RESCHEDULED: our Monthly Advocacy Ride is moved to August 30

Annual Block Parties coming up, Betty’s Eat Inn closing, UCSC housing project delayed

Author

Ksenia Crow
August 16, 2025

🎉 Annual Block Parties are happening next weekend, August 23 and 24. Join the fun!

🚲 Our monthly Pacific For People Advocacy Bike Ride has been rescheduled to Saturday, August 30

📣 Upcoming Pacific For People Advocacy meeting - this Wednesday, August 20 at Abbot Square

❌ Betty’s Eat Inn to close in Downtown

🏠 Major UCSC housing project delayed

🎉Annual Block Parties are coming up!

Santa Cruz Neighbors, a nonprofit that we teamed up with to work on the neighborhoods project, is having approximately 40 block parties next weekend, August 23 and 24. Some of us are choosing to attend.

If you want to find out about a block party near you, contact Deborah Elston at [email protected] - (831) 423-0745

RESCHEDULED: Pacific For People monthly Advocacy Bike Ride is moved to August 30

Because of next weekend’s annual block parties, our monthly advocacy ride is moving to Saturday, August 30. Come ride with others who are working toward a safer, more sustainable, and more just transportation system.

🚲 Safer Roads Are Possible in Santa Cruz - Bike Ride

📅 Saturday, August 30, 2025

🕒 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

📍 Start at the intersection of Cooper Street & Pacific Avenue, Downtown Santa Cruz

🚩 About 10 miles of riding at casual pace

All ages and abilities welcome – see you there!

Our next Pacific for People Advocacy Meeting is this coming Wednesday, August 20 at Abbot Square.

 📅 Wednesday, August 20

🕠 5:45–6:45 PM

📍 Abbott Square on Cooper Street

We’ll be towards the back. If you have trouble finding us, feel free to text or call Kevin at 831-227-1789.

We hope to see you there!

Betty’s Eat Inn to close in Downtown

Betty’s Eat Inn is closing its doors this Sunday at the corner of Walnut and Pacific. The news comes as downtown continues to face challenges: back in May, Lookout counted nearly 40 vacant storefronts in and around Pacific Avenue.

Betty’s Eat Inn in downtown Santa Cruz to close Sunday, citing challenging environment

After 15 years, Betty’s Eat Inn in downtown Santa Cruz will close Sunday, with owner Laurie Negro citing declining foot traffic, fewer visitors and a challenging downtown environment as key reasons.

lookout.co/bettys-eat-inn-in-downtown-santa-cruz-to-close-sunday-citing-challenging-environment/story

A sluggish economy and the rise of food delivery apps certainly haven’t helped. And Betty’s location—right on a busy cut-through for cars heading between Soquel and Walnut—has never been the most inviting spot for diners.

But it raises a question: what if this stretch of downtown wasn’t designed as a pass-through for cars, but instead as a destination for people? Right now, Pacific Avenue often feels like a treadmill—you’re pushed to keep moving. With fewer cars and a more people-friendly design, it could become the kind of place where businesses like Betty’s could truly thrive.

Major UCSC housing project delayed

We think this issue is important because of how essential UCSC students are to both the downtown and the community at large.

UCSC clarifies delay on major housing project – now expected to break ground in 2027, open in 2029-30

Construction on the 2,900-bed Heller Drive student housing project at UC Santa Cruz will start in 2027 and be completed sometime in the 2029-30 school year; it was originally slated to be finished in 2028. Mayor Fred Keeley excoriated the University of California system’s governing board, faulting it in for the housing shortage and saying he's "disgusted with the way the regents treat housing in Santa Cruz."

lookout.co/ucsc-clarifies-delay-on-major-housing-project-now-expected-to-break-ground-in-2027-open-in-2029-30/story

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