Speak Up: Watsonville Debates Measure T

Mail-in voting has begun for Measure T, which if is passes, would annex current agricultural land into Watsonville hands for potential big business development.

Rumors have circulated of Walmart or Costco moving in, although a deal of that magnitude is far from reality. .

Wednesday morning, we asked fans of the Watsonville Facebook Page for their opinions on the issue. See a sample of the responses below and tell us what you think in the comments.

Dan: When do you stop? Where's the red line? Its a finite geographical area. Oh, pave just one more farm...... oh, just another..... It's funny that so called 'Progressives' have the mentality of a 1950s housing tract developer. Don't confuse Progressives with Liberals.

Michelle: I believe they should NOT use up the land for growth. We need to hold onto as much agriculture as possible. There's nothing like FRESH produce grown from our own community. Come on people, really?

Adam: I fully support measure T. I think giving jobs that will support the city will be great. The Redman Farm area will also provide a huge economic boost as well since the property taxes for that area are very high. I think people are only considering that they will pave it over and create jobs for people in the county. Right now the only jobs that land provides are for mostly people outside of the US who provide no taxes for the government. The farmland will help citizens of Watsonville find work and help the city as well. ... The only people benefiting from it staying farmland are the biotech companies and large corporations. No farmer in Watsonville will be out any money.

Isaac: Vote YES on Measure T!!! All the fields surrounding Watsonville are not within city limits, they do not pay any tax revenue into the city. By annexing the property into Watsonville, the city would be able to receive the tax revenue that the current field generates! Then if the community wish's to develop the land into a business center, the city would be able to create the very much needed job opportunities and the property and sales tax revenue to help sustain and boost the local economy. Watsonville is currently facing a 24% unemployment epidemic! Hundreds of Youth graduate from High school each year into a community that cannot support them with jobs! If we want to cut down on crime, we need to put people to work.

Jennifer: There are a lot of vacant buildings in Watsonville if people want to use them or refurnish them for businesses. We should never be destroying our irreplaceable farmland! If Watsonville wants to annex the property to collect the taxes, that's fne, but ONLY if there is a stipulation that it cannot be paved over and that it remains in farming.

Ghambit: I'm in full support of Measure T. There's no way you could tell me 95 acres (out of thousands) are more important than reducing crime, increasing jobs and public safety. It's a real statistic that jobs in any community decrease crime. People are too worried about their precious farmland, but what about the precious young lives being lost at the cost of gang violence? Although our farmland is what helped establish Watsonville, this town needs progress. Keeping farmland that enslaves migrant workers for minimum earnnings, is in no way helping Watsonville's economy, actually quite the contrary. All the revenue being generated outside of Watsonville City limits is going to the County of Santa Cruz.