The City Council Subcommittee on the Library is recommending to the whole Council the garage-library-housing project with conditions. The project would need to have at least 50 units of low-income housing. While this is an improvement over vague promises of affordable housing, it is disappointing. If the City were serious about optimizing units of affordable housing, it could design a library and 200 units of affordable housing on that site. Space required to build 400 parking spaces make that impossible.

Next Tuesday the City Council may vote to develop the last large lot available for a Town Commons park, requiring the Farmers Market to move to an inferior location, when far more affordable housing units could be built on other City-owned lots Downtown with the money saved by not building the garage.

Please write CityCouncil@cityofsantacruz.com and ask the Council to prioritize affordable housing by not wasting $87 million on a garage.