Changed his support to Bradford in 5th District

I attended Monica Martinez’s campaign announcement at Roaring Camp in 2023. As a registered Democrat I took heart seeing all the familiar faces of Democratic politics in Santa Cruz at her event and planned to give her my support. Since then I have had direct experience of her representing me and my community as chair of the County Parks Commission. The experience has led me to change my vote and I am now supporting Christopher Bradford.

When faced with a complicated problem that affected me and my neighbors, Martinez favored outside interests instead of the community she represents. I’ve seen Christopher Bradford put community first over and over again. He listens very carefully to what voters are saying on all sides of an issue. Bradford always puts the interests of the 5th District first.

— Tom Fredericks, Felton

Martinez in 5th: She will ‘make things happen’

I am writing because I am excited to support Monica Martinez to represent the 5th District on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. As a Felton resident, I want a supervisor who is able to represent our complex district where our challenges include the need for effective disaster response, safe roads, reliable utilities, healthy kids and families, and affordable housing. Monica is the candidate who is best prepared to meet those challenges.

Monica’s experience as CEO of Encompass, the county’s largest health and human services nonprofit, means that she knows how to make things happen for our district and our county. As just one example, she recently secured a $9.4 million grant from the state to develop a new behavioral health campus in the most underserved part of Santa Cruz County.

District 5 needs someone who can jump right in and start working to meet our needs, and that person is Monica Martinez.

— Liza-Jane Capatos, Felton

Bradford needed to ‘remodel’ county planning

My family have always been “rule followers.” Improvements to our homes in Santa Cruz County are made with insured, licensed building and trade contractors, obtaining permits (with the benefits those once produced).

Every home permitting process we have navigated in the past five years (metal roof, synthetic deck, undergrounding our electrical service, built-in generator, etc.) has been a sluggish, opaque, illogical exercise in red tape, built around a false narrative of promoting public safety.

I cannot even imagine what the “successful” 10% of CZU fire victims have suffered through to rebuild their homes. Inexperience and understaffing in county planning has turned a frustrating Culture of NO into a dangerous entry point for any well-meaning property owner to become entangled in a process with no clear steps, cost, or timeline.

I finally understand why so many folks build and remodel without permits. They’ve been driven to do so by a hopelessly broken system.

If elected as our 5th District supervisor, Christopher Bradford will devote his community-minded, creative, positive, team-building tenacity to remodeling our county Planning Department.

— Edan Cassidy, Scotts Valley

De Serpa in 2nd: Not part of political machine

The recently published list of long-time, prominent Capitola leaders’ endorsement of Kim De Serpa over Kristen Brown should get voters’ attention. These leaders are the best — no political titles, just ordinary citizens who quietly go about making their city better each day with no intent to further a political career.

Kristen Brown’s list of endorsements is filled with political title holders, most of whom are outside of Capitola. And most of her financial contributors hail from large political organizations, not local residents. In contrast, most of Kim De Serpa’s 1,000 endorsers and donors reside in District 2.

If Kristen Brown believes that voters are impressed by her being part of the Santa Cruz County machine politics, she is wrong. District 2 voters are too smart to vote for a candidate who is using the office of supervisor as a stepping stone to higher offices. Indeed, they know Kim De Serpa’s focus, dedication and commitment is to serve the people of the 2nd District without owing favors to machine politicians or seeking the next new office.

— Pat Wickman, Aptos