Great op-ed, Bonnie! I am thoroughly disgusted by what they've done to our historic downtown, not to mention the elimination of critical infrastructure. I'm particularly disgusted by the process. Have you considered publishing your op-eds regarding leading SB issues in the Noozhawk (also) for a wider audience?
Residents of SB Districts 1 and 3: Vote Alejandra Gutierrez and Tony Becerro for more balance on the City Council.
I'll second Victorias ideas on publishing Bonnies work to a larger audience. Also deserving of a larger audience were the numbers of city employees for other similar sized coastal CA towns compared to ours that JL put together a few weeks back.
Better option is a wider audience comes to Santa Barbara Currents. Those on NextDoor are already to quickly to dismiss this as a “right wing Trumpy blog” to a chorus of ready snickers.
I have a few simple questions I would like our Mayor and City Council to answer: If State Street was viable before Covid and was closed “temporarily” because of Covid, why not return to the pre-Covid status quo? If you caused State Street to become the mess it has become by “temporarily” closing it, why not “unclose” it?
Robert, I think that's the question. Was it viable before Covid? Seems to me it it's been dying a slow death and the latest is just another nail in the coffin.
The same mentality that was behind bloodletting. Why not encourage the vitality of state street by opening it up and allowing 2 hours free parking and maybe a sales tax holiday from time to time?
We'll disagree on this but retail is dead. And a brewery every block doesn't make a downtown. And the 2008 crisis due to greed and inadequate regulation and oversight of the financial industry?
Thank you, Bonnie, for the article on the failings of the City Council. Until the council gets a majority of common sense thinkers it will continue to be the same old story getting worse and worse. I cringe to think of the future for this once lovely town, The powers that be seem hell bent on driving out the remaining stores with their hike in sales tax and rent increases The downtown area is one that I try my hardest to stay away from these days. A sad commentary on Santa Barbara.
So much of what the council does appears to be driven ideologically. Their mandate has switched from serving our city's best interests to signaling that we are a progressive city fighting climate change by making driving as miserable an experience as possible. Indifferent to the consequences, undeterred by failure, this latest vision of State street will surely drive more retailers and customers away, further reducing revenue for the city
Bonnie is my favorite Current contributor. Her posts are always about SB county and not the country at large (I can get plenty of reading material on this elsewhere). She digs deep into the facts. We need more of this. Andy Caldwell is also a country treasure!
Katina, I love Bonnie and Andy, but I think you're missing out on the great value that SB Curren has for its readers on national political issues as well. We haven't been in a normal political atmosphere since 2016. The local media is biased towards the Democrats and either ignores or demonizes the concerns of people who aren't Democrats, or like me, who've left the Democratic Party. We have been bullied into silence while we listen to people here go on and on about how much they hate Trump. I think SB Current has done a magnificent job of opening up much-needed discussions about every aspect of the craziness we, who don't go along with the Democratic Party agenda, are subjected to. And the local political situation has been infected by the national.
Although about a third of Santa Barbar's population hold conservative values, The Current is the only place we have a voice. I believe that the opinions written on this site can persuade voters and make a difference. I love it when the Trump haters come on here. They are reading and reacting to alternative ideas. I believe that our ideas are better for America and can win support if those ideas are heard. The progressives know this too and is why they favor censorship. Hillary Clinton recently opined that there should be serious consequences, as in jail time, for misinformation. I have read many of our detractors comment that this publication is nothing but disinformation. We need to have those discussions that only happen here. Spread the word, put a bumper sticker on your bicycle and get as many as possible to read The Current.
I agree. Although I think a few of the TDSers are paid because they seem disconnected, just going through motions. I like seeing the detractors who are more emotional. It means they're here to experience another side no matter how painful.
There is a case to be made that depending on the outcome of the election, we could loose the privilege of expressing ourselves on substack. Substack being an organ of the Trump movement which came so close to destroying democracy and which must be rooted out forevermore. Said better than I could, watch the latest edition of America this week from about 1:40:00.
