Dear Congressman Carbajal,

I received your latest email and commentary on April 15^th, 2026.

Tax Day.

First, I honor your military service to our country as a U.S. Marine Corps reservist. Most of my family also served our country, but in combat conditions, including my father as a West Pointer and Army Air Corps pilot in WWII, who also flew the Berlin Airlift. His West Point uniform is on display at the Estrella Warbird Museum in Paso Robles. You may want to visit the museum, if you haven’t. It’s a Central Coast treasure. My mother was a Red Cross nurse from San Diego and they met in Germany at the close of the war. That’s where they created me!

My family first immigrated to the United States legally through Ellis Island before moving to California in 1940…. And many of our fold are still here.

However, the California of today is not the California I once loved.

As for myself, I spent almost 20 years in broadcast journalism in large markets… then ending at KSBY TV here on our Central Coast to raise my family, prior to heading off to other professions in finance, publishing, and directing tourism for SLO County. As a good journalist – which we are sorely lacking these days – I exercised curiosity, skepticism, common sense, and fairness. Those traits have been hijacked by advocacy and bias, which most journalists now are motivated by as they attempt to save the world.

It’s very sad.

The bulk of today’s media will cover up for, and/or, ignore anything that doesn’t benefit the party that they align with…. usually Democrat, until they are forced to eat their own.

We are experiencing that now.

My first wife, Gael, who just passed, worked at the White House in the West Wing during the mid to late seventies under both President Ford and Carter as the assistant to Chief of Staff Ham Jordan and later Jack Watson.

It was a different time then. I spent many hours at the White House, and was there during the entire Iranian Hostage Crisis and all that ensued. I am intimately well versed in what started the nearly 50 years of Iranian terror and abuse and threats and lies that have led to the deaths and maiming of thousands of our own troops, the continuing slaughter of their own good Iranian citizens under their evil regime, and the horrific ideology of hatred against Jews and the entire Western Civilization, which they have constantly said they will destroy. And every president since has “Neville Chamberlained” the threat. Look it up. It’s called history. Learn from it.

Mr. Carbajal, when someone says they are going to kill you…. Believe them.

I understand your feelings about our (pre-emptive) strikes on Iran. And that’s what they are. As tough as it is to lose some of our people in those actions, you fail to consider the alternative. Iran would have created nuclear bombs. And they would have used them. And the catastrophic consequences of that would change the world forever.

Iran would begin with Israel, because they said so. Then they would go to Europe, because they said so. And oh, by the way, Rome and the Vatican would be their first targets in Italy, pope Leo included. BTW part deux, I’m a Catholic. Then they would go at us, “The Great Satan,” whether through a ballistic missile, or some other method.

Because they said they would.

Again, when someone says they are going to kill you, as they have threatened for almost a half century, believe them. And we have prevented that now.

We hit first.

Salud, I know you think you believe what you’ve been told in the talking points of your party and their hatred for President Trump. Hate – similar to what the Iranian Mullahs practice – is a horrible burden to have to carry in life. Please think this through. It’s not healthy.

As for your other talking points: The price of fuel, groceries, building costs, housing costs, income disparity, taxation, regulation, and every other thing that we, as Californians, have to endure. Guess whose fault that is? You and your party are in charge.

You like to deflect to and blame others, but if you look elsewhere in our country, nothing compares to California for the cost of living. Why do you think we are experiencing one of the greatest exoduses that any state has ever endured? And now we are finally finding out about the insane amount of corruption and thievery taking place in our government social systems. It’s your fault, and your party’s fault. And let’s not mention some of the other “things” that are happening among our representatives.

You and your party have created it, allowed it to fester, and hid it. And we, as taxpayers, foot the bill. Time for a change, congressman. A change to sanity and common sense. That will happen soon.

God willing.

I think, and hope, and pray, that Californians have had enough.

