Opinion

Every year we have concerns about the Pajaro River and the stability of the levee system. The Pajaro River levee has one of the lowest levels of flood protection of any federally funded project in the United States and has been providing inadequate protection...

A few blocks from my house, there is a residence that has become well-known in the neighborhood for its extensive Halloween and Día de los Muertos decorations every year.

C&N Tractors on Salinas Road just finished repairing my Kubota tractor in February when the levee burst. Suddenly it was under six feet of water. After the mud and flood receded, the tractor needed serious help.  I want to express my gratitude to Nigel Mallison,...

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s (RTC) $9 million Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail project study (ZEPRT) has generated heated debate and confusion.  While the project promises to combine passenger rail and active transit in one sweeping vision, fundamental questions about its feasibility,...

I spent 50 years of my professional career working at Watsonville Community Hospital. Over those five decades I was fortunate enough to have performed well enough to rise through the ranks and become manager of the Radiology Department for several years.  As a manager I...

The Japanese love cherry blossoms both for their beauty and as harbingers of spring, but also because their short life reminds us of the transience of life. Sweet but sad.  In the 1920s the Pajaro Valley Japanese community donated and planted hundreds of cherry blossom trees...

Since the 1960s, the U.S. has become a more inclusive country. This necessarily meant that white men lost some part of their privileged positions in education, employment and entertainment. By the 2000s, in the wake of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, anti-racism books were on...

Homelessness remains one of the most pressing social issues of our time, particularly in communities like Watsonville.  The latest 2024 Point-In-Time (PIT) count shows that Santa Cruz County has maintained gains from the previous year, recording the lowest number of people experiencing homelessness since counting...

Do you like to shopping in downtown Watsonville? Yes: 134 | No: 415 Public comment Neera Bhatnagar: Parking is tricky and/or not safe. The shops are not generally meeting my needs. I try to go to the discount mall for my growing kid’s needs but quality and...

Letters to the Editor, March 6, 2018