As we close out 2025, our community can look back on a year marked by meaningful progress, steady implementation of our shared priorities and significant achievements across every corner of Santa Cruz. Guided by our Strategic Plan, we advanced major initiatives designed to strengthen our city, support our residents and build long-term resilience. Our work this year reflects the collective effort of city staff, community partners, businesses and residents who share a deep commitment to Santa Cruz's future.
Our community continues to experience significant pressures, from economic strain on small businesses to the impacts of federal decisions on food security, to the urgent needs of our unhoused neighbors. These challenges are not overlooked. They guide our work. And as they evolve, so will we, always striving to meet the moment with resolve, creativity and care.
Housing remained one of our highest priorities. We completed major planning efforts such as the Downtown Plan Expansion, advanced affordable developments including Pacific Station North and the Downtown Library Affordable Housing Project, and continued making progress toward our Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets. These steps represent important momentum in making Santa Cruz a place where people of all incomes can live and thrive.
We also strengthened our homelessness response system by adding shelter capacity, supporting safe-sleeping programs, expanding case management partnerships and securing significant state and federal funding to advance long-term solutions, including the future Coral Street Navigation Center.
A defining milestone of 2025 was the passage of Measure C, a community-crafted revenue measure that will support affordable housing for decades to come. Measure C establishes a $96 annual parcel tax, along with a graduated transfer tax on property sales over $1.8 million and will generate approximately $2.5 million annually for the next 20 years. This long-term, reliable funding source fulfills a central commitment, ensuring that Santa Cruz invests directly in affordable housing solutions.
Measure C is the product of a two-year collaborative effort involving community leaders, housing advocates, business representatives and residents. As we expressed during its development, this measure represents a greater investment of public sector dollars into a market that won't cure itself only through private investment. We are proud of what our community created together, and we are grateful to Santa Cruz voters for their trust.
Throughout the year, we also made real strides in strengthening core services and expanding opportunities. We enhanced parks and community facilities with ADA-accessible beach mats at Cowell Beach, renovations at San Lorenzo Park and Harvey West Park, and the reopening of Harvey West Pool. We broadened recreation and youth programming through new free wellness classes, expanded community events and the launch of the Youth Liaisons program and Monterey Bay Green Youth Service Corps.
We advanced major coastal resilience and climate adaptation efforts, including the adoption of the West Cliff 5-Year Roadmap and progress on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-funded restoration designs for Jessie Street Marsh and the San Lorenzo Park Riverlands. We improved public safety and emergency response capacity, adding a new Type 6 wildland fire engine and expanding year-round Marine Safety staffing. We also continued making responsible, forward-looking infrastructure investments, from water and wastewater treatment upgrades to construction planning, for the Downtown Play and Paseos Project. These accomplishments speak to a team and a community working together with purpose.
Our Strategic Plan continues to guide where we go from here. In the coming year, we will advance key work on coastal resiliency, expanding public safety and wildfire preparedness, modernizing permitting and business services, continuing to improve our parks and public spaces and strengthening how we engage with and serve our community. These efforts demonstrate our shared values: sustainability, equity, transparency, fiscal responsibility and a commitment to making Santa Cruz more resilient and connected.
As we look ahead to 2026, we do so with optimism and determination. We have momentum. We have a clear plan. And we have a community that consistently shows up with ideas, creativity and a willingness to work together. For that, we are deeply grateful.
We wish every member of our community a safe, joyful and restorative holiday season. Together, we will continue building a thriving Santa Cruz for today and for generations to come.