California Today: What will happen to West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz?

Mayor Fred Keely likened trying to shore up the erosion-threatened West Cliff Drive to changing a tire while the car is still moving.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story April 25, 2024 By Soumya Karlamangla It's Thursday. What will happen to West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz? Plus, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to allow Arizona doctors to provide abortions in California. The Santa Cruz City Council adopted a 50-year plan for West Cliff Drive, seen in the distance in February, that calls for prioritizing bike and pedestrian access. Loren Elliott for The New York Times When a series of atmospheric rivers battered California over the winter, the Santa Cruz region was hit particularly hard. Twenty-foot waves crashing ashore caused some of the most stunning damage in January 2023, dragging parts of West Cliff Drive, a major coastal corridor in Santa Cruz, into the sea. "What we thought would take 30 years to happen with climate change took two sets of storms in '22 and '23," Laura Schmidt, Santa Cruz assistant city manager, said at a City Council meeting this month. The damage to West Cliff Drive gave even more urgency to a question that every community along California's 840-mile coastline will eventually have to grapple with: How can we adapt to rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms? This month, Santa Cruz, which is about 75 miles south of San Francisco and home to 62,000 people, shared the beginnings of a plan with the public. West Cliff Drive is a cherished 2.7-mile stretch of the city's oceanfront, and it serves as a town square as much as a road. On any given day, local people can be found cycling, strolling and bird-watching on the cliff-hugging promenade overlooking gorgeous Monterey Bay. But erosion stole one to four inches' worth of the cliff a year from 1956 and 2018, and the rate is accelerating: Another five to 25 feet could be lost by 2075. In other words, there eventually won't be enough room for the two traffic lanes and the adjacent walkway. And the winter storms were a harsh reminder of that reality, causing millions of dollars in damage to West Cliff Drive. Some parts were hit so badly that they are still closed to automobile traffic. At a City Council meeting this month, Mayor Fred Keely of Santa Cruz likened trying to save West Cliff Drive to changing a tire while the car is still moving: "We're going to try to fix the flat tire of West Cliff without stopping the Pacific Ocean first — and, well, that's going to be difficult to do." At the meeting, the Council adopted a 50-year plan for West Cliff Drive that calls for giving priority to bicycle and pedestrian access, while cutting the roadway down to one lane. But actually moving forward with parts of the plan proved to be complicated. City officials recommended that the Council apply for a state grant to study turning the drive into a one-way road. But in the public comment portion of the meeting, residents spoke for hours, raising concerns about limiting vehicle access to the drive and about whether making it one-way would cause traffic jams elsewhere. The City Council decided to hold off on the grant application, and it was unclear when the next steps might be taken. Gary Griggs, a professor of earth sciences who has taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz, since the 1960s, said that the conversation around West Cliff Drive reflected the realities of "living on the California coast and having developed right up to the edge." Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT "Everybody thought they had more time," Griggs told me. "I think the difficult part is now, what do we do." We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Joined by the state Legislative Women's Caucus and advocates, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced legislation meant to help Arizona women obtain abortions in California. Sophie Austin/Associated Press The rest of the news Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed allowing patients of Arizona doctors to go to California to obtain abortions, The Associated Press reports. Though California is a high-tax state for its wealthiest residents, the tax burden of a family with an income of $145,900 is close to the national average, The Sacramento Bee reports, citing a new study. Southern California The police broke up an encampment of about 100 pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Southern California campus. Several couples are suing a fertility center in Newport Beach, claiming that the facility's staff destroyed their embryos in a "toxic incubator" and later implanted those embryos into the women, The Guardian reports. Nearly 14 years after the former U.S.C. running back Reggie Bush forfeited his 2005 Heisman Trophy, he was reunited with his award yesterday, The Athletic reports. A lawyer for one of the passengers involved in a tram crash at Universal Studios said the riders were "seriously injured," The Los Angeles Times reports. Central California The flag of Armenia was raised outside Fresno City Hall in commemoration of the 1.5 million people killed or displaced during the Armenian genocide, The Fresno Bee reports. Northern California Recent rises in retail crime have reignited a policy debate between local and state elected officials over Proposition 47, a law approved by voters in 2014 that reduced the penalties for petty thefts and minor drug offenses in the state, CalMatters reports. Workers at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art publicly urged leaders of the museum to join a boycott of Israeli institutions, KQED reports. WHAT WE'RE EATING Kerri Brewer for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards. Merguez and Kale Pasta By Nargisse Benkabbou 40 to 45 minutes Makes 6 to 8 servings Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Tell us What children's books should we add to our California reading list? Email me at CAtoday@nytimes.com with your recommendations. Please include your full name and the city in which you live. Emily Keddie And before you go, some good news Emily Keddie, a mountain runner from Oregon, set a record for the fastest known time on one of Northern California's most famous hiking trails, the northern section of the Lost Coast Trail. The segment is a 25-mile trek through beautiful scenery that many hikers set aside three days and two nights to complete. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Keddie covered the distance in just under five and a half hours. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Keddie told The Chronicle that she also picked up a nasty case of poison oak along the way, and encountered a large mountain lion in a moment she called "terrifying." Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword. Halina Bennet and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for California Today from The New York Times. To stop receiving California Today, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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