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By Melissa Hartman mhartman@santacruzsenti- nel.com SANTA CRUZ Former exec- utive director of pathway advocacy group Santa Cruz County Greenway, Manu Koenig, made history when he defeated 12-year Super- visor John Leopold in their race for the District 1 seat on the Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors. Leopold left a voicemail to concede the evening of the election, according to a social media post from Koenig's campaign the fol- lowing day. Koenig thanked the more than two-thirds of county voters who returned their ballots early. "This was a change elec- tion, so my message of ex- perience didn't resonate," Leopold told the Sentinel at the time, adding that the pair would work together to make for a smooth transi- tion. "Voters made a clear choice and you gotta honor that." Koenig, raised in Santa Cruz County to return af- ter attending Stanford and become civically involved, ran on just that platform — change. He promised vot- ers he would "work with (residents) to develop pro- grams from the bottom up, start small and test things out and learn from other re- gions" in his leadership. "You talk a lot about your experience, but your expe- rience regarding key issues affecting the First District is irrelevant when it doesn't get results," Koenig wrote in an open letter to Leop- old in September. Getting personal Leopold called the race between he and Koenig per- sonal, a sentiment demon- strated when Koenig's cam- paign ran a television ad with art from controversial comic artist DeCinzo that was perceived as antise- mitic. The ad was meant to portray Leopold's strong de- sire to build the "rail trail" — or a combination train and trail track on the Santa Cruz Coastal Trail, the big- gest bone of contention be- tween the opponents. Koe- nig was unaware that his political action committee, Trail Now, had paid for the series of comics; he reached out to the leaders at Temple Beth El in Aptos to make amends. "Any form of antisem- itism or prejudice is un- acceptable," Koenig re- sponded in a prepared statement Oct. 17. "When informed by Jewish com- munity members that an image of John Leopold used in one of my campaign ads was offensive, I immedi- ately removed it." Koenig vowed to be transparent with voters who reached out about the incident, less than a month before the election, and ad- mitted running any kind of caricature was a mistake. "Politics should be about positions and not personal- ities," he said. Looking ahead Koenig outlined home- lessness, transportation and housing as the top three pri- orities that the Board of Su- pervisors should focus. "My philosophy to gov- ernment is to implement practical solutions that can be implemented quickly and iterated upon," he said in an email just before the year ended. In terms of homeless- ness, Koenig intended to run with four strategies, ac- cording to his campaign lit- erature. They are: • To create a 24-hour mo- bile health crisis unit to re- spond to non-violent and mental health 911 calls. • To expand services at the county's Emeline Health Complex by adding beds and treatment options and reduce the impact on emergency rooms. • To build tiny homes on county property to provide long-term housing. • To establish a unified local governance structure to coordinate action, mea- sure progress and improve. "I'll be working to iden- tify county land that can be used for pallet shelters and offer work opportunities to residents of the new com- munity," Koenig said of one of his first proposed actions in office. On the topic of trans- portation, Koenig listed five goals — build a trail in the rail corridor without a train, fix county roads (and $500 million in deferred maintenance), restructure and modernize METRO with frequent service and color-coded lines, quick- build protected bike lanes and sidewalks and complete the auxiliary lane project on Highway 1 with bus-on- shoulder capability. "I'll be working to get more protected bike lanes installed as soon as pos- sible," Koenig said. "More safe space for people to bike will complement and build on the outdoor din- ing culture we established last year." Housing, last but not least in the state's housing crisis, must be handled in a "values-driven" manner, the literature says. "Our housing is the least affordable in the nation and it is hollowing out our com- munity," Koenig said. "We must build new housing for our workforce, our chil- dren and our seniors. But we don't have to sacrifice our values to do it." There are eight ways to build housing in Koenig's vision — through legaliz- ing tiny homes, streamlin- ing permitting with county planners, supporting hous- ing for walkable/bikeable neighborhoods, preserv- ing mobile home parks as affordable housing, lower- ing prices to increase eq- uity and diversity, enabling public-private partner- ships, implementing aes- thetic standards to "en- courage buildings that are green and represent com- munity character," and decoupling parking from housing by eliminating fixed requirements for the number of parking spaces per bedroom. Koenig highlighted the tiny homes and streamlined permit approaches in a re- cent dialogue with the Sen- tinel, but also a project not highlighted in previous re- marks. "I'll also propose… a plan to remove barriers to build- ing more housing on com- mercially zoned properties," he said. 2020 ELECTION Board incumbent unseated by challenger The concept of change reigned over experience in District 1 race PHOTOS BY SHMUEL THALER — SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL FILE First District Supervisor candidate Manu Koenig was surrounded by supporters at the Shadowbrook restaurant in Capitola as he watched the primary election returns come in on March 3. Koenig's strong showing in the primary forced a runoff with incumbent John Leopold in the race, which