Case in point why the discussion of national politics is generally better here than msm. All these articles today about RFKJr's sexting with that journalist. We've had two assassination attempts, no idea who's running the country and this is what msm writes about. I don't care about him sexting this journalist.
" I think SB Current has done a magnificent job of opening up much-needed discussions about every aspect of the craziness we, who don't go along with the Democratic Party agenda, are subjected to. And the local political situation has been infected by the national."
Except you espouse the "craziness" that many democrats particularly of the Christian and southern variery before you would have condemend as immoral/indecent. It seems as though you desire a "sensible decay" where that which appeals to your moral relativism is okay, but anything beyond it must be opposed. This is not coherent as liberalism must constantly evolve to discard the norms and traditions of the day - and by continuing to accept the status quo of American democracy/consitutionalism rooted in secularism, even if you do stop the decay for a while, eventually another paradigm shift will happen that moves everything even further away from God, faith, and family and even today's liberalism. This slippery slope is noy a fallacy and this descent into hell will continur unless the immoral status quo is totally rejeceted.
Enough with pragmatism and band aid solutions that only put the decay on hold, and only causes "conservatives" and "moderates" to become liberals tomorrow. Long live the counter revolution and a rebellion against immorality!
Good article. I'd like to add that all bad decisions by elected officials and bureaucrats (including LOST law suits) are paid by us the Taxpayers.
If only these people had to pay with their OWN money, then we would see no deficits and good government decisions FOR the PEOPLE.
Just look at that County VS AMR. What a politically driven decision. It reeks of corruption. All levels of government have corruption and biasness for personal gain present.
I wish I could stop this, but don't know how. They control the elections. Just look into Joe Hollands lost law suits.
# 1 - vote down all tax increases. Throw out the union compromised politicians running for any public office- school boards on up.
Their job is independence and fiscal accountability first; not beholden to internal public employee unions demands. Ignore their threats we residents will be punished if we don’t give them more money, like they are doing right now in this election.
It may start small, but even diminishing election margins have impact.
Why in the world is it so hard for our City Leaders to see the one on one, direct historical relationship between free parking time and retail sales. Spend the proposed corridor expenditure on intelligently eliminating the “limited parking time” restrictions.
Thanks Bonnie, I couldn't agree more. And I wrote a letter to the editor on Noozhawk, it's published this morning along with quite a few others that want State street returned to pre-Covid status. I had to type "Letters" into the search bar, sometimes they don't appear until later in the week.
The bottom line for me is Oscar, Mike, Meagan and Kristen are only hearing what they want to hear from those that send emails and post comments. As an example John Palminteri posted about the story a few days ago and I would say of the 99 comments, at least half want the street opened. So much for the evidence provided by Kristen and Oscar. . .
As a person who is downtown several days a week, and who walks State Street (1300 to 800 blocks) looking for a place to dine (not really much "shopping/browsing" available any more), I am dismayed by the number of retail store vacancies. It seems the easiest and most cost effective solution may be to just reopen State Street to normal vehicular traffic. Parklets, nope; outside dining, get over it. We will not fall for the "pandemic" scare again, will we?
Thank you, Bonnie. Grand Paseo … give me a break. How about calling it Grand Mistakeo. As someone who has struggled during the last year and a half with physical issues that have greatly restricted my mobility, what they are describing would be a State Street I would never go near, at least in my current state, even with my husband taking me there and walking with me. I'm lucky because thanks to a lot of work and a physical therapist from the amazing Genius of Flexibility Center, I'm walking better and better. But I don't risk going to State Street now, much as I always loved to stroll and shop there, because of the very real dangers from cyclists. My mom was hit by a cyclist and severely injured. She was merely trying to get to the other side of State in the crosswalk with the light when a cyclist ran the red. It happens more than the e-bike lobbyists admit or are willing to address. And what's being proposed? I would not go there. I'm not going to risk setting back the progress I've made through hard work and discipline. For a so-called Pedestrian Mall, it's anything but pedestrian friendly.
