

Two apartment projects approved in Watsonville

• The four-story project at 558 Main St. will include 40 market-rate apartments and 10 “affordable” apartments based on percentages of area median income. It also will include a high-ceilinged restaurant space on the ground floor and a street-level parking garage in the rear. The council unanimously approved the project.
• Several residents spoke in favor of the project and new housing in general, while others said the potential rent of $1,700 or more for a one-bedroom was out of reach to many Watsonville residents. They said it constituted gentrification. “Our city is being pushed out. They're going to Salinas, they're going to Gonzales, they're going to Soledad because we're not listening to them and their needs,” said resident Gabe Medina.
• Separately, the council voted 6-1 to approve a 100% affordable housing apartment complex at 1482 Freedom Blvd. with Mayor Jimmy Dutra the sole vote against it.
• Because the residents would come from a Santa Cruz County Housing Authority wait list, Dutra noted that there was no guarantee that Watsonville residents would be housed at the complex. An Eden Housing representative said that was true, but 37 county vouchers also would bring about $7 million to the project. 📰 Read Stephen Baxter’s story.

Fatal drug overdoses decrease, fentanyl use rises in Santa Cruz County

• Santa Cruz County’s syringe services program provides a needle exchange and avenues to drug treatment, among other services. It served 481 clients with 2,110 visits in 2020, county health staff said. Most clients were 21- to 54-year-old white males, staff said.
• In addition to reducing transmission of HIV and hepatitis, needle exchanges have helped build rapport with users and get them into treatment, county staff said. “The opposite of addiction is connection,” said Jen Herrera, chief of public health at the county’s Health Services Agency. Herrera said many addiction counselors use the phrase. 
• The Downtown Streets Team picks up trash in Santa Cruz and the North Coast. It found 12,000 needles from July 2019 to December 2020, Supervisor Bruce McPherson said. “We know we have a problem. We need to have a more comprehensive response,” McPherson said. County staff is expected to provide more information on syringe litter at a future meeting. 
• Methamphetamine use has risen in recent years and fentanyl use has risen in recent months. “It's a big concern for me to see this rise in (fentanyl) cases,” Fiore said, in part because fentanyl overdose treatments can require more than one dose of Narcan, unlike most opioid overdoses. 
• Supervisor Ryan Coonerty asked why there have been fewer overdose deaths in Monterey and San Mateo counties. County health staff said those counties have more residential drug treatment programs than Santa Cruz County. 

And a note from our staff