Respectfully,

John Summer, Grover Beach, CA

•••

John Summer is a semi-retired Emmy and multi award winning television news anchor and investigative reporter who resides on the Central Coast, along with his entire family. John enjoys golfing, and walking, and… common sense.

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A Modest Proposal for Maximum Disruption in the Name of Progress

Santa Barbara has always been admired for its balance. Ocean, mountains, red tile roofs, walkable streets, a downtown that actually invited people to linger.

Naturally (if you’re a city planner), the only logical response is to redesign all of it.

Take the Waterfront

For generations, it has performed poorly in one critical category: it has been too recognizable. Visitors arrive, immediately understand where they are, and spend money without confusion.

This is clearly outdated.

The new proposal promises to correct this by introducing layered complexity, abstract design choices, and just enough ambiguity to make you wonder whether you are still in Santa Barbara or attending a planning symposium in Northern Europe.

Then There is Downtown Housing

For years, the area suffered from a tragic shortage of congestion. Streets flowed. Parking, while never abundant, was at least somewhat predictable. The solution, of course, is to add dense residential development into a street grid that already functions like a polite suggestion rather than a plan. The goal is not merely to house people. The goal is to ensure that every trip, no matter how short, becomes a meaningful journey of reflection.

De La Guerra Plaza is Another Example

This is a space that has clearly been underperforming. People can see it. They can access it. They understand its history.

This kind of clarity can be unsettling.

A proper redesign should introduce enough elements to ensure that no one is entirely sure where the plaza begins, ends, or what it is intended for. If a visitor can sit down without consulting a map or interpretive signage, we have failed.

Let Us Not Forget the Streets

Wide enough for vehicles, pedestrians, and the occasional delivery truck, they have long enabled a dangerous level of functionality. Narrowing them, blocking sections, and adding design features that require constant vigilance will finally bring the unpredictability that modern planning demands. After all, nothing says “vibrant community” like a driver, a cyclist, and a pedestrian all negotiating the same ten feet of space while consulting their phones.

These Changes Are Not About Solving Problems

They are about demonstrating that we are trying to solve problems. There is a difference. A working system offers little opportunity for reinvention. A disrupted system, on the other hand, provides endless opportunities for studies, committees, and future redesigns.

Finally Fixing It

Some may ask, quietly, whether any of this is necessary. Whether a city that people already love might benefit more from careful stewardship than sweeping reinvention. But that kind of thinking risks stability, and stability is notoriously difficult to rebrand.

So let us proceed. Let us refine what worked until it no longer does. Let us improve clarity into confusion, access into obstruction, and charm into concept.

And when, someday, we find ourselves asking what happened to the Santa Barbara we once knew, we can take comfort in one thing.

At least we fixed it.

•••

Nick Sebastian is a candidate for Santa Barbara City Council - District 6. He can be reached at www.SBnick.com or (805) 705-5268

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(The following is a letter written by long-time Santa Barbara business and Downtown property owner, Kevin Boss. The Open Letter is addressed to the Create State Street Committee, Santa Barbara City Administrator Kelly McAdoo, and the Santa Barbara City Council.

The Create State Street Committee was tasked with developing a Master Plan – a visioning plan …

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California is gripped by an electricity crisis. A “perfect storm” of structural and policy failures has saddled citizens with the highest residential rates in the contiguous U.S.—reaching up to 36 cents per kWh as of April 2026. This burden will only grow as EV adoption, high-speed charging, and AI data centers drive peak demand up an estimated 15% by 2…

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Sixty-eight-year-old Tom Steyer brought his newly energized campaign for governor to Santa Barbara last week to our Museum of Natural History.

The museum’s Fleischman Auditorium seemed fully occupied, and the entrance was roped off to prevent any standees inside. Unlike the Bob Dole rally at Fess Parker’s rotunda in 1996, there was no Santa Barbara Count…

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I recently traveled to Taiwan as part of a private industry delegation focused on understanding and strengthening U.S.-Taiwan partnerships in defense-related manufacturing. During the trip, we met with members of the Legislature, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives from the National Security Council, the American Institute in Taiwan (the de facto embassy), and leaders across industry.