Polly, it is sad that a simple stroll down a once wonderful street has become a nightmare. It is a great misfortune that a good portion of the bicyclists are using the street as a race course, completely unmonitored and oblivious to the safety of everyone.
Grand Mistakeo <VBG>. Remember in the ET movie when ET is on a bicycle moving up into the sky ... maybe someone can develop a launching mechanism for bicycles moving on a sidewalk. Eject them into outer space. Same with cyclists running red lights ... just launch 'em into the atmosphere where the air is fresh, and they'll never return and one less Dem vote, too. Or start carrying a stick to shove into the spokes of a sidewalk cyclist. Can you tell I hate most cyclists?
Curious has to how the SBCC came up with the "Spanglish" name "Grand Paseo"? It should be either "Gran Paseo" (a REALLY BIG pedestrian zone) or "Paseo Grande" (a large pedestrian zone). I suppose such things are to be expected in a city that has replaced all its " ñ " with an " n " (i.e. "Canon [sic] Perdido") and omits the accent marks from Spanish names to discourage the correct pronunciation (i.e. "Los Olivos [sic, Ólivos]). This is hardly a reflection of Santa Bárbara's much promoted "Spanish heritage." ¡Ay Dios mio! Their ignorance speaks volumes about their true respect for the pertinent culture of Santa Bárbara.
Democrats do, it’s called increased taxes & bond measures.
Like a bottomless credit card that they will eventually default on walking away with a house full of goods they don’t deserve.
The lack of financial responsibility is amazing. Do our local officials balance their personal finances or are they dipping into public benefits for personal gain too? Like quid pro quo voting for home improvements or rent allocations or other benefits?
I am curious. Are there posted speed signs on State Street prominently displayed so that e-bikes are warned of the speed limit? If so, what department is responsible for enforcing it? It's only a matter of time (or maybe it's already here) that there will be lawsuits. Now comes the daydream part where the actual department head who is responsible for the overseeing of this is made accountable. What if their salary was docked a certain percentage every time something like this, that could be avoided with proper management, arose. An even better daydream is that all government employees all over the country would be financially penalized (or better fired) who were negligent in their duties .
What motivates a council to come up with an idea to turn a main thoroughfare of the town into a park? This destructive behavior has taken away major events that drew people downtown to celebrate longstanding traditions of Santa Barbara that include Old Spanish Days, Solstice, Fourth of July, Veterans Day, and Christmas. The motivation clearly is to move beyond fossil fuel and its byproduct the automobile. This article raises the question of the uncertain outcome from moving to a future that will be expensive and could be a disaster. I think it already is a disaster. Architectural historian David Gebhard who was guru of the Landmarks Commission for decades saw the benefit of State Street for cruising. He opposed its closing and if he saw it today, I am sure he would even be more adamant in keeping it open. (BTW, Dr Gebhard was a lifelong bicyclist.) The current street closure is also anti-senior and for others who have physical challenges. Getting dropped off at restaurant or a theatre or retail business can be a problem for these people if the business is in the middle of the block. I can't help but quote Shakespeare's Puck: "What fools these mortals be."
Thank you for writing. The stubbornness of council is astounding! The new police station (at $16k/sq.ft.) has pushed farmers market to Carrillo and State, a main thoroughfare crossing the city; yet another continuing experiment in city planning. Increasing any tax IS governments "creative" solution to their debt, but constricting landlords to raise rents is not. Electric bikes could be charged a fee; after all, they are "motor vehicles" and not bicycles. This action would offset increased parking fees, etc., which tend to affect State St. visitor's wallets. If "Flat, Flexible and Fun" were implemented, I can envision a good downpour flooding shops on (flat) State St.; include (flexible) shabby outdated dining structures washing away, etc.. and I think not a lot of fun cleaning up the mess on "Grand Mistakeo" [Polly]. Three council members are up for election-a time to do something about our government.
