Mike Rotkin's Views on UCSC Growth

By Mike Rotkin

The University should only be allowed to grow if it first mitigates the impact of that growth on the campus and in the local community.

Neither the Campus Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) nor the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) required to accompany the LRDP begin to adequately address the impacts of proposed UCSC growth. This is not a plan that is good for the campus and bad for the town. The quality of life and the educational experience for the campus will be equally if not more negatively impacted by the growth that is being projected than the off-campus community. It is UCSC faculty, along with everyone else, who will be stuck in traffic every morning and every afternoon. It is the campus that will not be able to attract the best new faculty and staff due to a lack of affordable housing. Rising housing prices will limit the ability of many low- and middle-income students to attend UCSC, which already has the highest housing prices of any campus in the system. There is literally nothing in the LRDP or the EIR about mitigating the impacts on our transportation system, our housing market, or our water supply. Obviously, the campus and the community will have to cooperate in developing solutions to the problems created by campus growth. But the City was forced to put measures I and J on the ballot, and will be forced to sue the University over its inadequate environmental documents, because we need to do something to get the University's attention and force serious negotiations before this disaster unfolds, not after it has destroyed the quality of life in our community and for those who work and study at UCSC.