Taiwan is politically complex, but what stood out was the performance. Clean streets. Precise transit. Organized construction. Quality manufacturing.

Taiwan has over 23 million people. It is not small. It is a modern, complex society comparable in scale to a large U.S. state like California. Naturally, I started comparing the two.

Elections

Taiwan and California have built election systems in completely opposite directions.

Taiwan concentrates voting in a single day. Paper ballots. In-person voting. A significant portion of the population is expected to fulfill a civic duty on election day. At each polling location, a person holds up and reads each ballot aloud while multiple observers verify it before a vote is recorded. All political parties have observers at each location to verify that the overall integrity of the process is maintained. Votes are counted on site, in public view, and the results are known that night. National identification and a voter card are required to vote at an assigned polling location.

Taiwan optimizes transparency and integrity. California optimizes access and convenience. Taiwan’s late 1980’s democratization from single-party rule introduced rigor into its electoral system, with anti-corruption as the core driver.

When I told a Taiwanese businessman that California does not require voter ID, he asked, “How is that possible?” with a look of shock.

In Taiwan, the system produces confidence. People see Election Day as a civic duty. Here, the system increasingly produces debate. Over the past decade, both parties have questioned election integrity, from foreign interference in 2016 to ballot fraud in 2020. No one in Taiwan questions the integrity of their election.

Search “Taiwan polling location video.” It’s quite the operation.

A System with a Middle

Taiwan’s politics are dominated by two major parties and one minor party.

The Kuomintang (KMT) draws more support from older voters and favors stability and engagement with China. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is stronger among younger voters and emphasizes Taiwanese identity and a more independent path.

Between them is the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), a smaller, centrist party that attracts voters who do not fully align with either side. In many races, it often determines the outcome. Both major parties must compete for it.

In the United States, that center is growing, but the system does not reflect it because of nationwide gerrymandering. Candidates are incentivized to appeal to the base rather than the middle. The real contest happens in the primary, where turnout is lower, and the electorate is more partisan.

The political outcome is largely shaped before most voters ever cast a ballot, with the party power behind the scenes determining their person. Sure, we get an outlier election every now and then, but it’s extremely rare.

It is ironic that in a state where “save democracy” is a rallying cry, many elections are effectively decided before the general election even begins.

The Cook Political Report shows that only about 35 of 435 House of Representatives seats are truly competitive. That means roughly 92 percent of races are decided before most voters weigh in, so the only way people generally leave Congress are being primaried by their party (rare), resigning over a scandal, retiring, or dying in office.

It’s unclear to me how we put the pin back in the gerrymandering grenade in each state. Maybe, like Taiwan, a center party is what’s needed to bring back some democracy. Or we can just keep gerrymandering the two parties until a single district nationwide determines which way Congress swings, which is basically the presidency now; a few swing states determine the president every four years. Politically, a presidential vote in California is deemed low value.

It’s an interesting dichotomy that Taiwan has decided a prolonged single-party supermajority is bad for democracy, accountability, and corruption, while U.S. states like California gerrymander towards ensuring it. Methinks, based on the state of our state, they may have this one right!

The High-Speed Rail isn’t a Governor’s joke in Taiwan

The Taiwan High Speed Rail runs the length of the country. Smooth. Quiet. Reliable. I didn’t feel a single bump or click-clack. Completed in 2007 at a total cost of $18 billion U.S. dollars and considered top tier in the world.

California’s High-Speed Rail has spent $24 billion so far, with $130 billion planned. 18 years since approval. Not a single mile of track has been completed.

Taiwan builds to completion. California builds in delays and cost overruns.

Safety and Crime

Public safety stood out immediately. I felt safe everywhere I went.

In Taipei, people leave bikes unlocked. Public spaces feel clean. There is an expectation that your property will still be there when you return. In Carpinteria, my daughter’s bike was stolen twice in high school and later found near a homeless encampment. While in Taiwan, I did not see a single homeless person in the cities.