Great op-ed, Bonnie! I am thoroughly disgusted by what they've done to our historic downtown, not to mention the elimination of critical infrastructure. I'm particularly disgusted by the process. Have you considered publishing your op-eds regarding leading SB issues in the Noozhawk (also) for a wider audience?
Residents of SB Districts 1 and 3: Vote Alejandra Gutierrez and Tony Becerro for more balance on the City Council.
Amen.
I'll second Victorias ideas on publishing Bonnies work to a larger audience. Also deserving of a larger audience were the numbers of city employees for other similar sized coastal CA towns compared to ours that JL put together a few weeks back.
Better option is a wider audience comes to Santa Barbara Currents. Those on NextDoor are already to quickly to dismiss this as a “right wing Trumpy blog” to a chorus of ready snickers.
I have a few simple questions I would like our Mayor and City Council to answer: If State Street was viable before Covid and was closed “temporarily” because of Covid, why not return to the pre-Covid status quo? If you caused State Street to become the mess it has become by “temporarily” closing it, why not “unclose” it?
My sentiment exactly, Robert.
Robert, I think that's the question. Was it viable before Covid? Seems to me it it's been dying a slow death and the latest is just another nail in the coffin.
More than it is today!
The same mentality that was behind bloodletting. Why not encourage the vitality of state street by opening it up and allowing 2 hours free parking and maybe a sales tax holiday from time to time?
What are the commercial activities where we still get in our car to patronize?
In-and-out.
No, it was not dying but in fact recovering from the 2008 financial crisis melt down.
We'll disagree on this but retail is dead. And a brewery every block doesn't make a downtown. And the 2008 crisis due to greed and inadequate regulation and oversight of the financial industry?
Thank you, Bonnie, for the article on the failings of the City Council. Until the council gets a majority of common sense thinkers it will continue to be the same old story getting worse and worse. I cringe to think of the future for this once lovely town, The powers that be seem hell bent on driving out the remaining stores with their hike in sales tax and rent increases The downtown area is one that I try my hardest to stay away from these days. A sad commentary on Santa Barbara.
So much of what the council does appears to be driven ideologically. Their mandate has switched from serving our city's best interests to signaling that we are a progressive city fighting climate change by making driving as miserable an experience as possible. Indifferent to the consequences, undeterred by failure, this latest vision of State street will surely drive more retailers and customers away, further reducing revenue for the city
How will these leftist virtue-signalers respond to declining tax dollars, that directly impact their own job security?
Surely a sales tax rate increase will be proposed
Bonnie is my favorite Current contributor. Her posts are always about SB county and not the country at large (I can get plenty of reading material on this elsewhere). She digs deep into the facts. We need more of this. Andy Caldwell is also a country treasure!
Katina, I love Bonnie and Andy, but I think you're missing out on the great value that SB Curren has for its readers on national political issues as well. We haven't been in a normal political atmosphere since 2016. The local media is biased towards the Democrats and either ignores or demonizes the concerns of people who aren't Democrats, or like me, who've left the Democratic Party. We have been bullied into silence while we listen to people here go on and on about how much they hate Trump. I think SB Current has done a magnificent job of opening up much-needed discussions about every aspect of the craziness we, who don't go along with the Democratic Party agenda, are subjected to. And the local political situation has been infected by the national.
Although about a third of Santa Barbar's population hold conservative values, The Current is the only place we have a voice. I believe that the opinions written on this site can persuade voters and make a difference. I love it when the Trump haters come on here. They are reading and reacting to alternative ideas. I believe that our ideas are better for America and can win support if those ideas are heard. The progressives know this too and is why they favor censorship. Hillary Clinton recently opined that there should be serious consequences, as in jail time, for misinformation. I have read many of our detractors comment that this publication is nothing but disinformation. We need to have those discussions that only happen here. Spread the word, put a bumper sticker on your bicycle and get as many as possible to read The Current.
