I have lived in this small beach town for a number of years.

Like most Santa Cruz residents I live in a single family home. Whether by design or happenstance or some combination thereof, Santa Cruz, like many American towns and cities, revolves around the automobile. It is, after all, how we get around. It’s how we get to work, get our kids to school and get our groceries home. There are few alternatives. As the population has grown, the streets of Santa Cruz have become more and more congested.

Santa Cruz is a desirable place to live. Land is limited and expensive so to house the many who want to move here, it has been determined the best strategy is to build up. High density, high rise apartments. And as we build up, roads become more and more congested and parking places less adequate. I have wondered how our city that was not planned for high-density housing will be able to adapt.

I recently had the opportunity to spend a couple weeks in Barcelona, Spain, a city that houses a large portion of its population in 4- to 5-story buildings. As it turns out, building height is about all the two cities have in common. To begin with, many of the buildings in Barcelona delight the eye and invite a lingering gaze. Such is not the case with the utilitarian look of most new construction in Santa Cruz. Apartment buildings in Barcelona do not give the sense they were constructed to compartmentalize and warehouse people. Barcelona has numerous large, car free, comfortable open public squares with outdoor cafes that invite people to relax and socialize. And trees! Lots of trees that provide beauty and shade and soften sharp lines.

Lot 4 has the potential to provide such a space in Santa Cruz, but it was decided instead to cut down the beautiful heritage trees that are there and build a parking structure. In the new vision of Santa Cruz there is no allowance for parks, open spaces, trees or so much as a blade of grass. It just doesn’t “pencil out.”

The differences between Barcelona and Santa Cruz are striking. Clearly Barcelona was planned for people. Santa Cruz is being planned for profit.

Barcelona’s residents don’t need cars or a place to park them. They have a Metro. Not some buses lumbering down congested streets but a real subway system that speeds people to most anywhere they want to go including connections to high speed trains to many places in the country and beyond. High-rise housing works where you have an efficient transportation system.

The future of Santa Cruz, its composition, its livability, its very character are being determined by a small group of elected and non-elected city officials. Included in this group of decision makers is the CEO of a major local developer. Those that may object to the developer-friendly decisions being made here in Santa Cruz are dismissed as being NIMBY, standing in the way of progress.

We frequently hear from our city planners something like, “But our hands are tied. It’s a state mandate. We have no choice.” Is there another California city where the city’s history and character have been more flagrantly disregarded than here in Santa Cruz? Is what is taking place here really about mandates, or is it about money?

Santa Cruz is unique and possesses enormous potential. It is the responsibility of those elected and non-elected city officials to ensure Santa Cruz remains unique and has the opportunity to realize its potential. Their legacy will be determined not by how profitable the “development” of Santa Cruz was but by how well they achieve these goals.

Michael Funari is a Santa Cruz resident.