A ceremony at City Hall Sunday (6-6-1982), marked the city of Santa Cruz's official status as California's first "Planetary City". Mayor Michael Rotkin, acting on behalf of the City Council's unanimous resolution, officially proclaimed that Santa Cruz was now a Planetary City "dedicated to international cooperation and just world law."

The resolution was the result of the work of the Planetary Initiative campaign founded by activists in New York in 1981. With this proclamation, Santa Cruz became the second West Coast city after Seattle to adopt Planetary status.