Santa Cruz Local

Tuesday's Santa Cruz City Council meeting was the last with Martine Watkins as mayor. In a ceremony, the city council swore in Justin Cummings as the new mayor for 2020. Donna Meyers will be vice mayor. Cummings is Santa Cruz’s first black male mayor. It was a difficult year for the city council — accusations of disrespectful behavior between councilmembers, an investigation into workplace misconduct by two councilmembers, an ongoing recall campaign against those same councilmembers, and a decision for the council to undergo mediation. Mayor Martine Watkins, Cummings and Meyers all gave speeches Tuesday with ideas on how the city can heal and move forward. We're sharing the audio recording because we thought it was worth a listen. For a full report on Tuesday's meeting, visit santacruzlocal.org.