Homelessness per 100,000:

California: ~ 450

Taiwan: ~ 10

Violent crime per 100,000:

California: ~ 500

Taiwan: ~ 20

Fentanyl deaths per 100,000:

California: ~ 25

Taiwan: ~ 0

Unauthorized population:

California: ~ 2.5 million

Taiwan: ~ 60 thousand

Taiwan contains these problems early. In California; we have built a multi-billion-dollar industry around managing them after they grow. Over $37 billion has been spent on homelessness in recent years. Billions more go toward programs tied to addiction, sentencing reform, and immigration services.

Yet the problems continue to expand. Our state is failing to produce results.

The Bottom Line

What I took away was simple. There is much that Americans can learn from a system that is still strengthening its young democracy. Taiwan chooses integrity, quality, and execution.

None of this means Taiwan gets everything right. It also faces real affordability challenges. It’s notable that Taiwan has made similar choices in energy and climate policy to California and is experiencing comparable affordability trends.

There is value in learning from systems that are working well, and in recognizing when different places pull the same policy levers and see the same poor outcomes.

If we want better outcomes in California, we need to make better choices.

•••

Bob Smith is a retired Navy veteran and candidate for California’s 24th Congressional District. www.bobsmithforcongress.com

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As the supposedly former congressman Eric Swalwell‘s political career imploded amid a string of sexual assault and misconduct allegations, he had recorded a denial video at a Beverly Hills mansion belonging to idiosyncratic, just-shy-of-billionaire-status Stephen Cloobeck. Swalwell used the $26 million estate as a backdrop for his mythical tale of woe-is-me virtue signaling.

He had stayed numerous times in Cloobeck’s expansive quarters unchaperoned during his run for California governor, which made its debut on the late-night Jimmy Kimmel Show. “A lot has been said about me today through anonymous allegations, and I thought it was important that you see and hear from me directly,” Swalwell said, staring into the camera. “These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They’re absolutely false.” On April 13th, less than 50 hours from the release of his video, he announced that at some time in the future (this is strange in and of itself) he would resign his seat in Congress.

The odd-duck character, however, in this melodrama is the financial angel behind Swalwell’s rise to the top (at an anaemic 15%) of the jungle California gubernatorial heap in the latest polls. Who is Stephen Cloobeck? Well, he is an offbeat, shadowy investor in the not-so-glamorous timeshare real estate business. Cloobeck refers to Harry Reid, the longtime Democrat Senate majority leader from Nevada who died in 2021, as his “adopted dad.” His career in Las Vegas real estate led to the creation of the global timeshare company Diamond Resorts International, which Leon Black‘s Apollo Global Management purchased for $2.2 billion in 2016.

Cloobeck had launched his campaign for California governor from his home on election night in 2024 with Zac Efron and Casey Affleck in the camera shot. Throughout his career, the wannabe insider was prolific in touting his partisan bona fides. Barack Obama was a “frequent” golf partner (so says the not-quite-billionaire) and the former president eagerly included Cloobeck in his cocktail parties and soirees. Also on Stephen’s speed dial are Democrat heavy hitters that include Bill and Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker and we can’t leave out former Cuban Communist Alejandro Mayorkas.

A year after Cloobeck triumphantly entered the coveted California stakes race, he backed out and simultaneously threw his check book behind Eric Swalwell. Five months later, he’s throwing his arms in the air about the sudden politically provoked s**t show, saying in effect, “Who would ‘a thunk”? “If this was such a big known secret in political circles”, then how many others are there on the Hill”? Translated: “How the hell didn’t I know this”?

Living Large With the Low Life Crowd

But this 64-year-old cat is himself no stranger to the rumor mill, or to bad living, if you will. Apparently, he enjoys life in the vicinity of wrongdoing. While Swalwell was conducting sexual seminars away from his wife and children, Cloobeck experienced his latest tabloid bimbo eruption when his 28-year-old fiancée, an Israeli OnlyFans model and former Penthouse Pet named Adva Lavie, was arraigned on six charges after being accused of committing burglary at the homes of wealthy older men and younger women whom she met through dating apps.

