By CAROLINE HEMPHILL | chemphill@santacruzsentinel.com
PUBLISHED: March 25, 2026 at 3:45 PM PDT
SANTA CRUZ — Chris Krohn, former Santa Cruz City Council member and mayor, has entered the five-candidate race for mayor of Santa Cruz. He claimed the city is facing a crisis of democracy, pointing to a lack of transparency within the current City Council and what he considers overbuilding.
“Santa Cruz is basically for sale right now,” Krohn said. “I’m saying Santa Cruz is not for sale.”
Krohn first moved to Santa Cruz in 1983 as a UC Santa Cruz student. Since then, he has worked as a journalist, a teacher and an internship director at the university. Krohn has served two terms on the Santa Cruz City Council, from 1998 to 2002 and from 2017 to 2020, when he was recalledalongside fellow Councilmember Drew Glover. Krohn served as mayor of Santa Cruz in 2002.
In a 2019 recall petition, residents accused Krohn of endangering public health and safety by voting against the removal of a homeless encampment, as well as acting unprofessionally by walking out of City Council meetings and “refusing to treat his fellow Councilmembers with respect,” as was written in the petition. Krohn claimed the election that removed him and Glover from the City Council in 2020 was based on political disagreements rather than alleged misconduct. Glover and Krohn both supported Measure M, a 2018 ballot initiative that would have limited rent increases and evictions. The measure was rejected by voters, and recall efforts against Krohn and Glover succeeded in 2020.
“Since then, the floodgates have opened for market rate, luxury, high-end development in Santa Cruz,” Krohn said.
If elected, Krohn said he intends to change the city’s housing and development mindset. He also aims to support local businesses and vulnerable communities, including immigrants and unhoused people.
Krohn argues that the City Council is not approaching development from the right perspective. He is against tall market rate housing projects in Santa Cruz, claiming that many such projects are spearheaded by entities outside of Santa Cruz. Developers from New York or Southern California, he said, do not understand the city’s needs and are not doing enough to protect the environment.
Santa Cruz must zone for more housing in order to comply with state housing mandates. But, Krohn said, there are alternative ways to proceed. If elected, Krohn stated he would prioritize shorter buildings with a higher percentage of affordable housing. He would also put pressure on UC Santa Cruz to build more on-campus housing.
“Right now, the people in Santa Cruz are getting a bad deal. … They’re being told, ‘Oh, our hands are tied,’” Krohn said. “Changing that mindset is one of the reasons I’m running, to really let people know, ‘No, we do have an alternative.’”
Another of Krohn’s priorities is filling the empty storefronts on Pacific Avenue and creating a more vibrant downtown. As mayor, he said he would propose a commercial vacancy tax. The tax would aim to incentivize downtown property owners to rent out commercial spaces at lower rent prices. Krohn would also like to see more pedestrian zones and bike lanes downtown, claiming such changes would improve quality of life and prevent traffic deaths.
Finally, Krohn said he felt it important to protect the city’s vulnerable communities. He said that Santa Cruz needs a comprehensive citywide plan for what to do if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence were to increase within the city. He suggested the city work with groups like Your Allied Rapid Response for Santa Cruz County, a group that watches for immigration enforcement presence in the county, and Showing Up for Racial Justice. Krohn added that the city needs to come up with thoughtful solutions to the city’s homelessness crisis. He is in support of Housing First solutions, but argued that many people are stuck waiting for affordable or supportive housing projects to come online. While taking a Housing First approach, the city must also provide transitional spaces for unhoused people, he said, as well as day services and peer support programs. If elected, Krohn said he would advocate for the creation of committees including elected officials, housed residents and unhoused residents to determine how the city can best serve its homeless population.
During his two terms on the City Council, Krohn noted he was involved in efforts to create bike lanes in the city, to save the Beach Flats Community Garden and to advocate for affordable housing in new developments.
“If I was elected, that means Santa Cruz is saying, ‘Full stop. We don’t like this development. Something weird is going on here,’” Krohn said.