May 9, 2002

Ex-mayor jabs at council

Rotkin plans to run in fall

By DAN WHITE
Sentinel staff writer

SANTA CRUZ — Three-time former mayor Mike Rotkin is accusing the City Council of having skewed priorities during a budget crisis — and he’s betting his political future that residents will agree.

Rotkin, an 18-year councilman, said it’s absurd that a downtown peace park, proposed for the Town Clock traffic island, is still on the table. The park, featuring a proposed wall containing debris from war and terrorist attacks around the globe, has drawn a wave of opposition since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The peace park should have been killed dead, quickly, to make it clear the council doesn’t have $93,000 to play around with" during a time of looming $3 million to $4 million in cuts and the possible overturning of Santa Cruz’s 7 percent utility tax, Rotkin said Wednesday. The loss of the tax would mean about $8 million in lost revenue annually for Santa Cruz.

Rotkin, who began his political career calling himself a "socialist-feminist," said he will run for one of three open council seats this November, though the political filing period has yet to open. And he gave himself some wiggle room.

"I am not being coy," he said. "My plan is to run, but that’s different from saying I am putting together a committee. I haven’t declared formally."

It’s unclear who Rotkin would face in November. The terms of Mayor Christopher Krohn and councilmen Keith Sugar and Tim Fitzmaurice are ending, but none has announced a re-election campaign.

Sugar, reached Wednesday, said it’s too early to make an announcement, while neither Krohn nor Fitzmaurice could immediately be reached for comment.

Rotkin, termed out of office in 2000, said he has the experience to help steer the city out of dire financial straits by making tough but unavoidable decisions.

Krohn, Sugar and Fitzmaurice are all peace park backers, though Fitzmaurice voted with the council majority last month to delay funding the park at least until budget talks in June. Krohn and Sugar opposed deferring the decision.

Rotkin said he doubts the present council majority has the courage to make difficult cuts this June, and that the subsequent council would have to make most of the tough decisions.

Sugar said Rotkin’s early emphasis of the peace park is not an encouraging sign.

"I think anybody who runs on the basis of the peace park, for or against, doesn’t have much to say to the voters," Sugar said.

He said it’s unfair to cite the $93,000 figure. Sugar said Councilman Ed Porter recently made it clear that most of the money was going to be spent on improving the Town Clock area whether or not a park is built. He said just $6,000 of the $93,000 would be for the wall and other peace park hallmarks.

Rotkin questioned this accounting, accusing some council members of "playing games" with the figures by lumping in peace park costs with infrastructure work.

"I’m sorry, but people are not that stupid," Rotkin said.

Rotkin also criticized council members for even considering "wasting $20,000" to remove the much-criticized River Street sign, which cost $83,000 in state and local money. Rotkin was part of the council that approved the project unanimously in 1996. The project was delayed and finally built in September.

Sugar said the council never intended to spend money to take the sign down. If anything, he said, the council had expressed interest in an offer to take the sign down for free, and a $10,000 bid to buy the sign on eBay. The city has deferred deciding the sign’s fate at least until summer of 2003.

Rotkin, 56, is a UC Santa Cruz lecturer and field study coordinator in the community studies program, which encourages students to work for social services and social change groups.

He helped found the Santa Cruz Action Network, an influential progressive group, but formally split from SCAN when it snubbed Cynthia Mathews during her 1996 re-election campaign.

He served on the council starting in March 1979. After nearly 10 years in office, he took four years off. He was re-elected in 1992 and served until November 2000, when local term limits forced him off the council.

Rotkin was an early greenbelt proponent. But he can part company, dramatically sometimes, with other progressives.

"Mike is one of those progressives who realize that occasionally, reality intrudes," said Councilman Scott Kennedy, who added that Rotkin has more political experience than Krohn, Fitzmaurice and Sugar combined.

Rotkin sparked anger from homeless activists when he opposed altering the camping ban to allow camping in industrial areas, saying it made much more sense to expand indoor facilities. He said other cities that set up camping zones faced overcrowding, sanitation and safety troubles.

He vocally supported the Beach Area Plan of development, saying it would result in many union jobs. The plan would have put a conference center at the La Bahia building, expanded the Boardwalk and realigned Third Street.

The Beach Plan outraged some progressives who said it would create sprawl, displace low-income residents and lead to traffic snarls.

Fitzmaurice, Krohn and Sugar all won their council seats after campaigning to defeat that plan. They had key organizational help from Doug Rand, possible namesake for the downtown peace park and a foe of the Beach Area Plan.

Contact Dan White at dwhite@santa-cruz.com