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Congressman Eric Swalwell is one of the most despicable human beings in politics anywhere in any party. He is a malicious, infectious rodent whose insidious stench has assaulted my nostrils since before the astonishingly egregious intelligence scandal involving Fang Fang, who was, ahem, allegedly spying for the Chinese Communist Party. The guy is a sexual predator and even Republicans should be delighted to see him go, even if the odds of him being replaced by another mindless, creepy Democrat, are 97.3%.

Anybody with a sensitive schnoz for moral debauchery has known the sleazy side of Eric Swalwell for years.

Which raises the question enquiring minds want to know but most likely already sense the answer...

...Why now? Why is a conspiracy of like-minded odious partisans in the media and Democrat circles (same revolving-door cesspool) calling for the hanging of a hitman who never found a lie disgusting enough not to use against the POTUS?

Why is there a sudden and unified cascade of demonization against Swalwell arising from purely political sources within the domestic communist political project, but not from the Hollywood-dominated #MeToo movement?

Could it have something to do with the odd, quirky political situation in the polls two months out from the jungle primary for California governor - where two likeable, sensible guys on the ballot running as Republicans are outdueling any one batter on the baseball-sized team of Democrats crowding each other for attention?

This amounts to a delicious predicament to which Republicans have fallen ass-backwards into. The jungle primary was not an idea that swelled up from the loins of the electorate. It’s the baby delivered solely by those bipartisan elitists and idealists who sensed that closed primaries produced candidates for the general election who represented the “ideological extreme” of both parties. The cause for alarm should that for sake of argument be true never tipped my sensitive inner scales of justice.

California’s Jungle Primary Could Put Republicans in Power

The ideological chasm between the two major parties has grown wider and deeper while according to popular wisdom the more moderate voters have inclined to register as non-partisan or independent. A closed primary shuts out about 30% of California’s voters from registering a “moderating” input on the selection of candidates offered in the November general election, leaving it up to party “extremists” to choose their party’s standard bearers in a low-turnout primary.

In the back of the minds of Democrats, however, is the secret wish and hope that in a 62-38 state (Democrats to Republicans), they (Democrats) would oftentimes come up one-two in a jungle primary, precluding the expensive necessity of tackling a Republican or its political options in the Fall election. (It would become an in-house brawl between socialists as opposed to out-right communists). Sacramento already has a veto-proof state legislature. Achieving the status of two-Democrats-only running for governor in November seals the deal for them politically: Republicans would have no impact whatsoever on statewide issues, as is the case now.

If the unthinkable occurred and two Republicans only ran against each other for governor, assuring a Republican victory, it would be a major public relations embarrassment and disaster for Democrats in a Blue state. Unless Republicans used this rosy opportunity to dismantle the Democrats’ lock on the state Senate and Assembly – at least removing the ignominy of its power to override a Republican governor’s veto by a straight party-line vote – we would have another era of Arnold Schwarzenegger dead-in-the-water government. The jury’s out if that’s a good long-term optic for the California Republican Party.

Careful What You Wish For

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Greetings. I’m your average Santa Barbara neighbor, volunteerist, and localist, running for Santa Barbara County Supervisor. I’m running because our district deserves leadership that works towards encouraging local business, preserving our environmental and cultural heritage, bringing political decision-making closer to residents, and minimizing how dee…

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In our community, families sometimes wait years for a housing dispute to determine whether they can remain in their homes. Small businesses find themselves paralyzed by litigation that stretches on far too long. Parents in family-law matters endure many months – sometimes years– without clarity about their children’s futures. In my experience, justice d…

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I was recently reminded that when Victor Hugo published The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831, the Cathedral had fallen into dismal disrepair. His best-selling novel served to awaken readers around the world, along with Parisians, to the beauty and majesty of this neglected edifice, and they did something about it. It wasn’t countless letters or showing u…

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The Easter Holiday is celebrated all over the world. It represents the greatest act of love that mankind has ever known! An all-knowing and all-powerful God clothed himself in humanity to pull off the greatest “rescue mission” of all time.

