Date received:
January 16, 2024
Subject:
Meet the candidates: Secure your spot in our upcoming forums
Preview text:
(none)
Location:
Santa Cruz, CA
Text version for screen readers:
2024. The year has filled many with political anxiety. Our national politics are more polarized than any in memory. Here in Santa Cruz County, we watch warily and do what we individually feel right to meet the moment.
Democracy is messy, as we saw last week when the City of Santa Cruz’s City Council meeting boiled over into maddening disarray. That’s where Lookout fits in, bringing you the information you need to make informed choices at the ballot box and beyond.
In the next few weeks, Lookout hosts and moderates candidate forums on Jan. 22, Feb. 5 and Feb. 8 focusing on county and city races. They will all be from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Hotel Paradox, our event partner, whom we deeply appreciate for helping us bring these forums to you. The sessions are detailed below, and you can sign up here to attend and (peaceably) participate.
REGISTER FOR FORUMS HERE
Our election 2024 coverage – with our Voter’s Guide, Campaign Blog and ongoing coverage – has already hit the ground running, and you’ll see lots of it as we approach the March 5 primary election.
Importantly, we are making our Lookout election coverage free through the vote. We did this both in 2022 and in January of last year, as we provided critical around-the-clock coverage of our unprecedented flooding. We do this as a public service. We believe in democracy and know the importance of our place in it.
While free to access for now, Lookout costs lots of money to produce. Membership helps pay our great staff. So if you are not yet a member, become one today to support this crucial news gathering and now – and gaining full access to it all year. There’s that button immediately below. You know what to do with it. Thank you.
BECOME A MEMBER
About the candidate forums:
Join Lookout Santa Cruz at Hotel Paradox from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. for three lively panel discussions this primary election season.
Monday, January 22 | 2nd and 5th District County Supervisor
Hear from the 2nd District county supervisor candidates Kristen Brown, Anthony Crane, Bruce Jaffe, Kim De Serpa and David Schwartz. They will be followed by the 5th District county supervisor candidates Christopher Bradford, Theresa Ann Bond, Tom Decker and Monica Martinez.
Monday, February 5 | 1st District County Supervisor & Measure M
Hear from the 1st District County supervisor candidates Manu Keoing and Lani Faulkner. They will be followed by representatives from both support and opposition groups for Measure M. Currently planned participants are Don Lane with the Affordable Housing Advocates Santa Cruz and Frank Barron with Housing for the People.
Thursday, February 8 | Santa Cruz City Council Districts 1, 2, 3 and 5
Hear from Santa Cruz City Council candidates. City Council District 1 candidates Dave Tanucci and Gabriela Trigueiro will kick things off, followed by District 2 candidates Sonja Brunner and Hector Marin. Hear from city council District 3 candidates Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and Joy Schendledecker and then city council District 5 candidates Susie O’Hara and Joe Thompson will close out the event.
REGISTER FOR FORUMS HERE
At Lookout, our team of 15, newsroom and business side, know how important these in-person gatherings are. As one city council candidate told me in 2022, “you know you are the only ones that have offered us a place and time to have a reasonable discussion with our opponents.” We appreciate that.
Jody K. Biehl, our Community Voices editor, will again host and moderate the forums. This year, she’ll be joined by Christopher Neely, Lookout’s politics & policy correspondent. Many of you have told me how much you appreciate the savvy reporting he’s brought to that beat since he arrived in Santa Cruz just before the 2022 election.
In these forums, we aim to get the candidates talking about the real issues, their own leadership abilities and to each other. We aim to let you know how they might best represent you. We’ll take your questions at the forums, and you can send them ahead of time to us, at elections@lookoutlocal.com, subject line “candidate question.” We’ll record the sessions and offer up the most useful segments after the event.
Please join as we decide our community’s future together.
Ken Doctor
Founder and CEO