I agree. Although I think a few of the TDSers are paid because they seem disconnected, just going through motions. I like seeing the detractors who are more emotional. It means they're here to experience another side no matter how painful.
There is a case to be made that depending on the outcome of the election, we could loose the privilege of expressing ourselves on substack. Substack being an organ of the Trump movement which came so close to destroying democracy and which must be rooted out forevermore. Said better than I could, watch the latest edition of America this week from about 1:40:00.
Case in point why the discussion of national politics is generally better here than msm. All these articles today about RFKJr's sexting with that journalist. We've had two assassination attempts, no idea who's running the country and this is what msm writes about. I don't care about him sexting this journalist.
Which is why I'm here everyday.
" I think SB Current has done a magnificent job of opening up much-needed discussions about every aspect of the craziness we, who don't go along with the Democratic Party agenda, are subjected to. And the local political situation has been infected by the national."
Except you espouse the "craziness" that many democrats particularly of the Christian and southern variery before you would have condemend as immoral/indecent. It seems as though you desire a "sensible decay" where that which appeals to your moral relativism is okay, but anything beyond it must be opposed. This is not coherent as liberalism must constantly evolve to discard the norms and traditions of the day - and by continuing to accept the status quo of American democracy/consitutionalism rooted in secularism, even if you do stop the decay for a while, eventually another paradigm shift will happen that moves everything even further away from God, faith, and family and even today's liberalism. This slippery slope is noy a fallacy and this descent into hell will continur unless the immoral status quo is totally rejeceted.
Enough with pragmatism and band aid solutions that only put the decay on hold, and only causes "conservatives" and "moderates" to become liberals tomorrow. Long live the counter revolution and a rebellion against immorality!
Good article. I'd like to add that all bad decisions by elected officials and bureaucrats (including LOST law suits) are paid by us the Taxpayers.
If only these people had to pay with their OWN money, then we would see no deficits and good government decisions FOR the PEOPLE.
Just look at that County VS AMR. What a politically driven decision. It reeks of corruption. All levels of government have corruption and biasness for personal gain present.
I wish I could stop this, but don't know how. They control the elections. Just look into Joe Hollands lost law suits.
# 1 - vote down all tax increases. Throw out the union compromised politicians running for any public office- school boards on up.
Their job is independence and fiscal accountability first; not beholden to internal public employee unions demands. Ignore their threats we residents will be punished if we don’t give them more money, like they are doing right now in this election.
It may start small, but even diminishing election margins have impact.
Agree, we must start some where to begin sending the message. Enough is Enough!
Why in the world is it so hard for our City Leaders to see the one on one, direct historical relationship between free parking time and retail sales. Spend the proposed corridor expenditure on intelligently eliminating the “limited parking time” restrictions.
Because our city leaders don't care about you, me, or this city or the retailers here. They only care about their future in the Globalist Uniparty.
Thanks Bonnie, I couldn't agree more. And I wrote a letter to the editor on Noozhawk, it's published this morning along with quite a few others that want State street returned to pre-Covid status. I had to type "Letters" into the search bar, sometimes they don't appear until later in the week.
The bottom line for me is Oscar, Mike, Meagan and Kristen are only hearing what they want to hear from those that send emails and post comments. As an example John Palminteri posted about the story a few days ago and I would say of the 99 comments, at least half want the street opened. So much for the evidence provided by Kristen and Oscar. . .
As a person who is downtown several days a week, and who walks State Street (1300 to 800 blocks) looking for a place to dine (not really much "shopping/browsing" available any more), I am dismayed by the number of retail store vacancies. It seems the easiest and most cost effective solution may be to just reopen State Street to normal vehicular traffic. Parklets, nope; outside dining, get over it. We will not fall for the "pandemic" scare again, will we?