The resurrection of Christ destroyed the two great enemies of humanity – “sin” and “death” – at the cross of Calvary…

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If a political ticket bags 75 million votes, but a globally coordinated temper tantrum only draws a fraction of that, the math is pretty unforgiving.

Well over 90% of your own coalition stayed home. The sheer volume of no-shows exposes a massive gap between vocal activists and actual voter consensus.

People are tired.

You can’t scream “The sky is falling!” for years and expect the working class to keep looking up while they’re tripping over potholes and paying eight dollars for a dozen eggs. Social media outrage is not real life.

Real life happens at the grocery store checkout line and the gas pump.

The Activist Crowd vs. The Everyday Local

Let’s get real: At the recent “No Kings” protests, you marched past struggling small businesses, blocked entrances, scared off paying customers, then patted yourselves on the back for “making a difference.” Meanwhile, the servers whose tips you torpedoed are the actual working class you claim to champion. They can’t afford a Tuesday afternoon off to cosplay as revolutionaries — they have Santa Barbara rent to pay.

You pulled a few thousand people on a good day down to De la Guerra Plaza with handmade cardboard signs.

Whoop de doo.

That cost our local economy three or four times that in lost business.

A hundred thousand people turn out for the Solstice Parade just to day-drink and gawk at giant papier-mâché bugs. Old Spanish Days draws well over 100,000 because residents want an excuse to smash cascarones on each other’s heads and crush margaritas at El Paseo. Even the Tuesday Farmers Market pulls a more engaged economically productive crowd than these manufactured standoffs.

When your grand “political uprising” against the sanctity of keeping our children safe can’t draw a fraction of the crowd we get for a weekend marathon or horses walking through town, It’s a cynical joke to claim you speak for the majority. You’re not a revolution — you’re a poorly attended street fair.

What the Median Voter Actually Wants

Political science keeps proving it: the “Silent Majority” is real, and they’re out of patience. Most voters will never attend a protest in their lives; they’re too busy dealing with reality.

The median voter isn’t trying to “overthrow the system.” They want safe streets and fewer drug zombies camped in front of boarded-up storefronts. They want actual consequences for shoplifting instead of catch-and-release with a sociological excuse. They’re exhausted by performative empathy that somehow makes our community look worse every year.

They know that “farm-to-table” environmentalism still means scraping less natural tar off their feet after a walk at Hendry’s — and enjoying an 8-minute commute on a finished 101 freeway.

And frankly?

They want a State Street that welcomes back cars and parades, not a dilapidated obstacle course for teenagers on e-bikes that blocks the very people and tourists who pay the bills.

The Mandate of the Drop Box

Finally, yelling into a megaphone in Alameda Park doesn’t crown kings, and it doesn’t fix our town. A democratic republic runs on the quiet overwhelming consensus of the voting public — not the hyper-engaged, ideologically extreme fraction that shows up in pink hair and a tutu.

Real power doesn’t come from who yells loudest or blocks the most traffic. It comes from everyday residents quietly figuring out how to pay their bills at the kitchen table. When the marine layer burns off, it’s the actual vote in the ballot box — from people who just want their functional, beautiful city back — that prevails.

Anthony Bourdain is quoted as having said: “Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.”

•••

Craig Saling was born and raised in Santa Barbara and is the owner of Santa Barbara Cash Register.

Publisher’s Note:

Though local media outlets adopted wholesale the marchers’ figure of “10,000” and more, a simple photographic analysis of the march down State Street shows fewer than 3,000 people, assuming a densely packed crowd. And even if half the protesters skipped the march and went home early, the total would still be less than 6,000 — a full 40% below the headlines.

