Gumz Kaiser Proposes Medical Office

COMMUNITY NEWS Kaiser Proposes Medical Office

Capitola Mayor Yvette Brooks will talk May 11 with Sam Bajaj, executive director of Kaiser Permanente, about the healthcare provider’s plan to move into a yet-to-be-built four-story 160,000 square-foot medical office with 300-350 staff on-site and parking for 720 cars about a half-mile from the Capitola city limit.

The building is proposed by PMB, formerly Pacific Medical Buildings, a San Diego real estate firm specializing in medical centers and senior living, with Kaiser to be the tenant.

The developer aims to start construction this year.

The 4.98-acre site is at 5940 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, and has been used to store towed cars. The parcel number is 029-021-47.

It’s on a two-lane frontage road that’s lacking sidewalks and bike lanes — and often used as a shortcut when traffic is jammed on the adjacent Highway 1.

A study is under way to assess how to manage the traffic, which could mean traffic lights or other mitigations.

The proposed project is for 160,000 sqft with 720 parking spaces. Stephanie Hansen is the County contact for this project: Stephanie.Hansen@santacruzcounty.us

Here is what I pulled off the County’s website in regards to this development:

The building is proposed for specialty outpatient services. It would not be a hospital with an emergency department. A four-story medical office with a parking garage for 720 cars is proposed for Kaiser Permanente at 5940 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.

Services may include advanced medical and urgent care clinics, and outpatient surgery facilities, support services for urgent care and outpatient surgery including pharmacy, laboratory, imaging facilities, primary care, women’s health, pediatric health, optometry, hearing, vision essentials, neurology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, infectious diseases, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology, sleep lab, orthopedics, podiatry, pain medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation dermatology, health education, telehealth, cafe, and administrative office spaces. According to information provided to the county, the building would be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but urgent care and ancillary functions would operate continuously, without closing. The proposed project would include a four-story parking garage with five levels of parking, 47 charging stations for electric vehicles, and bike lockers. A new driveway would be constructed from Soquel Avenue circling from the medical office and parking garage along with sidewalks. The city of Santa Cruz provides water at this location.

Drainage improvements would include new 8-inch sanitary sewer, 8-inch fire, and 4-inch domestic water lines, as well as a new stormwater outfall along Rodeo Gulch, on parcels 029-031-11 and 029-031-14.

The County Board of Supervisors approved a contract with Rincon Consultants on Feb. 11, 2020, to prepare an Environmental Impact Report for the project. n

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To view the mayor’s a virtual town hall at 6 p.m. May 11, go to https://www. facebook.com/cityofcapitola

Or join Zoom: https://us02web.zoom. us/j/83736835797?pwd=V2dmcEZ0OGtsT DlqKzFaN0JFRXV6dz09 Meeting ID: 837 3683 5797 Passcode: 846437

Or dial by your location +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 837 3683 5797 Passcode: 846437 •••

For information: http://www.sccoplanning.com/Portals/2/ County/userfiles/106/MOB%20EIR%20 Scoping%20Presentation.pdf http://www.sccoplanning.com/Portals/2/ County/userfiles/106/Summary_of_MOB_ Scoping_Mtg.pdf http://www.sccoplanning.com/Portals/2/ County/userfiles/106/NOP%20for%20 Medical%20Office%20Bldg.pdf

“Neutral Name” from page 6

As the first European navigator to make landfall in San Diego, Cabrillo was “a southern California guy,” Lydon said. “They had no clue up here at the time who he might have been … if the Legislature had vetted him.”

At the time, Cabrillo was embraced by the Portuguese community for his navigation heroics. Information confirming his Spanish heritage had not come to light.

Wally Trabing, then a reporter with the Santa Cruz Sentinel, listed possible names for the junior college at the end of one article: Cabrillo, Begonia, Loma Prieta, MidCounty and Santa Cruz County.

After that, “he planted the name Cabrillo in various articles with quotes around it,” said Lydon, who interviewed six of the original trustees, plus administrators and students. “It had no official name.”

According to a report in the Sentinel on March 2, 1959, the name Cabrillo was chosen unanimously by the trustees Carl Conelly, Albert “Bud” Rice, Keith Shaffer, Margaret Blaisdell, Harold Hyde, Joe Chamberlain and Arthur Hubbard. (Conelly was active in San Lorenzo Valley, Chamberlain was a cattle rancher, Hubbard was a computer guy working at the new Lockheed Martin plant.)

Two days later, Frank Orr, editor of the Register-Pajaronian, wrote an editorial, “A Fitting Name.”

To start classes in September — a short six months away — the first president, Bob Swenson discovered vacant building at Watsonville High School available because it didn’t meet earthquake safety standards.

Cabrillo College opened with 400 freshmen in September 1959.

Next year, in 1960, bond measure $6.6 million bond measure, the largest in county history, was approved by 80% of the voters.

“The percentage vote was astonishing for a county that couldn’t hardly agree on anything ever,” Lydon said.

Cabrillo Civic Club of Santa Cruz, a group celebrating Portuguese heritage, commissioned a sculpture of Cabrillo that arrived in time for the 1966 graduation.

The figure is bearded, a serious look in his eyes, with Cabrilho — the Portuguese version of his name — on his belt. The sculpture and plaque are on campus in the Swenson Library but didn’t get much attention, as Lydon recalls.

Matt Wetstein, Cabrillo’s president/ superintendent, asked why not choose Loma Prieta as the name?

It means “Dark Mountain” and it’s in Santa Clara County, Lydon said.

As far as changing the name, Lydon said, “It’s perfectly appropriate to ask him to come down and re-audition.”

He added that the people who chose the name Cabrillo “didn’t know who he was in 1959, in fact, historians didn’t know who he was … Harry Kelsey’s book in the 80s, we’ve learned more, absolutely.”

Lydon, who has written two books on immigration of the Chinese and Japanese to the West Coast, told of his visit to Tiananmen Square, where protesters were massacred in 1989. He wondered why Mao Zedong, a Marxist who freed China from colonialism then persecuted thousands, still has his name on buildings.

The answer he got: Mao was 80 percent not so good but 20 percent good, and people in China understand that.

As for the anti-Asian violence taking place throughout the country, Lydon said that is a part of Santa Cruz Country history, too, a story he shares in his book, “Chinese Gold.” n

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The next in the series on changing the name of Cabrillo College:

April 29: Student essays and art, 6 p.m.

To view Sandy Lydon’s talk, see: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdqEVeeGI_w