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(February 25, 2005) Weighing in on the Santa Cruz Coast Hotel project, any real estate professional would agree that the three most important qualities in any real property are location, location, and location. The proposed site for this $100 million plus hotel and convention center I believe is wrong, skimpy, and in a crowded funky area with an overabundance of constant traffic. The one piece of land worthy of this expensive expenditure is Lighthouse Field. Had we proceeded 30-35 years ago with this same plan at Lighthouse Field, our city would have had a beautiful and profitable addition costing a fraction of what it costs today. However, the powers in charge, then spearheaded by attorney Gary Patton, local activist for Agenda 21 of the U.N., squelched that idea in favor of keeping Lighthouse Field pristine for strollers, bicyclists, and dogs.

Now, decades later, we have a large parcel of very valuable land overlooking gorgeous Monterey Bay full of scrubby weeds, careless pedestrians leaving garbage, and all sorts of dogs urinating, defecating, and fornicating – and that’s pristine? It’s malignantly stupid.

Michael Rotkin, UCSC instructor and City Council member on and off for many years, promised decades ago that he would make Santa Cruz into a socialist city, and he succeeded well in doing just that. Now, he urges that We the People of Santa Cruz must go forward with this project quickly, mainly because ten months have already been spent on researching this project, and that seven hours of public opinion input has been given, and that’s enough. That’s nonsense.

A $100 million expenditure deserves much more than seven hours input if that’s what the public wants.

Since many city residents are polarized on this important issue, the logical solution is to have a special election no matter what it costs. It will be a pittance compared to wasting $100 million on a wrong location. So I say we should try to use Lighthouse Field for people and not for dogs.

Realistically, in view of the politics generated these last 3-1/2 decades in Santa Cruz by a relatively small group of well-meaning extremists, our area, like Berkeley, is viewed by the entire country as being eccentric, business unfriendly, weird, and scuzzy. One wonders if a fancy hotel can be viable and profitable in this environment. Will any business want to come and give us money?

So, if the project proceeds with a special election, several issues should be considered:

1 Should there be a $100 million hotel and convention center in Santa Cruz?

2 Should Lighthouse Field be the best location?

3 Should the Dream Inn be demolished and replaced by the new project?

Here’s a reality check: Do we expect that out-of-town businesses and corporations will even want to have their conferences in an area that has literally chased business away for many years? Wouldn’t they opt to go to business-friendly Monterey instead? Are our leaders prepared to make a fundamental change and invite new business here?