This Talk of the Bay episode from Monday, June 16th, 2025 was originally a two part show starting with a conversation with the comedian and impresario DNA. That conversation with DNA will be released as a separate podcast later. We spent the rest of the hour with community organizer Hector Marin. In 2024, he ran as a candidate for Santa Cruz City Council District 2, earning 40.6% of the vote as a first-time challenger against the 58% garnered by incumbent Sonja Brunner.
He is a staunch advocate for affordable housing, is a renter himself, and is a community organizer. Our conversation covered the weekend of June 14th filled with protests nationwide and local ones, as well as current events including ICE raids. We touched on Marin’s recent article published in Lookout regarding Mayor Fred Keeley’s Workforce Housing Affordability Act. The City of Los Angeles’s nicknamed the “Mansion Tax” which was a tax on any sale of real estate exceeding $5 million came up in our conversation. As of November 2024, that tax, which was originally named the Measure ULA (United to House LA), has raised $470M. We also talked about how Marin’s work as an educator brought awareness to the plight of homelessness among students. It’s worth noting that Monterey County clocks in at a staggering 18% while Santa Cruz County clocks in at 9.5% – both of these numbers are multiples of the California average which is under 4%.
If you are interested in more episodes about land use, you might also be interested in these Talk of the Bay episodes with Dr. Silva of the Protect Salinas Renters Coalition as well as Dr. Erin McElroy who discusses the role of technology such as surveillance and biometrics in modern landlord and tenant relationships along with concepts from their book, “Silicon Valley Imperialism” which include real estate dynamics.
