I am responding to your Nov. 10th Editorial on a proposed initiative to "reform" CEQA.

Most housing projects have already been exempted from CEQA review. So, let's be honest! The Chamber of Commerce's proposed ballot initiative isn't about housing - it's about rolling back environmental protections for polluting infrastructure projects. It's about corporate profit.

CEQA requires that a project's significant environmental impacts must be disclosed, and that those impacts must be mitigated. That's not asking too much! Under the proposed initiative, new rail projects, freeways, and desalination plants - and similar projects - could avoid those requirements entirely.

CEQA also requires (as no other law does) that the government must respond, with specifics, to any comment made by a member of the public. Thanks to CEQA, significant concerns to the public can't just be ignored.

Weakening CEQA won't make homes more affordable, but it will make our air and water dirtier, and our communities less safe. This proposed measure is a giveaway to special interests seeking to boost profits at the expense of California's people and environment.

- Gary A. Patton, Santa Cruz, former Santa Cruz County supervisor

In a Nov. 9 letter, the author, a well-known Greenway supporter, opines "implementing rail here would cost billions and serve too few riders to justify it."

He is obviously against the Coastal Rail Trail and hasn't looked at the potential price tag for implementing a trail-only solution. Since the same bridges and trestles will need to be repaired or replaced, that could easily cost billions of dollars.

And how many would use the trail on a weekly basis? According to the 2025 Bike Santa Cruz County Rider Survey, only about 6% of residents -- roughly 16,500 people -- ride a bike weekly for transportation or recreation. Fewer than 8,000 residents use bikes to commute each week.

Compare that to the projected weekly ridership for the ZEPRT system: over 20,000 boardings per week once service is established.

Also, note that the County has spent money on bike projects ($25.9 million for the Soquel Drive Buffered Bike Lane Project and $34 million for the Chanticleer Avenue Overpass) that remain mostly unused by bicyclists.

Trains offer a better transit solution than an unused bike trail!

- Peter Gibson, Soquel

With the holidays around the corner, many of us may be tempted by the discounts and low prices offered by fast fashion companies such as Shein. This year, I implore fellow Santa Cruzans to skip those deals, as they rely on exploited labor and actively pollute our environment with microplastics, international shipping and excessive AI use. As Santa Cruz citizens, we value our oceans and the environment around us too much to risk harming them by supporting companies like this.

In 2023 alone, Shein produced 16.7 metric tons of CO2, 61% of which came from its supply lines. They also use extremely low-quality materials, which, when paired with their poverty wages, allow them to create these cheap deals we see each year. They send volumes of microplastic scrap to rot in landfills each year.

So this holiday, I suggest an alternative: shop locally in Santa Cruz. Not only can you get something of higher quality than you'd find on fast fashion sites, but you're also supporting our community and local businesses.

- Ben Edmonds, Santa Cruz

There has been a lot of criticism aimed at our local leadership regarding the prolonged closure (3+ years) of the Murray Street bridge and the subsequent traffic nightmares it is creating. How did the contractor, Shimmick Construction, come up with this absurd timeline? Let's hypothetically recreate their argument using comparison to "similar" public works projects (Ed. note: three have been omitted for space considerations):

Oakland/SF Bay Bridge (1933-1936) 3 years; Bixby Bridge Big Sur (1931-1932) 14 months; Eiffel Tower (1887-1889) 2 years; Empire State Building (1930-1931) 410 days.

Roman Colosseum (80BC-72BC) 8 years; Panama Canal (1904-1914) 10 years; Transcontinental Railroad (1863-1869) 6 years; Winchester Mystery House (1884-1922) 38 yrs; Stonehenge (3000BC-1600BC) 1400 yrs

Great Wall of China (800BC-1644AD) 2444 years. Average time / project: 281 years.

Murray Street Bridge seismic retrofit (2025-2028ish) 3+ years, adding 10 feet to the existing width and a sewer pipe. We are so lucky!