Wilder Dairy Ranch looking in the late 19th century much how it looks today. (Ross Eric Gibson collection) It isn’t easy being a green endangered Ohlone tiger beetle, found exclusively in Santa Cruz County. (Courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service, public domain) Mardi Wormhaudt ran for supervisor in 1994 on her opposition to logging and development on Gray Whale Ranch.
(Ross Eric Gibson collection) A flyer in favor of the Santa Cruz Greenbelt around the city, here showing Arana Gulch. (Ross Eric Gibson collection) An image shows plans for enlarging Santa Cruz to Scotts Valley and Capitola and building industrial zones chiefly along the North Coast. (Ross Eric Gibson collection) Wilder Dairy Ranch looking in the late 19th century much how it looks today.
(Ross Eric Gibson collection) After World War II, returning GIs found a housing shortage and developers began buying up cheap farmland to create remote housing-only suburbs, linked by freeways to new shopping centers, schools and churches. Santa Cruz County had plenty of vacant housing stock from summer homes to tourist rentals, adding modest new housing developments that serve existing infrastructure. Santa Clara County Planning Director Karl Belser (in office 1950-1967) witnessed the destruction of his beloved “Valley of Heart’s Delight.
” In 1950, the San Jose City Council announced it intended to become the “Los Angeles of the North.” This launched a stampede of land speculators buying up cheap farmland to be multi.