Why the inflation? Much of the local press openly supports “the cause” (whatever that is) and has ties to both organizing and (mis)reporting it.

This is not a broad popular uprising. It’s a motivated but narrow slice of partisan activists who scream about “saving democracy,” but who won’t accept a democratic result when it doesn’t go their way. In short, they are the spoiled and entitled who order unlimited breadsticks and iced tea at a restaurant along the parade route, then skip out on the bill.

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I never set out to be a politician. I stepped into public service to do what I believed was right for my community—even when those decisions were difficult or unpopular.

As a former Santa Barbara City Council member, I was often the swing vote. That meant I wasn’t there to follow a script or serve a political agenda—I was there to ask tough questions and make decisions based on what was right. Behind closed doors, my vote was guided by one principle: accountability. I spoke up to ensure justice was served and that taxpayer money was not used to protect or save anyone’s career—political or otherwise.

That independence came at a cost.

At one point, I had the support of the Democrat Party. But the moment I refused to endorse certain candidates or fall in line with a predetermined agenda, that support disappeared. What followed were negative narratives and political pressure that ultimately contributed to my loss.

I lost my seat—but not my principles.

My experience revealed something bigger than one campaign.

For years, Democrats have held the majority in this county. With that majority comes responsibility. Yet many of the same issues regularly highlighted today—housing, cost of living, and public safety—are challenges that have existed for years. Voters deserve to ask: if these solutions are so urgent now, why weren’t they addressed when there was already the power to act?

There is also a growing gap between what some leaders say and what they actually do.

We hear constant calls for more affordable housing. Yet at the same time, there is resistance to the development needed to increase supply. During my time on the council, I proposed a housing initiative designed to expand opportunities for working families—one that would have helped keep generations of families in their neighborhoods, reduce displacement, and bring additional revenue to the city.

That proposal was never given a fair chance.

Instead of being evaluated on its merits, it was shut down—caught in the crossfire of politics. In my view, some colleagues were reluctant to support it not because it lacked value, but because of the political environment. There was a real concern about being seen as aligning with someone who had stepped outside the expected party line—and fear that similar political consequences could follow.

That is not how good policy should be decided.

We see similar patterns in fiscal decisions. Policies are passed that increase the burden on working families, while the city continues to face financial strain. Residents are left asking where their tax dollars are going—and why the same problems persist year after year.

On issue after issue, there is a gap between rhetoric and results.

Leaders say they are listening. But real leadership requires more than listening—it requires action, collaboration, and results. It requires the courage to move beyond political talking points and deliver real solutions.

Meanwhile, the impact on our community is clear. Longtime residents feel pushed out. Trust in local government is eroding. Educators continue to fight for fair wages and better working conditions. And too many people feel that speaking up comes with consequences—that if they challenge the status quo, they risk being ignored or pushed aside.

That is not the kind of community we should accept.

Local elections matter. They shape our daily lives more than we often realize. And voters deserve more than slogans or party labels—they deserve transparency, accountability, and leadership that reflects the real needs of the community.

I know speaking out comes with consequences—I’ve lived it. But silence comes at an even greater cost. If you care about your community, your family, and your future, then get involved. Ask questions. Demand answers. And vote with intention. Because real change will never come from staying quiet—it comes from people willing to stand up and say enough is enough.

Alejandra Gutierrez is a former Santa Barbara City Councilwoman, Santa Barbara native, first-generation college graduate, and daughter of Jalisco immigrants. She served over two decades in public service as the first Latina and the first local to represent District 1.

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The Neighborhood School

About two weeks ago, I was out delivering gifts of books to South County elementary schools. Cleveland School was my first stop. As I hopped out of my Jeep, I turned to look at the beautiful homes visible on the other side of APS. They were quintessential Santa Barbara with commanding views of the mountains directly behind, facing…

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For years, even before the world shut down in 2020, many good articles have run locally about the state of State Street, the huge 4 + story buildings whose developers skillfully work around local building limits and past the recommendations of our Architectural Board. I have attended Pearl Chase meetings where the members were asked how many were unhappy with the way State Street looks and operates today. With about a hundred people attending at the Alhecama, every single hand in the room went up. Similar response with practically anyone you talk to about it who is over 40 and really sees the big picture, or knows what a gem of a downtown corridor it once was.

