By Jondi Gumz
Newly elected to the Capitola City Council, Gerry Jensen and Melinda Orbach took the oath of office on Thursday, Dec. 12, in front of a roomful of proud supporters in City Hall.
Melinda Orbach
Gerry Jensen
Next on the agenda: Choosing a vice mayor.
Jensen nominated Joe Clark, and Yvette Lopez Brooks seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Next: Choosing a mayor to succeed Kristen Brown, departing after 8 years on the council due to term limits.
Clark nominated Yvette Lopez Brooks, and Melinda Orbach seconded.
Again, unanimous.
Brooks is in the mayoral role for the second time.
She has the distinction of being Capitola’s first Latina mayor.
She is in her second term on the City Council.
A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, she worked for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education before becoming the executive director for the non-profit Your Future Is Our Business.
She championed a proposal upgrade of Jade Street Park playground to be accessible to all children. Partnering with County Parks Friends, the goal to raise $1 million was reached in December.
A wife and mother, Brooks is passionate about ensuring opportunity for youth.
She spearheaded a ballot initiative in 2018 to increase the city’s hotel and visitor tax, creating a dedicated children’s fund. She encouraged the growth and expansion of Capitola Recreation Department by partnering with Soquel Union School District. She would like to see more family child care homes.
She is a board member at United Way’s Youth Action Network and on the Semilittas Advisory Committee.
As a policy maker, she says she is committed to ensuring that Capitola is sustainable, safe, welcoming, and family-friendly and supports the vision of Capitola’s residents in maintaining its intimate, small-town feel and coastal village charm. She also says she is “focused on bridging the gap between social inequities and policy development.”
The council bid farewell to Brown and to Margaux (Keizer) Morgan, whose mayoral term was spent helping Capitola Village recover from epic storms in 2023 that tore the Capitola Wharf in two.
In September, the city unveiled the rebuilt wharf, better than ever.
The biggest issue for the new council –if plans are filed by Merlone Geier Partners– redeveloping the Capitola Mall to be a place abuzz with shoppers.
The city’s “Housing Element” plan, written to satisfy the states’ mandate to plan for 1,336 homes by 2031, for calls for 637 homes including 419 affordable units, which Merlone Geier considered financially not possible.
Last year, Brooks voiced hope that the developers would continue talking with city staff so the overhaul would not stall.
Ten months later, there is no visible progress.
TOP PHOTO: The new Capitola City Council (from left): Alexander Pedersen, Gerry Jensen, Yvette Brooks, Melinda Orbach, and Joe Clarke.