‘Rail trail’ has become streets and sidewalks path

The rail trail has become a joke.

RTC design plans now show diverting the “rail trail” onto streets and sidewalks from 38th to Brommer to 41st to Jade to 47th at Portola to Cliff Drive to Monterey to Park before returning to the safety of the corridor.

These diversions mean most of the so-called rail trail through Capitola is not within the rail corridor.

Even calling it the Monterey Bay Scenic Sanctuary Trail is wrong. Scenic? The Westside’s Segment 7A is an asphalt route through streets, intersections, and housing. The high retaining wall of Segment 7B is completely filled with graffiti and provides a view of the wastewater plant. Wholesale removal of trees in Segment 9, plus required retaining walls, means little scenery left to enjoy.

Sold as a trail in the rail corridor, away from street traffic, safe for pedestrians and cyclists, it is now to be on streets and sidewalks of Santa Cruz, up and down the corridor. Pedestrians and cyclists will all be vulnerable to distracted drivers, whose vehicles can jump curbs.

— Jean Brocklebank, Live Oak

Downtown Santa Cruz seems at ‘lowest point’

I have spent my whole life going downtown and right now it seems at its lowest point. If I can, I try to inquire about why a business has closed. There are always a lot of reasons but the fees come up a lot.

I cannot serve on the Downtown Association or any other downtown group because I don’t own a business. If I could I would urge the city to please look into getting more businesses to come downtown, suspend fees if needed for a year for them to get a foothold, work with businesses to come, make the process of permitting easier.

There has never been a time where we need the heart of our town to gather and feel comforted.

— Michele Replogle, Santa Cruz

Many benefits to allowing architects to ‘self-certify’

Ben Christopher’s article (Feb. 15) about allowing architects and engineers to “self-certify” their projects rather than forcing their clients to submit extremely time-consuming government reviews was spot-on. This system, which has been used for decades elsewhere saves citizens and government time and money.

Architects already take responsibility for their work; projects won’t get less scrutiny. Architects take eight years of education beyond high school, then must pass rigorous state tests (mine took 48 hours over 4 days). If the Building and Planning departments simply required an architect’s signature to get permits, everyone could benefit greatly.”

— William Fisher, AIA NCARB, Santa Cruz

How will apologists deal with Hamas’ cruelty?

We have once again witnessed the cruelty of Hamas. They paraded the coffins of two children, one only nine-months old to the delight of thousands of Gazans, but instead of returning their mother’s body they put someone else in a coffin.

These are the heroes of the “resistance” touted by the radical left in Santa Cruz, especially at UCSC. The kidnappers of babies and toddlers as well as the old and infirm are heroes not terrorists according to some of the ethnic studies professors at our esteemed university.

At a time when budget cuts are coming to the University of California, we should question whether those who support terrorism and teach that to students should be on the state payroll.

Academic freedom has two words. Some of our professors forget the first word and emphasize only the second as it relates to them, but not to those who disagree with them.

Those who kidnapped the Bibas boys and their terrified mother on October 7th, 2023, are terrorists and their apologists are not much better.

— Gil Stein, Aptos

NYC mayor broke the law, despite ties with Trump

Several decades ago a man was found guilty of murder. He came back claiming that the attending physician had failed to save the victim’s life, therefore, the doctor was at fault. Judge said, no, if the defendant hadn’t shot the victim first, he wouldn’t have needed a doctor and the conviction stood.

If New York City Mayor Eric Adams wanted to advance his career under Trump he shouldn’t have broken the law as the resigning prosecutors were finding.

— Edgar Ross, Scotts Valley