Fred Keeley_Santa Cruz Mayor_HIZZONNAH_2025-08-01 & 29_KZSC's 'Bushwhacker's' interview with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)

This podcast includes 2 Bushwhacker's interviews with Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley in August, 2025 - On August 1st, with "Dangerous Dan", and on August 29th with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug".

August 1, 2025 description: Fred is the first directly elected Santa Cruz mayor - before him, the top vote-getter in a City Council election would be in line to be mayor, with the 2nd-most votes in line after that; with the City moving to district elections 2 years ago, the district system is working out for constituents (wiht one city council member for approximately every 10,000 residents); the mayor is stronger, serving for a 4 year term. Impact of chaos in Washington on Santa Cruz? disaster relief from FEMA (West Cliff, Wharf) going fairly well, but not sure if it will be problematic going forward; more problematic is that Santa Cruz declared itself a Sanctuary City, renewing this earlier this year; being careful: the federal government cannot dictacte what local police do - Santa Cruz won't obstruct, but wonn't assist; out of a $500M city budget, $95M = federal funds. Is ICE acdtive in Santa Cruz? Yes - they advise when they are coming in; the city has a good representative in Congress with Jimmy Panetta; Fed mpact via the state? It's complicated - with Governor Newsom and President Trump both strong personalities, where neither one will back off.

August 29, 2025 description: Recent Federal District Court ruling that the federal government cannot withhold funding from 30 Sanctuary Cities, including Santa Cruz; Santa Cruz is committed to being a Sanctuary City, where the federal government cannot federalize our police; building & construction downtown; background: California had not built enough housing over decades, so a new state law was passed where cities & counties were given a # of units to build, and it's not debatable (if not, "builder's mandate" would remove city from being able to deny permits; smart cities grow their downtowns, & grow up, up, up; but 15-17 stories was too tall for populace, 12 stories too tall, so settled on 8 stories, the height of the Palomar; 20% of the units will be "affordable" (shorthand for designation defined by the state / fed with r estimated income levels given local cost of living); cannot grow to affordability; Downtown Expansion plan completed 3 months ago; South of Laurel will take 3 more years; Murray St. bridge project? "It's a mess. Not the planning department's finest hour." - tthe city has responded to business complaints with the largest package ever of aid to local business, but it will take 2 1/2 years...replacing a bridge over a yacht harbor over the ocean is hard (& we're not at war, so the SeaBees can't knock it out in a week); UCSC admitting 2,000 more students this fall than ever - the University of California is (one of) the greatest public institutions of higher education in the country / world but, as Keeley learned when he was Speaker Pro Tem in the Assembly, whenever U.C. would arrive, they would announce, "We are constitutionally independent!" UC: "Some day we'll get there in terms of housing", but never happens; Mayor met with the Board of Regents, sued UC, won, and they've appealed - U.C. does have money to build the needed housing.

Interviews on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.