Posted on 11/29/2022 12:56:47 PM PST by nickcarraway
West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz is a popular 2.5-mile stretch along the ocean. Tourists, locals, and dogs walk and bike along the stretch by the thousands every week. But visitors on Sunday had to walk in the street to avoid an area of sidewalk that caved in, off of Columbia Street, early Friday morning.
“I think it’s a natural phenomenon. This is something that happens all the time. It just happens to be close to a way that we built and but it’s been happening for millions of years,” says Laurine, a Santa Cruz resident.
Advertisement Concerned residents hope that the caved-in sidewalk triggers the city to move forward with a plan to transform the streets to be more pedestrian- and bike-safe.
“But we have here is the opportunity to separate one direction of traffic, West Cliff, and dedicate the other to biking. If we did that, it would be pretty incredible,” Lloyd Tabb, a Santa Cruz resident, said.
“Sometimes the people that make these decisions need a little kicking the backside to get it going, and maybe that’ll be it. I don’t know, the plans are in place,” Keith, a Santa Cruz resident, said.
The West Cliff Adaptation Plan was unanimously approved by the city back in 2021.
“The city council approved last year a West Cliff Drive, at an adaptation plan to if cave-ins were to happen that we would go ahead and switch West Cliff to being a one-way to allocating one lane for bikes, and one lane for pedestrians,” Kyle Kelley, Santa Cruz Transportation and Public Works Commissioner, said.
Recommended The former Gateway Schools buildings behind The Shrine of St. Joseph will be demolished and will be replaced by a 74,000 square-foot senior living facility.Public concerned a proposed senior living facility in Santa Cruz could risk monarch butterflies With large visible cracks in the sidewalks, it leaves many questioning if this could happen again, as sea levels rise and storms constantly threaten the landscape. This is the first time this happened in the area.
“If we continue just patching little things like this, it’s definitely not gonna get into the root of the problem. Tourists will continue walking along Westcliff thinking there’s no problem, but there is a problem. Ocean levels are rising around the world,” Aleks Londos, Santa Cruz resident, said.
The issue has been going on for a few years. Residents living in the area say they saw it coming. City officials say serious solutions need to be discussed to ensure no one gets hurt.
“I mean, the ocean's going to be the ocean. It’s not like we’re going to fully solve it, but we do need to figure out how to adapt to changes that are happening around us,” Kelley said.
The future of the plan and how the city will handle it is still not determined, but residents say there is no lack of ideas or solutions.
“it’s been happening for millions of years...”
We had sidewalks millions of years ago? Who knew!
Ping
I guess it was about due to crumble.
Yeah, the ocean has a tendency to do that, ya’ know?
Actually, it is refreshing that a local acknowledges that cliff erosion has been going on for millenia instead of the usual global climate change blame game.
I loved Santa Cruz. Too bad it’s falling into the sea, like much of the Cali coast.
Amazing. I searched that page for “climate change” and there were no hits!
Like the rest of California.
Weather.
Ah, this person is candidate for being canceled.
“If we continue just patching little things like this, it’s definitely not gonna get into the root of the problem. Tourists will continue walking along Westcliff thinking there’s no problem, but there is a problem. Ocean levels are rising around the world,” Aleks Londos, Santa Cruz resident, said.
Prove it...
Those dwellings across the street will be next...sooner or later.
In about 4 billon years, the Earth and everything on it will be vaporized when the Sun reaches it Red Giant stage and swells up to the size of the Mars orbit.
We had better start preparing now.........................
When I lived in Norfolk VA, after a hurricane or big nor’easter I’d drive down to Sandbridge (coastal area south of Virginia Beach) to see which house(s) had disappeared.
Wind and water will not be denied.
All this over a stupid little piece of asphalt that any fool should know would end up in the water?
You spoke too soon. From the article:
“Tourists will continue walking along Westcliff thinking there’s no problem, but there is a problem. Ocean levels are rising around the world,”
These people must have been born yesterday. I was born in California and lived there for 34 years. This was a common occurrence, even away from the ocean. All takes is years of normal rain and constant vehicle traffic, and off it goes.
The Coastal Commission is famous for not allowing reinforcement along the coastline. (Unless planting monster concrete ‘jacks’ along the harbor entrance.)
CA is nothing but a cookie.
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