Santa Barbara Current : Did You Know?

A Call for Fiscal Responsibility

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:31:37 GMT

Santa Barbara’s budget deficit continues to grow despite revenue sources Measure C (2017) and Measure I (2024), which were sold to voters as ways to close the budget gap, and which between them bring in over $45 million annually. This extra revenue was supposed to fund critical infrastructure, public safety, and essential city services. But despite thes…

Note to Bureaucrats: Stop Wasting Our Money

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:31:17 GMT

Santa Barbara, like much of California, is in a self inflicted budget crisis — and the response by our leaders has been to look for more ways to take money from taxpayers rather than address the real causes of the deficits in our city, county, and state budgets.

Our City’s own Finance Director, Keith DeMartini and his team, have been straight with the Co…

Is LA’s Democrat Socialist “extreme plan” coming to Santa Barbara?

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 14:31:20 GMT

Have you read the California/NY Post article on the manifesto being pushed by Democratic Socialists in Los Angeles? It describes a sweeping set of proposals — everything from seizing private property to taking over utilities, banning markets for essential businesses, and fundamentally transforming urban governance. Inside Dem Socialists’ extreme plan fo…

Santa Barbara: I’ve Found a Councilman to Vote For

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 14:32:04 GMT

Monte Wilson, SB City Council District 4 Candidate

Don’t you think it’s time to elect a City Council member who knows how to get things done, not just hire “consultants?”

If so, then I have someone who may be just the ticket.

I was invited to lunch by a friend last week to meet Monte Wilson for City Council 2026 — a candidate to represent District 4 — and …

Vehicle Mileage Tax: A Financial Burden We Can’t Afford

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:30:26 GMT

I received the following email from a reader, and the math she did really put things into perspective:

Bonnie,

Maybe SB Current could start a monthly “Do the Math” column!

35.98 million registered vehicles.
Low mileage estimate of average annual mileage according to Google AI: 11,409 miles per year.
Proposed mileage tax: $0.06 to $0.09 per mile.

Total anticip…

A Commander Steps Forward: Meet Bob Smith, a New Voice for the Central Coast

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:30:21 GMT

Bob Smith, Commander, U.S. Navy (Retired)

At a time when voters across the Central Coast increasingly question whether Washington understands their lives, a new candidate is stepping forward with a résumé built not in politics—but in service, discipline, and hard work.

Robert “Bob” Smith, a retired U.S. Navy Commander and Carpinteria resident, is running …

Ten Years of City Rate Increases and Rent Caps That Ignore Them

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 14:31:24 GMT

In the debate over rent regulation, Santa Barbara officials often focus on landlords as the driver of rising housing costs. What receives far less attention is the City’s own role in steadily increasing the fixed, unavoidable costs, of operating rental housing.

The data cited here is not anecdotal. It comes directly from a Public Records Act Request (PRA…

When Deferred Maintenance Is a Crime — Unless City Hall Does It

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 14:31:15 GMT

The Franceschi House, Public Trust, and Santa Barbara’s Double Standard City Hall has barely reopened.

After shutting down for the Christmas and New Year’s break — with operations limited largely to what the City classifies as “essential workers” — Santa Barbara immediately returned to its every-other-Friday closure schedule. Add in the Martin Luther Kin…

Why Santa Barbara’s Rents Spiked — and Who Is Responsible

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:31:03 GMT

Rents didn’t surge by chance. Elected officials shaped the incentives, constrained supply, and targeted older housing while exempting newer developments — then blamed the market for the results.

