Fearing that Gov. Jerry Brown will take the county’s Redevelopment Agency money, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors worked out a plan to save the funds by spending them. Over the course of their meeting, they managed to spend $75 million and learned that it is not as easy as it seems.
Fearing that Gov. Jerry Brown will take the county’s Redevelopment Agency money, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors worked out a plan to save the funds by spending them. Over the course of their meeting, they managed to spend $75 million and learned that it is not as easy as it seems.
Over half of the money, $44 million, was earmarked for a Mid-County Sheriff’s Center, with a new operations center, crime lab and morgue. A new behavioral health center will use up $6.5 million, while the East Cliff Parkway Project will eat up another $5.1 million.
Then there is a proposed Boys and Girls Club, to be built at the Shoreline Middle School campus with $5 million in RDA funds. Youth centers got a boost yesterday at the Santa Cruz City Council meeting, when Mayor Ryan Coonerty noted how one youth center helped a young James Durbin find his voice. Durbin, who grew up in a low-income family, was a frequent visitor to the city’s Teen Center.
Other projects to receive funding include the controversial Arana Gulch bike path project, which has come under fire from conservation groups. In total, 20 projects were named as recipients of RDA funding, all in an effort to keep the money out of the Governor’s hands. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
