The1980s
A
Decade of Disaster, Drama
Four
powerful winter storms, a raging wildfire, a devastating earthquake
and social strife batter county
A
wrathful Mother Nature dealt the Santa Cruz County one disaster
after another in the 1980s.
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The
struggle for survival was the tale of the 1980s as mudslides
and flooding brought strangers together in Soquel during
times of need. Bill
Lovejoy/Sentinel
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Local
residents survived a major earthquake, devastating winter storms,
a forest fire and an infestation of a fruit-destroying pest.
Humans
added to the turmoil of the troubled decade with fights over off-shore
oil drilling, development proposals and homeless issues. The county
also witnessed the longest strike in its history as Watsonville
frozen food workers walked off the job, and the South County city
saw its electoral system successfully challenged by Latinos looking
for political representation.
The debate over growth continued as Santa Cruz and university
officials clashed over the size of enrollment, a city-promised
eastern access road through the Pogonip that was never built and
UC Santa Cruz plans for an industrial park at Terrace Point. Logging
and development foes fought proposals to do both at Gray Whale
Ranch on the North Coast. County supervisors approved the controversial
Wingspread project, a hotel, condominium and performing arts complex
on a 66-acre parcel adjoining New Brighten State Beach. However,
voters rejected the project after opponents forced supervisors
to place the proposal on the November 1992 ballot.
Meanwhile,
Live Oak residents grew increasingly angry as officials implemented
Measure J and their community shouldered much of the burden of
the county’s continuing growth. Approved by voters in 1978, the
measure limited growth and restricted most new development to
flat, urban areas —making Live Oak a prime building spot. As the
rate of housing construction declined overall in the county, it
climbed in the unincorporated community wedged between Santa Cruz
and Capitola. Infrastructure improvements, however, did not keep
pace with development, and in 1988, Live Oak voters, tired of
the disparity, dumped longtime Supervisor Dan Forbus, choosing
development critic Jan Beautz as a replacement.
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| Others
sought solitude and solace after the Love Creek slide in February
1982, while retrieving their possessions buried in tons of
debris. Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel |
Interior
Secretary James Watt touched off a decade-long conflict with county
residents after he moved four ocean basins off the California
coast —including one near Santa Cruz County’s North Coast — onto
a list of sites available for oil-drilling leases. The struggle
played out at every level of government, and the dispute lent
new urgency to the push for a marine sanctuary designation for
the Monterey Bay.
Homelessness
also became a major issue in Santa Cruz as the ranks of people
living on the streets swelled during the decade. In 1985 an estimated
1,000 homeless people lived in the county. Three years later,
homeless population estimates had tripled. Increasing poverty,
the release of thousands of mentally ill patients from hospitals
into the general population, and the traditional appeal of Santa
Cruz to those seeking alternative lifestyles were pinpointed as
causes for the increase. The visibility of the homeless, especially
in downtown Santa Cruz, accounted for the conflict, and homeless
advocates and city officials locked horns over food distribution
and shelter issues.
Mother Nature launched her first assault on the county in 1981,
sending a tiny squadron of Mediterranean fruit flys to Boulder
Creek. The discovery of three fertile Medflys near the San Lorenzo
Valley town triggered a produce quarantine that cost local growers
an estimated $4 million, and sent a fleet of helicopters into
the sky over the Santa Cruz Mountains for a controversial pesticide-spraying
program. The quarantine was lifted in most areas of the county
the following year; spraying also stopped at that time. But a
vigorous monitoring campaign continues to this day.
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| Mother
Nature left a continual reminder throughout the decade that
she was in charge, leaving ruins such as the Soquel Avenue
Bridge lying in the San Lorenzo River in January 1982. Bill
Lovejoy/Sentinel |
The
first of three federal disaster declarations during the decade
was made in the wake of a devastating storm on Jan. 4, 1982, that
left 22 dead and more than $100 million in damages. Mudslides
and falling trees crushed homes, closed roads and knocked out
power throughout the county. Ben Lomond’s notorious Love Creek
slide alone claimed 10 lives as the saturated hillside collapsed,
burying seven homes beneath tons of mud and debris. Water and
mud poured into homes in Felton Grove, Lockhart Gulch and other
low-lying areas. A rain-swollen Aptos Creek went on a rampage,
chewing up roads and ripping homes and other structures from its
banks. Soquel Creek repeated its performance of 1955, ravaging
its namesake village. Downtown Santa Cruz was luckier, the levee
system holding back the worst of the flood. But not content to
leave the city untouched, the San Lorenzo River tugged a large
chunk of the Soquel Avenue Bridge into its torrent. Wet weather
brought more hardship to the county the following year, although
the soaking was less severe than in 1982.
Wildfires
already raged in several California counties when fireworks sparked
a destructive blaze near Lexington Reservoir on July 7, 1985.
Over the next four days, fire charred nearly 14,000 acres and
42 homes in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, despite the efforts
of about 2,000 firefighters from 40 different agencies. Although
most of the damage was in Santa Clara County, with nearly $1 million
in damage Santa Cruz was among seven California counties designated
as federal disaster areas on July 9.
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| Houses
along Aptos Creek fell victim to the fast-moving waters after
a February 1982 storm. Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel |
The
disastrous decade was coming to a close when the most powerful
earthquake since 1906 rocked Santa Cruz County for 15 seconds
at 5:04 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989. The 6.9 shaker walloped the
downtowns of both Santa Cruz and Watsonville, wrecked homes and
businesses throughout the county, and left hundreds homeless.
More than 70 miles away from the epicenter —about three miles
north of Aptos Village in the Forest of Nisene
Marks
— freeways collapsed and homes in San Francisco’s Marina district
tumbled as soil turned to mush in a process called liquefaction.
The Loma Prieta quake claimed 62 lives, including six in Santa
Cruz County and a Boulder Creek man who was killed when a brick
wall collapsed in San Francisco. Thousands more were injured.
Nearly
700 homes and more than 300 businesses were destroyed throughout
the county. Another 13,757 residences and 1,779 businesses sustained
minor to severe damage. Early estimates by county officials of
more than $350 million in local damages tripled over the next
decade as costs of rebuilding became clear. By 1999, the county
pegged total damages due to the earthquake at closer to $1 billion,
with the private sector suffering about 80 percent of the financial
loss.
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| The
Loma Prieta quake arguably became the landmark event of the
‘80s. Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel |
Donations
poured in from across the country and around the globe. Children
pulled pennies from piggy banks while corporations dug into deeper
pockets to send the county more than $1 million in aid within
a month. President George Bush toured the area two days after
the disaster, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency soon
opened local offices. But county residents didn’t wait for help
from the outside. Moments after the shaking stopped, volunteers
started digging in the rubble to rescue trapped victims. Neighbors
reached out to each other for emotional and material support,
and organizations like the local chapter of the American Red Cross,
Valley Churches United, Pajaro Rescue Mission and the Salvation
Army leaped into service. Recovery would take time and rebuilding
would continue throughout the 1990s.
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