Scotts Valley: Then And Now

Dene Bustichi, Former Mayor and current Scotts Valley City Council Member

History is a funny thing it depends on who tells it. So, for full disclosure, I am no historian and I am merely writing about my experiences and those of family and friends who have been in this community since 1956.

In 1966 Scotts Valley became a city. I was 2 years old and remember nothing of that time but my family does. One very real reason the City became a city was that the County of Santa Cruz wanted to put a cemetery in our community.

Most residents of Scotts Valley were in opposition to that and formed a committee that worked with the business owners and were able to incorporate our community into a city and the cemetery was stopped.

Some in Scotts Valley did not want to become part of a city and to stay in the county. That is why there are pockets of county within our sphere of influence like Mañana Woods, Lockhart Gulch and Apple Valley, still part of the Scotts Valley Community but not within the City.

Scotts Valley in the 60s, 70s and early 80s was mostly a blue-collar city with sand and gravel quarries, construction, small town stores, shops and restaurants.

We of course had Santa’s Village, the Tree Circus later called Lost World, and we had Hwy 17 running right through our town.

Our only schoolhouse was what is now Scotts Valley Middle School, later we got Vine Hill and Brooknoll elementary schools. We had no High School so half the city went to Harbor High and half to Soquel High.

We would have a “Scotts Valley Days” event every year similar to what we do today for the 4th of July. It would include carnival rides, music, parade and many civic activities.

Our City made some major strides in the early and late 80’s, property was donated to the City for a park and city hall but there was a catch. If the City did not start construction by a set date, the property would revert back to the family.

The City, with no funding to build city hall, went to the business community and as the Scotts Valley Businessman’s Association, they started construction of the city hall with volunteer labor. I was one of those along with my brother Eugene, my father Gene, Bob Mandarino, Rick Bowen, Tyler Olsen, Greg Cox, Robby Olsen, John Roberson and many others.

Many local businesses contributed to the cause such as Scarborough Lumber and Las Animas Concrete. The city hall chambers with its beautiful redwood beams became known as Friend Hall, named after our first City Manager and Mayor during the time of construction Friend Stone.

Then, as now, when the City needs something it was not uncommon for the community to step up and make it happen with treasure and with sweat equity.

Other things started to change: the Reed and Grahams Concrete Plant shut down, Johnnies Produce Stand closed down, and what is now Safeway shopping center started construction.

More housing was built, water demands went up and the water district did not have the capacity and/or wells to keep up with demand. Again the Scotts Valley Businessmen’s Association moved into action; they paid to drill a well, which is now called Well 10. They were given rights to a portion of that water and the district got the remaining amount to supply the community. Today the district uses Well 10 and many other wells to supply our city and the district.

As the City transitioned from a blue-collar city to a bedroom community for people who worked in other areas of our county and in San Jose, a new change started to emerge. The sand quarries gave way to housing and a different kind of use for sand or silica as Scotts Valley became Silicon Valley South. Seagate Technology came to town occupying and building space in several locations in our city.

Victor Square in Scotts Valley is named for Victor Technologies. The road was formerly Elmo Drive, named for Elmo Garrison who owned much of the property along the road. Victor Technology designed and manufactured calculators and the Victor computer. The Scotts Valley location was wholly concerned with the Victor 9000 Computer and Victor Technologies gave Mr. Garrison a Victor 9000.

The Victor 9000 / Sirius S1 was conceived by Chuck Peddle who also designed the first Commodore PETs. It was known as the Sirius S1 in Europe. The current Victor logo comes from Sirius Systems Technologies when they joined Victor. The Victor 9000 had advance features for the time.

Other tech companies such as and communication companies came to town and between 1984 and 1998 commercial office light industrial and manufacturing were the driving force in our economy.

Yet again there was a change coming as these same tech companies, like Seagate, started to move or merge and move to the other side of the hill, to Silicon Valley. With their departure starting in 2001 and continuing for the next decade, this created a lot of unoccupied commercial space peaking around 2004 to over One Million Square Feet in our city alone.

Economic development was at a low, sales taxes were at a low, and revenues to the City were not meeting expenditures.

Fortunately in 2005 the residents of Scotts Valley voted in a temporary sales tax that bridged the financial gap. A new economic subcommittee of myself and Council Member Randy Johnson worked with bringing in new businesses to town like Central Home Supply, Bay Photo, Bell Helmet, Zero Motor Cycles and others and slowly we turned the tide and our commercial vacancy rate is now at its lowest in close to two decades.

Through all this change, one thing has stayed the same Scotts Valley. It is still a great place to grow up, to raise a family, to work and play in. We are safe, we are clean and we are Scotts Valley.