Two more potential candidates have emerged for the Nov. 8 election, which could see the Santa Cruz City Council welcome two new council members, as well as a directly elected mayor.
Joy Schendledecker pulled papers to run for mayor, while Scott Newsome pulled papers to seek the District 4 city council seat, which will oversee downtown and the Beach Flats and Mission Street neighborhoods when Santa Cruz changes to district elections following the election.
Schendledecker, on her website, says she is a community organizer, artist and parent who lives on the westside. Her website also states that she is a member of the Working Families Party and the local Democratic Socialists of America group. In addition, she is on the organizing committees of Sanitation for the People and Santa Cruz Cares, according to her website.
Newsome is a UCSC lecturer in the political science department and an author who earned his Ph.D. in politics from the school in 2020.
Schendledecker joins former State Assemblymember Fred Keeley, who has also served as Santa Cruz County treasurer and supervisor, in pulling papers to possibly run for the new at-large mayor position. Keeley told GT last week that he has not yet determined if he will run for office.
Newsome, meanwhile, could face off against either Gregory Hyver or Bodie Shargel, a 19-year-old UCSC student who has already qualified for the Nov. 8 ballot, according to the city website.
Candidates have until Aug. 12 to turn in various election department forms to qualify for the ballot.
District 6 is also up for grabs in November, and current councilwoman Renee Golder is the lone person who has been issued candidate nomination papers as of Monday. This district will encompass neighborhoods west of Columbia Street and south of Younglove Avenue and Highway 1, as well as a portion of UCSC.
Along with electing two city councilmembers and an at-large mayor, Santa Cruz voters will also be tasked with deciding whether or not to place a tax on residential properties that are in use for less than 120 days within a calendar year. They will also determine if the city should proceed with plans to redevelop the parking lot on the corner of Cathcart and Cedar streets into a new library complex that would include at least 50 affordable housing units and a parking garage.
Please, no more Fred Keeley. He’s a career politician and hooked up to the local machine. He’s believes he can ignore what the public wants and go rogue. This is seen with his scoffing response to the Grand Jury investigation of his tenure as County Treasurer, where he punishes his opponents and lets his “friends” slide:
https://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Portals/0/County/GrandJury/GJ2012_final/Treasurer-Tax_Collector_And_Sheriff_Responses.pdf
Your comment is interesting in light of the fact that we have an incompetent City government that has made multiple decisions, and implemented policies regarding the city, which have turned downtown into a slum. It has become a dirty, dangerous open air psych ward.