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Upward index of the minimum living wage by 3.1%

2/22/2017

As of January 24th, the City Council adopted a resolution indexing the minimum living wage upwards to 3.1%, on par with Santa Francisco’s, Oakland’s, and San Jose’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Workers and Clerical Workers
This resolution will become effective on July 1st, 2017 and is based in a 2000 City Council Ordinance, No. 2000-25 which required that the City Council upward index the Consumer Price Index to levels of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose areas.
According to the City Council
- “The minimum living wage to be paid to employees when they receive minimum leave and health insurance will be increased by $0.48 to $16.21 per hour.”
- “The minimum living wage to be provided to employees where the employees do not receive the minimum leave and health insurance benefits shall be increased by $0.53 to $17.68 per hour.”

For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda.

2/22/2017

As of January 24th, 2017 the Santa Cruz City Council has declared that the issue of water quality at Cowell Beach, one of Santa Cruz’s most iconic beaches and surf spots near the Municipal Wharf, to be a top priority of major significance.
The Council has voted to re-establish the Cowell Beach Water Quality Working Group that was initially authorized in September of 2014 to continue its work studying and exploring Cowell’s water quality issues, and sources of contaminants.
The City Council has authorized a budget adjustment of $30,000 to assist the Water Quality Working Group by providing funding necessary for infrastructure improvements, identification and repair of pollutant sources, as well as scientific research and review.

For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda.

2/22/2017

In light of the recent Volkswagen scandal in which Volkswagen sold approximately 500,000 diesel vehicles implemented with devices intentionally designed to reduce emission recordings, Volkswagen has settled with the Environmental Protection Agency to invest over $800 million in a Zero Emission Vehicle Investment Program.
The City Council has just authorized the City Manager to apply for and accept, if awarded, a grant from Volkswagen of America’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Investment Program. If the application is accepted the City of Santa Cruz would obtain up to $3.3 million from California Air Resources Board who will distribute the Volkswagen of America ZEV Investment Program funding.
This grant application is extremely relevant to local transportation issues as the successful acceptance of Santa Cruz’s application could mean $3.3 million dollars in funding to Zero Emissions Vehicle charging infrastructure and ZEV vehicles which could be a key aspect of the City's aim to reduce emissions by 30% and switch 20% of cars to low carbon fuels by 2020.
This initiative has been proposed by the Council as the Green City initiative, and with an already a high concentration of Zero Emission Vehicles, Santa Cruz City is posed to take advantage of this grant and the greater shift towards sustainable transportation that it exemplifies.

For details and more information please see the following City Council Agenda.

2/22/2017

In light of recent intense storms, one of the major issues in regard to regional transportation facing Santa Cruz County has been intense road and infrastructure damage, estimated to have caused 20 million dollars worth of road damage and $1,685,000 worth of damage to local water supply lines in the last month.
With Santa Cruz County having received some of the heaviest damage in the state and the Public Works Department running on overdrive, the City and the County have declared an emergency and are in desperate need of federal funding from the Federal Highway Administration to repair the country-wide extreme road damage sustained by intense flooding, falling trees and mudslides.
A vast majority of the damage has occurred in District 5 of Santa Cruz County, made up of San Lorenzo Valley, the Santa Cruz mountains, and the city of Scotts valley, with some of the worst damage striking Zayante Canyon, the Narrows, Bear Creek, and Nelson Road. Dangerous mudslides, falling trees, and collapsing mountainsides in areas of the Santa Cruz mountains have prevented road access to mountain living residents, sealing residents into their homes for days at a time, and posing a major fire hazard for the future if not repaired soon.
While federal funding is expected within the coming weeks, it is unlikely that such funding will be utilized until the storms blow over and there is a consistent break from the rains.

For questions and more information please contact the Santa Cruz Public Works department.