he won by a large margin. "This was a change election, so my message of experience didn't resonate. Voters made a clear choice and you gotta honor that." — 12-year Supervisor John Leopold By Ryan Stuart rstuart@santacruzsentinel.com SANTACRUZ A contentious presidential election trick- led down to the local level as Santa Cruz experienced historic politics for the city in 2020. The year started with a tumultuous recall vote. The recall was the first time in the history of the city that a recall ever gained enough support to be placed on the ballot. It was also the first time a City Council mem- ber had ever been recalled in Santa Cruz. The two councilmen, Drew Glover and Chris Krohn, faced the recall ef- fort which started in June of 2019 for a number of is- sues. Complaints about the duo ranged from personal conduct with city employees and other community orga- nizations to their stances on homelessness issues in Santa Cruz. Krohn called the recall "unnecessary and expen- sive," in his response in June 2019, even going as far as to call it "undemocratic." "The City Council holds regular elections every two years. The next regular council election is in 2020" he said in his response. "In this recall, a candidate who earned fewer votes could re- place me. That is not democ- racy." Both Krohn and Glover denied the allegations held against them. Krohn claimed the allegations to be "trumped-up and un- true," while Glover alleged that the two fell victim to the way the system works. "I maintain that the claims made to dispar- age me in the recall efforts are false and misleading," Glover said in his June 2019 response. "There's been no scandal, and the personal attacks against my charac- ter cross a line. But in the end, I suppose that's just politics." The recall went through a long process, lasting al- most nine months before voters had the opportunity to make a final decision in March. The decisions were made by a narrow margin as the final vote was tallied on March 30. Both Glover and Krohn were unseated by 53% and 51% of the vote respectively. "Looking at these vote tallies, it is clear that our community is divided," Krohn said in a statement in March. "It will also be- come clear once all the re- quired campaign spend- ing paperwork is submit- ted, that a lot of the money was spent to drive Council- member Glover and me out of office over political dif- ferences around affordable housing, homelessness and the growth of UCSC. But the ideas, policies and peo- ple we represented are not retreating." Glover was replaced by City Council newcomer and local elementary educa- tor Renee Golder, who will hang on to Glover's seat un- til the next regular council election in 2022. Krohn was replaced by former mayor Katherine Beiers, who has devoted more than 15 years of her life as a public servant in Santa Cruz. Beiers recently finished out the term in De- cember and did not run for reelection. Replacement council members were sworn in early April, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic started and the country went on its first stay-at-home order. The induction was done virtu- ally via Zoom, which be- came the platform for all fu- ture City Council meetings. Shortly after the recall of Krohn and Glover, can- didacy for the 2020 regu- lar council election opened. Ballot spaces became offi- cial in August, as nine fe- male candidates faced off for four seats. The ballot included two incumbents, Sandy Brown and 2019 mayor Martine Watkins. The rest of the bal- lot was filled with council newcomers Sonja Brunner, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, Kayla Kumar, Maria Cade- nas, Kelsey Hill, Elizabeth Conlan and Alicia Kuhl. As the election rolled in November, the two incum- bents reclaimed their seats on the City Council. "I think it speaks to the general dynamic power of incumbency," Brown told the Sentinel in November. "I think we shared a lot of val- ues that will help us move forward together, in spite of somewhat different ap- proaches to how to best ad- dress community needs." Brunner and Kalantari- Johnson filled the remain- ing two seats. Brunner was the top vote-getter in No- vember, which eventually saw her seated as the city's vice mayor for the 2021 cal- endar year after she was sworn in. "I think it's a testimony of my experience and my pro- gressive approach," Brun- ner said after her election. "I think that really speaks to the voters. Now that the campaign is over, I'm ready for the real work to begin. The campaign was its own beast, so to speak." Heading the City Coun- cil in the 2021 calendar year will also be the city's first openly lesbian mayor, Donna Meyers. She moved up to the mayor's seat af- ter spending a year as vice mayor. She was seated unanimously by the rest of the council. "I think it's important that we've elected another openly LGBTQ+ council member. I'm just excited to have that identity to take on that mayorship," she told the Sentinel the day she be- came the new mayor. "With the diversity you can bring to elected leaders, you get the diversity you need in policymaking. Whatever it may be, I think it just pro- vides more perspective at the table." 2020 ELECTION Santa Cruz saw first recall, followed by all female ballot, new council representation Three-term first district county supervisor John Leopold, top, represents his constituents at a Board of Supervisors session in August. A monarch butterfly brings extra vibrancy to an Aug. 10 press conference by Santa Cruz City Council candidates Kelsey Hill, Kayla Kumar and Sandy Brown. Santa Cruz council members Drew Glover, right, and Chris Krohn at a council session. PHOTOS BY SHMUEL THALER — SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL FILE | | SANTACRUZSENTINEL.COM THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2020 4 D

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