Q&A with Manu Koenig, First District Supervisor for Santa Cruz County

I would say my interest in advocacy stems from environmental concerns I first experienced as a child. My mother’s family is from Tahiti—my name, Manu, is Polynesian for “bird”—so I spent a lot of time on the island growing up. And while it’s the paradise you’d imagine, I also watched it change as we faced intrusions similar to what we see on the mainland.

For example, I started needing to spend lots of time cleaning trash off beaches. Then when I returned around age 18, I saw a massive change in the coral reefs as they turned gray and were overtaken by algae after a heat event. These once vibrant ecosystems were visibly in decline, and that greatly concerned me.

These experiences shaped my path that followed, although the path wasn’t straight. I attended Stanford right when Facebook rolled out, which gave me a very technology-forward lens and a belief that social media could be a positive force for politics. I co-founded a startup called Civinomics with that in mind, which introduced me to local government. We worked with local agencies, first doing polling and survey research, and then transitioned into advocacy. That work ultimately led me to run for office myself, and I was elected Supervisor here in Santa Cruz County in 2020.

The funding would be transformative for public transit and our residents in Santa Cruz County. Through a local half-cent sales tax, the measure would generate an estimated $27 million in annual revenue, providing the stable, local investment needed to improve service and expand the free fare program we currently provide to youth by extending it to many more people who need it, including seniors, people with disabilities, low-income riders and commuters.

It would make a big difference because Santa Cruz is a community that’s very responsive to transit. We’ve seen a 500% increase in youth ridership since rolling out the free program, and thanks to the post-COVID transit funds from the state, we expanded service by 40%, resulting in an 80% increase in overall ridership. That’s huge; in most communities, a 1% increase in service leads to about a 0.5% increase in ridership, while here in Santa Cruz, it’s been a 2% increase.

Transit helps make affordable housing projects feasible in a lot of ways. First, it complements some of the state’s density bonus laws, such as AB-2011, which streamlines approval for qualifying affordable and mixed-income housing projects and allows higher minimum height and density limits for projects near major transit stops.

On a practical level, it helps ensure the units are desirable to a wide variety of citizens because residents can get around without a car, including for the jobs in tourism and agriculture that support our local economy. And it answers constituents’ concerns around the projects’ impact on parking and traffic.

We are at an exciting time as we work to make our community more affordable. First, affordable housing will help citizens who are burdened by our astronomically high rents. And then, if the METRO measure passes, we can greatly expand access to free, reliable transportation. That can have a major impact on one of the most unaffordable pieces of a household’s budget, given the huge rise in the average price of a new car, along with gas and insurance costs. We see this sales tax as an excellent investment from the community’s perspective that will save most people a lot of money, as well as time, as we add bus lanes to help alleviate the traffic throughout the County.

Ultimately, a community is shaped less by its buildings than by the people who live in them. The real goal of bringing down housing and transportation costs in Santa Cruz is to make it possible for the artists, teachers, environmentalists, nurses, first responders, entrepreneurs and other creative thinkers who enrich our community to continue calling it home.

Some of the environmental changes I witnessed growing up in Tahiti taught me that the choices we make today shape the places we love tomorrow. By creating vibrant neighborhoods where people can live affordably and rely less on cars, we’re not only reducing emissions, we’re building the kind of community that attracts thoughtful, compassionate people who will help solve the challenges ahead and protect this remarkable place for future generations.

Community members can learn how to get involved and learn more at FriendsofSCMetro.org.