A new company opens in Santa Cruz County every two weeks, according to Matthew Herman, a senior account manager at the Hall Kinion employment agency in Capitola. The Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the high-tech business fair on the same day and block as the weekly downtown Farmers Market, says it's not going to follow the Silicon Valley's path to environmental havoc. But the growth has been rapid. These days the Monterey Bay is not only home to a biologically diverse national marine sanctuary and dozens of state parks, but also to about 20 Internet startups, including the pre-IPO firms SurfSoft in Capitola and Lutris Technologies. The Santa Cruz Operation Inc., or SCO, founded in 1979, is a global leader in business software, and Texas Instruments runs a wafer manufacturing facility in Santa Cruz with 600 employees.
Local leaders concede that some damage has already been done.
Housing prices in Santa Cruz and Monterey are among the top in the nation and Highway 17 routinely makes the top 10 lists of most dangerous and overcrowded highways. Some residents are fighting back. In Santa Cruz County, residents and local political leaders routinely kill proposals to widen highways that would make the region easier to drive in and out of. And when one high-tech leader submitted plans for a mansion on a scenic coastal drive in the city of Santa Cruz, hundreds of residents turned out to protest. In Half Moon Bay, local laws are now in place limiting growth.