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Over the next two decades, the city of Watsonville plans to add thousands of trees to its landscape, create a plan to take care of them and train crews of young people to aid in that effort.

The City of Watsonville has sent out a call to local artists to help create a mural for the new nature center coming to Ramsay Park.

Construction will begin in June on a 34-unit community of small temporary dwellings based at Westview Presbyterian Church in Watsonville, after the Monterey County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved agreements to build and manage the facility.

In a weed-strewn, vacant lot on Airport Boulevard Tuesday, Bryan Hilgeman was busy around his makeshift tarp dwelling where he lives, along with about 40 people in the unsanctioned homeless camp.

A special joint council meeting Saturday brought together Watsonville City Council, City Manager Rene Mendez, other city and county leaders and the public for a discussion of the swelling homeless problem.

In a little more than a year, Ramsay Park in Watsonville will boast a new dog park, a new multi-use synthetic sports field, a new state-of-the-art nature center and new lights for its pathways, parking lots and athletic fields.

Watsonville city leaders have started to craft a coordinated effort to fight rising homelessness. 

The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday voted to close the crosswind runway at the airport, a move city officials say will open up more of the city for development of housing and commercial space.

On both sides of Watsonville Municipal Airport’s two runways lay so-called airport safety zones, where development is either limited or restricted.

Watsonville City Manager Rene Mendez has been named as the new City Manager for the City of Salinas, just two years after starting his position.

When Vanessa Quiroz-Carter and Maria Orozco were sworn in late last year as Watsonville’s Mayor and Vice-Mayor, it was only the second time in the city’s history two women have held the roles.

The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday approved $200,000 for a new homelessness outreach program. Separately, Watsonville police plan to add a new police service specialist to write tickets to illegally parked cars and RVs.

The Watsonville City Council voted to end public comment via Zoom at its meetings, a decision spurred by two racist ‘zoom bomb’ calls on Oct. 24. Capitola had similar experiences around the same time.

More than 100 people spent their Saturday morning in the community room of the Watsonville Civic building, where they joined the City Council and other officials in discussions about Watsonville’s General Plan.

For the third time, protestors attended a Watsonville City Council meeting calling on city leaders to pass a ceasefire resolution.

More than 100 people filled the Santa Cruz City Council chambers to call for a ceasefire resolution in the Israel-Hamas war. The same day, activists also attended a Watsonville City Council meeting and a Santa Cruz County Supervisors meeting.