Entire organizations dedicated to bringing cars back to Downtown offer business-promoting sound economic sense to the reasons why State Street was better when cars moved up and down the corridor. Remember when you could get around town in seven minutes, to any destination: East side, West side, San Roque, Hope Ranch, Montecito? Now, whole streets are blocked off, from Sola on the East side to Robbins on the West (to name just two of many).

We would often ask about those making the decisions for such drastic changes to our once graceful traffic flow. We surmise that they’re fresh out of civil engineering classes from some of our local colleges, full of political/philosophical rationale, given the green light (emphasis on “green”) by the local city government, who, with a few exceptions, march to the same civil ideology.

All these smart articles, the pushback, the attendance at endless City Council meetings to protest articulately and knowledgably, especially about building excesses and the downtown corridor, mostly go unheeded. And we know that as we reflect upon the dismal vestiges of our former downtown, which appeals now mostly to tourists. We see the huge cranes looming over all the two-story downtown buildings remaining in compliance with traditional policy.

But what I really want to address is yet another business demise: this one on Figueroa that closed on Valentine’s Day this year.

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I am hoping that none of you are fooled into believing that the recent gasoline price spikes at the pump are due to the war with Iran, because nothing could be further from the truth as it affects California.

Our problem is not the war with Iran, but the war on oil.

I, and many others, such as Katy Grimes from the California Globe, have been reporting for the past year that USC has predicted our gas prices are going to hit $8 per gallon.

Why?

Because our state government, beginning 20 years ago, declared a war against fossil fuels.

We told you all along that this war would end up becoming a war on consumers. Maybe now you will believe us.

The War on Oil was Three-Fold

First, they started to ban drilling for oil in California. That meant there was less oil going to refineries so that they could produce gasoline and diesel.

Second, they started charging the gasoline refineries billions of dollars in extra charges to keep operating through California’s Cap and Trade program.

Third, they sought to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state, along with natural gas hookups in homes for water heaters, stoves, and cooktops.

You had a war on production, refining, and consumption.

So, what happened?

The producers shut down their operations. They flat out quit and left the state.

Several refineries are now shut down and three more have warned Governor Gavin Newsom that they are going to shut down too because they don’t have enough fuel to keep their operations going and they can’t afford the ever-increasing fees.

Not only that, but there was also one pipeline that was used to move oil from one end of the state to the other.

It has shut down, too.

Why isn’t Newsom panicking?

Because this was their plan all along.

Years ago, these activists admitted they wanted gasoline to become unaffordable, to force you to drive an electric vehicle.

Well, Guess What?

We don’t have enough electricity or charging stations for everyone to go all-electric. In fact, we not only lack sufficient electricity generation, we also don’t have the ability to transmit and distribute the additional electricity to our homes and businesses.

In other words, the entire grid is grossly inadequate to handle the demand of our going all-electric. If the enviro-whackos and their friends in the legislature had been serious about transitioning to all-electric, they should have been working (and spending billions) on the grid rather than high speed rail.

Meanwhile, Trump has ordered Sable to resume production of their offshore rigs and their onshore processing facility. Despite the rising price of gas, you can expect everybody and their mother to follow with lawsuits. There is also the distinct possibility that some agencies will levy incredible fines for every day of production without the requisite permits from local and state agencies that constitute a poke in the eye to Trump’s application of the Defense Production Act.

Regardless, nothing is going to change, even if gasoline hits $8-10 per gallon, as predicted. California is determined to transition away from gasoline and other fossil fuels faster than our economy and consumers can withstand to live without it. In all wars, there is the phenomenon of collateral damage, and you are it!

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