I hope you enjoyed Halloween with your friends and family. Whether it was carving pumpkins, trick or treating or attending parties, many of us were happy to be out again enjoying the interaction with our communities. This time of year brings with it many celebrations. It also allows us to reflect on all the things we are thankful for in our lives. The last 19 months have been quite difficult for so many of us. It is nice to move from a feeling of hopelessness and despair to gratitude and optimism.
I personally have been reflecting back on these last 19 months. Remembering being stuck in my house on Zoom or forced to put distance between myself and my friends and family. These were extremely difficult times. These moments of sadness seemed to be more common in our daily lives. As a teacher, I remember the struggles of my students. As a mayor, I remember the extreme efforts put into getting the vaccine to Watsonville. As a friend, I remember the many calls as we helped each other deal with the mental challenges that came with Covid-19. It was a tough time for almost all of us.
As we approach Thanksgiving and the holiday season, it only seems right to highlight the blessings around us. I am fortunate to have represented our community during the most difficult time of our lives. It was not easy, but we worked together to create positive outcomes. Thank you to all the nonprofit organizations who worked tirelessly to keep our communities going without skipping a beat. Services needed to be rendered and our nonprofits were there to help every step of the way. Thank you to all of our essential workers. Without them, our daily lives would have been in more disrepair. Thank you to our bus drivers, our grocery store and farm workers, bankers, health care workers, custodians, teachers, office staff and school administrators, our public safety and fire departments, city and county employees, and our leaders. Times got tough and our communities stepped up. I saw so much bravery and courage over the last 19 months. Even in our darkest hours, we found moments to be thankful for in our communities.
Throughout this past year, I kept a mental calendar of my mayoral term in my head. Each day I went to work to help keep our community safe, make sure our government was functioning and to lift spirits. During that time I was always thinking months ahead of projects I wanted to accomplish. One of those projects was to bring back holiday lights on our Main Street poles. As a young child, I appreciated the beauty of Main Street in Watsonville during the holidays. The warm and happy feelings of the holiday lights lining our streets with candy canes and bells are forever ingrained in my memory. The nostalgia of these days has been with me for a long time. Unfortunately, in 1989 the Loma Prieta Earthquake rattled all of our communities here in Santa Cruz County. Watsonville’s downtown was severely damaged and in several cases, buildings were destroyed. From lost buildings to failed businesses, we have been trying to build back since that dark day in October. We are now starting to see hope on Main Street with new housing being built, businesses opening their doors and nonprofit organizations making a place for themselves in the heart of our community. We are healing and it is such an amazing feeling.
Those holiday lights I remember as a child, unfortunately, disappeared when our downtown suffered that heartbreaking blow of the earthquake. As Mayor, I wanted to bring them back. I joined forces with Friends of Watsonville Parks and Community Services to raise the funds in order to purchase the holiday lights on Main Street. In recent years we have brought back holiday lighting to our plaza, but I felt it was time to light up all of Main Street. We began a campaign to erect festive holiday lights back on the poles. Between our event, Evening with the Mayor and Friends of Watsonville Parks and Community Services, the city of Watsonville and our Main Street Holiday Lights Campaign, we have raised almost $30,000.
During our event at the Staff of Life, community members had the opportunity to enjoy local wine and beer tasting with me at the Staff of Life on October 16th and all the proceeds went to our lights campaign. We had 150 people in attendance and raised almost $5,000 at that one event. In addition to Evening with the Mayor, businesses, families and organizations had the opportunity to sponsor lights or banners for downtown. We have had an outpouring of support. I am extremely grateful and humbled by the love so many people have for our community. It is because of their willingness to step up and be a part of this project that Watsonville will have a bright and festive holiday experience on our beloved Main Street.
Despite all the suffering and setbacks we have endured over these past 19 months, from the disproportionate impact on our community from Covid-19, to more recently losing our city manager to the city of Santa Cruz, we are Watsonville Strong. We have a lot to be thankful for in our community and that is to be celebrated during these times.
Mayor’s Update is a recurring column from Watsonville’s mayor, Jimmy Dutra. His opinions are his own and not necessarily those of the Pajaronian. Contact Dutra at ji*********@ci***************.org.
