SC Metro | METRO board and committee

The Santa Cruz Metropolitan District would like to welcome Shebreh Kalantri-Johnson to her first term on the Santa Cruz City Council and as a member of the METRO Board of Directors. Motivated by her experience as a mom, immigrant, citizen, neighbor, and social change leader, she is committed to building a strong, equitable community.

Director Kalantri-Johnson has advanced this goal over the last two decades as a consultant for community-based organizations, bringing in funds and forming partnerships to address issues such as immigration rights, juvenile justice, youth homelessness, and substance abuse prevention.

As a city council member, Director Kalantri-Johnson is committed to economic recovery, affordable housing, community wellness, and social equity.

Jimmy Dutra serves as Mayor for the City of Watsonville. As Mayor, his focus is to improve infrastructure, increase jobs, provide green and affordable transportation, clean our streets and waterways of garbage and needles, and educate the community about healthy living to fight childhood obesity and weight related diseases.

Jimmy was born and raised in Watsonville. He attended local schools and graduated from Watsonville High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Santa Clara University and his masters in Executive Leadership at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Jimmy has long been a staunch supporter of agriculture, labor, small businesses and youth and senior programs. He is an educator with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and believes in investing in our youth for a brighter future.

Mayor Dutra also serves on various boards including The Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County, Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County and is President of Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance and previously served with Pajaro Valley Shelter Services and Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC).

Manu Koenig serves as First District Supervisor for Santa Cruz County, originally elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2020. The District includes Live Oak, Pleasure Point, Soquel Village, Happy Valley, Soquel San Jose Rd, and a large portion of the Summit area. Parts of the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola and Santa Cruz are included as well.

Prior to his election to the Board, Manu worked for several technology startups including Paystand in Scotts Valley. He was Executive Director of Santa Cruz County Greenway and worked on Measure L in Capitola to “Save Our Trestle” for bikes and pedestrians. From 2011 to 2018 Manu was CEO and Founder of Civinomics. The local startup created an online application for citizens to propose and vote on new policy online. It also conducted polling and survey research for local government agencies throughout Santa Cruz County and the Bay Area.

Manu was born and raised in Santa Cruz and has family in Corralitos and Live Oak. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and he is an avid surfer, cyclist and climber. Manu lives in Live Oak with his fiancé Leah.

Rebecca Downing grew up riding the bus in Honolulu and on the mainland, not requiring a license nor car until she moved to rural Michigan. She transferred to Santa Cruz County for work in 1989 after earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1982.

Her career in sales and human resources, including several years in transportation and logistics for a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Corporation, gave Downing experience in both operations and administration.

Since 2002 Downing has been active on the board of the Seacliff Improvement Association and served as its representative to both Santa Cruz County and the SCRTC as a community planning and transportation stakeholder. She strongly supports public transit and is an advocate for pedestrian safety and traffic calming measures for our local neighborhoods.

Donna Lind has served on Scotts Valley City Council since first elected in 2008. She is a retired Scotts Valley Police Sergeant having served the City of Scotts Valley for a total of 40 years before being elected to City Council. Donna has served on the Senior Council Agency on Aging, LAFCO, and Santa Margarita Groundwater Sustainability Agency and as an alternate to RTC and AMBAG. She serves as President of the Fallen Officer Foundation and a Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce Ambassador..

Mike Rotkin previously served as a Director for the Santa Cruz METRO Board of Directors, representing the City of Santa Cruz, from 1979-1988, 1992-2000, and 2002-2010. In 2015, he was re-appointed to the Santa Cruz METRO as the citizen representative by the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. Mike has lived in Santa Cruz County since 1969. He was elected to the Santa Cruz City Council six times and served five terms as Mayor of the City.

Mike was a lecturer and Director of the Field Study Program in Community Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) for over forty years and has currently been recalled to teach at UCSC. Mike Rotkin is a union activist in the UC-AFT, where he represents lecturers and librarians in the University of California. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Coastal Watershed Council (CWC) and serves as the Program Chair for the Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz County (DWC).

Mike lives on the Westside of Santa Cruz with his wife and two adult children, and two cats, and loves kayaking, bicycling, swimming, and camping. Mike gets around town on a bicycle, bus pass, and motorcycle.