By Jondi Gumz
On Aug. 4, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend, who represents the Second District and chairs the board, announced he will not seek a fourth term. His term ends in January 2025.
Friend, 44, of Aptos, was elected to the county board in 2012 and re-elected easily in 2016 and 2020. He represents the coastal communities of Aptos, La Selva Beach, Seacliff and Rio Del Mar, some of the most productive agricultural land in the country in Corralitos, Freedom and the Pajaro River basin, and parts of Capitola and Watsonville.
Zach Friend, who recently announced he would not run for county supervisor again, speaks during a tour of the winter storm damage with Gov. Gavin Newsom (fourth from left).
“Representing this county has been the nonpareil opportunity of a lifetime,” Friend said. “We are a region blessed with the most caring people, unrivaled natural gifts and unmatched innovation. The privilege of representing our area has been remarkable.”
Friend’s decision will leave a void in terms of knowledge and experience but will create an opportunity to bring diversity to county board.
Ever since his wife, Tina Friend, previously known as Tina Shull, left her job as Scotts Valley city manager in September 2021 to be city manager in Coronado – population 19,550– in San Diego County, locals have wondered if Friend, too, would head to Southern California. The couple has a 7-year-old son.
Friend’s next gig is not known but Linked bio in positions him a “government affairs public policy senior communications advisor” with more than 500 connections.
Zach Friend (left) watches President Joe Biden speak during tours of the winter storm damage in Santa Cruz County.
In January, when epic rain and ocean swells sank the pier to the historic Cement Ship in Seacliff, caused an estimated $100 million in damage to Seacliff State Beach, broke the historic Capitola Wharf in two, stranding businesses, and flooded the restaurants on the Esplanade in Capitola, Friend swung into action.
He had connections with state and federal officials — early in his career he served the White House Council of Economic Advisers, U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and was press secretary for the Obama presidential campaign in 2008 and media surrogate for the Biden campaign in 2020– and soon Gov. Gavin Newsom was visiting Capitola’s Esplanade and Seacliff State Beach, creating photo opps for reporters and TV cameras.
Eight days later, President Joe Biden visited Capitola’s Esplanade and Seacliff State Beach, drawing even more media attention.
In March, when the Pajaro River levee, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1949, breached, flooding homes of 3,000 people — mostly farmworkers — and some of the most productive farmland in the Pajaro Valley, once again federal help was needed.
Seacliff Cement Ship pier after the recent storms. • Photo Credit: Zach Friend
As chairman of Food 7 Flood Control and Water Conservation District, he lobbied state legislators who approved $400 million in state funds for the Pajaro River levee project to meet the federal “local share” that Pajaro residents could not afford to provide themselves.
His advocacy helped secure millions of new federal funding for ongoing broadband expansion in rural Santa Cruz County, where some neighborhoods are Internet desert
“We should always strive to amplify our voice at the state and federal level,” Friend said. “We have local challenges of national importance and local solutions with national impacts — the more we can create our future rather than react to it the better off our region will be.”
Locally, Friend led efforts to remodel Seascape Park and Hidden Beach Park, build and provide bike and skate opportunities at Seacliff Village Park and Pinto Lake Park and add new fully-accessible park features to multiple parks throughout the Second District.
This year, the largest investment in over 20 years will be made in the baseball fields at the Polo Grounds in Aptos, providing better playing opportunities for youth and sports teams.
During the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, he hosted weekly virtual town halls with experts to provide information for constituents and answer their questions.
He spearheaded the effort to upgrade and rename Willowbrook Park in honor of Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, who died on duty in 2020, with regular updates in Aptos Times on the fundraising efforts to pay for the project. Major work is now underway.
He also pushed to create Seacliff Village Park and was a major supporter to upgrade libraries in La Selva Beach, Capitola, and Aptos, where the newly built library is about to open.
Friend prioritized investments in parks and youth activities and to improve public spaces like the not yet open government center in West Marine’s former headquarters in Watsonville.
“Whether it was the creation of the new Mid-County Public Safety Service Center in Aptos, working to save Watsonville Hospital from closure or the construction of the new South County Government Center, my goal has been to ensure that areas of historic underinvestment in county services — like the Mid and South County — received equitable access and resources,” Friend said.
Friend is on state and national commissions. He chairs the California State Association of Counties Health and Human Services Committee, with responsibility for advocating on behalf of California’s 58 counties on issues related to behavioral health services, public health and homelessness.
He’s on the National Association of Counties Executive Committee where he has advocated in Washington, DC, for transportation, rural broadband and flood-protection.
Regionally, he chairs the Monterey Bay Air Resources Board, the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, and co-chairs the Oral Health Access Santa Cruz County board.
He is on the Criminal Justice Council, Library Financing Authority, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, Santa Cruz County Sanitation District, Santa Cruz Mid-County Water Agency, Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), and Santa Cruz-Monterey-Merced Managed Medical Care Commission.
Before his election as supervisor, Supervisor Friend spent eight years as a crime analyst and spokesman for the Santa Cruz Police Department.
His 2013 book “On Message: How a Compelling Narrative Will Make Your Organization Succeed” was an Amazon.com best-seller in the marketing category.
“We have a lot of great things left to accomplish in the next 17 months,” Friend said. “I am excited to stay actively engaged locally and keep contributing to our community in any way possible, well beyond my term.”
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