A sign along Segment 8 from California Local’s Rail Trail tracker.
Santa Cruz County got an early holiday gift on Dec. 7 when the California Transportation Commission approved $115.8 million in grants for transportation projects in the county—including enough to fund almost seven miles of the Coastal Rail Trail from the Santa Cruz Harbor to the Seacliff neighborhood in Aptos. The grant puts an exclamation point at the end of a tumultuous year for the Rail Trail, during which a measure on its very existence was put before the county’s voters—who said yes to both rail and trail.
For local politicians, the past week brought opportunities for some early renditions of “Auld Lang Syne,” as longtime officeholders on the Watsonville City Council and the county Board of Supervisors made their goodbyes. But on the Santa Cruz City Council it was time for to say hello to a new era—one in which city residents voted for their own district rep and also for a mayor who will represent the whole city.
