Community Matters features guest interviews to discuss topics of interest to the Santa Cruz Community. We aim to help people better understand important local issues and learn how to get involved to make a positive difference. Please listen and call in to join the discussions.
Listen to Community Matters live every Friday from 2:00pm to 4:00 pm PT on https://santacruzvoice.com
April 24, 2026 Interview with Mr. Michael Polkabla, Senior Industrial Hygienist with BioMax Environmental t
Mr. Michael Polkabla describes the initial County of Monterey and EPA responses to the January 16, 2025 Moss 300 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Fire, how he worked with the Community to organize the widespread surface sampling for heavy metals and helped publish the results on the Never Again Moss Landing website. Watch for his forthcoming professional paper. https://neveragainmosslanding.org/resources/
28 Apr 2026
April 17, 2026 Interview with Mr. Ed Mitchell, Lead Investigator for Never Again Moss Landing
Mr. Ed Mitchell discusses the problems with the Vistra Moss 300 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facility that contributed to the fire disaster on January 16, 2025, why it is good news Vistra is now decommissioning the Moss 100 BESS facility, and his thoughts on the Santa Cruz County BESS Draft Ordinance.
https://neveragainmosslanding.org/
28 Feb 2026
February 27, 2026 Interview with Cabrillo College President Dr. Jenn Capps & Mkting. Director Ms. Kristin Fabos; 2nd Hour: Mr. Lee Butler, Planning Director for City of Santa Cruz
Hour One: Meet the new President of Cabrillo College, Dr. Jenn Capps, joined by Marketing & Communications Director Ms. Kristin Fabos. Dr. Capps guided the change at Humboldt University to become Cal Polytechnic Humboldt. How does she envision Cabrillo College in the future? I think you will like what you hear!
https://www.cabrillo.edu/president/
Hour Two: Mr. Lee Butler, Planning Director for the City of Santa Cruz, explains why downtown areas are changing and what we can expect in the future. State legislation has robbed local jurisdictions like Santa Cruz of discretion in large projects. Developers are now more interested in building and the City is interested in building an economically vibrant downtown area that will bring 1600 new living units on board, with 320 of them deemed "affordable". Listen in and learn how you can get involved in projects in your neighborhood...early!
Mr. Butler's background: https://takistalk.com/lee-butler-santa-cruz/
City Projects:
https://www.santacruzca.gov/Government/City-Departments/Community-Development/Current-Planning/Significant-Projects-Planning
https://www.santacruzca.gov/Government/City-Departments/Community-Development/Long-Range-Policy-Planning/Ordinance-Policy-Updates/Downtown-Plan-Expansion
Who has been a guest on Community Matters
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Nina Audino
Scott Smith
Dr Robert Kroutil
Sarah Beck
Loreal Weitzel
Podcast Authority Score: 18 / 100
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