Santa Cruz: Where the Left and No-Growth Politics MeetRandy Shawbyline‚ Feb. 19‚ 2009Santa Cruz is known for the University of California, Santa Cruz, its beaches, and its historic Boardwalk and amusement park. But the city also has a striking, and, until this book, largely unreported political history, one that raises critical questions about the meaning of the terms “left” and “progressive” in the context of local politics. As Richard Gendron and Bill Domhoff show in their provocative new book, The Leftmost City, self-identified “socialist-feminists” have controlled the Santa Cruz City Council for over two decades. Yet the price of winning this control was an alliance with neighborhood activists that resulted in the city implementing strict “no-growth” policies. These policies have left the city among the least affordable in the state, with little racial diversity. Ironically, Santa Cruz was once a solidly pro-growth town whose political fate was redirected by the decision in the 1950’s to place a new campus within the city limits. When 18 year olds won the right to vote in 1971, students at the University of California, Santa Cruz could decide local elections, which they have done with regularity ever since. |