Santa Barbara’s January 13th, City Council meeting on rental policy was long, crowded, and emotionally charged. By the end of the night, the Council voted 4–3 to…

Santa Barbara’s Cost-Recovery Double Standard Comes to a Vote Tonight

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:31:41 GMT

As Santa Barbara City Council prepares to vote tonight on a rent freeze, rent stabilization, and a mandatory rent registry, the public discussion has focused almost entirely on rents. What has received far less attention is the City’s own long-standing policy on cost recovery — and how sharply it conflicts with the framework now being proposed for housi…

When Cost Recovery Applies to City Hall but Not to Housing Providers

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:30:51 GMT

When Cost Recovery Applies to City Hall but Not to Housing Providers

As Santa Barbara considers new rental regulations, the City’s own budget documents highlight a central issue of fairness: When the city faces rising costs, those cost increases justify increasing taxes and fees by the same amount. But when people in the rental housing business face incr…

A Pause at City Hall—and a Spotlight on What Makes Us, Us

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 14:31:08 GMT

A Pause at City Hall—and a Spotlight on What Makes Us, Us

With the City closed since Thursday, December 18, and not reopening until January 5, 2026, the pace around town slows just enough to notice the things that often get overlooked. It’s a perfect moment to celebrate what makes our community special—new ideas taking the stage and longtime favorites ta…

Fees Without Limits, Rents with Handcuffs

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 14:30:34 GMT

Everywhere Santa Barbara residents turn, the message is the same: pay more.

At the grocery store, it’s bag fees and bottle deposits. At home, it’s water, sewer, trash, parking, and permit fees. Each increase is described as “modest.” “Necessary.” “Unavoidable.”

But taken together, they form something else entirely — a parallel tax system built on fees ins…

A Hand Up—or a System That Never Lets Go?

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 14:31:26 GMT

Santa Barbara’s rent stabilization push raises hard questions about cost, mobility, and long-term outcomes.

Tuesday night’s Santa Barbara City Council vote was framed as compassion. But compassion without outcomes is not a solution—it is a sentiment. By a 4–3 vote, the Council chose to move forward with a rent stabilization framework that expands regulat…

When “Tenant Advocacy” Stops Being About Housing

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:31:16 GMT

A PUBLIC INTEREST WARNING FOR SANTA BARBARA

In Santa Barbara, nearly every housing discussion begins with the same premise: we are in a crisis, and tenants must be protected.

That framing is often justified.

But it is no longer sufficient on its own.

Not all tenant advocacy focuses on improving housing conditions, preventing abuse, or keeping people stably …

Santa Barbara Raises Its Own Costs – Then Tells Landlords They Can’t

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 14:31:45 GMT

Santa Barbara’s affordability crisis isn’t caused by landlords—it’s created by the City’s own policies.

Why can the City, County, and State increase fees, taxes, and utility rates on us—then tell us we can’t adjust rents to cover those same increases?

That question came into sharp focus this week during SB Current’s Second Anniversary and Christmas party …

Paseo Nuevo, Policy Drift, and Santa Barbara’s Growing Price Tag

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:30:52 GMT

As City Hall pushes new demands on developers and residents, leadership inertia leaves downtown underutilized while taxpayers foot the bill.

If you didn’t watch Tuesday’s City Council meeting, it’s worth your time. Yes, it was long. But the discussion after the Paseo Nuevo item revealed something far more concerning than a struggling mall: it showed how …

The Discipline of Thankfulness

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 14:30:58 GMT

Being thankful is one of those ideas we talk about often but rarely slow down long enough to practice. We say we should be grateful; we remind others to count their blessings; we post about gratitude as if naming it automatically makes it real. But the truth is that thankfulness is a discipline—a choice we make, especially when life gives us plenty of r…

A Deep Look at the Payroll in a City Always “Strapped for Cash”

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:31:11 GMT

Where does Santa Barbara’s Money Go? Every year, Santa Barbara residents are told the same story: the city is strapped for cash. We hear about budget shortfalls, frozen positions, closed offices every other Friday, and warnings about structural deficits. And yet, year after year, millions of dollars continue to flow through a compensation system that mo…

Two Years of Santa Barbara Current — Thanks to You

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 14:31:36 GMT

Sixteen million clicks, two years, countless conversations — and still going strong.

Two years. Can you believe it? Since November 15, 2023, Santa Barbara Current has landed in your inbox every single day — and together, we’ve built something extraordinary.

What began as a small idea — honest, independent coverage of our community — has become a daily con…