CA government, local and state must be trying to destroy small businesses.
Thank you, Bonnie. Grand Paseo … give me a break. How about calling it Grand Mistakeo. As someone who has struggled during the last year and a half with physical issues that have greatly restricted my mobility, what they are describing would be a State Street I would never go near, at least in my current state, even with my husband taking me there and walking with me. I'm lucky because thanks to a lot of work and a physical therapist from the amazing Genius of Flexibility Center, I'm walking better and better. But I don't risk going to State Street now, much as I always loved to stroll and shop there, because of the very real dangers from cyclists. My mom was hit by a cyclist and severely injured. She was merely trying to get to the other side of State in the crosswalk with the light when a cyclist ran the red. It happens more than the e-bike lobbyists admit or are willing to address. And what's being proposed? I would not go there. I'm not going to risk setting back the progress I've made through hard work and discipline. For a so-called Pedestrian Mall, it's anything but pedestrian friendly.
Polly, it is sad that a simple stroll down a once wonderful street has become a nightmare. It is a great misfortune that a good portion of the bicyclists are using the street as a race course, completely unmonitored and oblivious to the safety of everyone.
Grand Mistakeo <VBG>. Remember in the ET movie when ET is on a bicycle moving up into the sky ... maybe someone can develop a launching mechanism for bicycles moving on a sidewalk. Eject them into outer space. Same with cyclists running red lights ... just launch 'em into the atmosphere where the air is fresh, and they'll never return and one less Dem vote, too. Or start carrying a stick to shove into the spokes of a sidewalk cyclist. Can you tell I hate most cyclists?
Curious has to how the SBCC came up with the "Spanglish" name "Grand Paseo"? It should be either "Gran Paseo" (a REALLY BIG pedestrian zone) or "Paseo Grande" (a large pedestrian zone). I suppose such things are to be expected in a city that has replaced all its " ñ " with an " n " (i.e. "Canon [sic] Perdido") and omits the accent marks from Spanish names to discourage the correct pronunciation (i.e. "Los Olivos [sic, Ólivos]). This is hardly a reflection of Santa Bárbara's much promoted "Spanish heritage." ¡Ay Dios mio! Their ignorance speaks volumes about their true respect for the pertinent culture of Santa Bárbara.
I’ve traveled to numerous other CA cities and cities and townships around the country.
SB seems to be one of the few that cannot keep brick & mortar stores alive.
SB has always been known for unfriendly business tactics and development, home renovations, etc….
Have you ever asked why SB government hates businesses?
Yes retail is doing well. SB locals are forced to buy basic goods online because stores cannot survive here.
SB is the place businesses go to die.
Money grows on trees?
Don’t you have a money tree?
Democrats do, it’s called increased taxes & bond measures.
Like a bottomless credit card that they will eventually default on walking away with a house full of goods they don’t deserve.
The lack of financial responsibility is amazing. Do our local officials balance their personal finances or are they dipping into public benefits for personal gain too? Like quid pro quo voting for home improvements or rent allocations or other benefits?
Hmmmm
Has anyone looked into that?
I am curious. Are there posted speed signs on State Street prominently displayed so that e-bikes are warned of the speed limit? If so, what department is responsible for enforcing it? It's only a matter of time (or maybe it's already here) that there will be lawsuits. Now comes the daydream part where the actual department head who is responsible for the overseeing of this is made accountable. What if their salary was docked a certain percentage every time something like this, that could be avoided with proper management, arose. An even better daydream is that all government employees all over the country would be financially penalized (or better fired) who were negligent in their duties .
What motivates a council to come up with an idea to turn a main thoroughfare of the town into a park? This destructive behavior has taken away major events that drew people downtown to celebrate longstanding traditions of Santa Barbara that include Old Spanish Days, Solstice, Fourth of July, Veterans Day, and Christmas. The motivation clearly is to move beyond fossil fuel and its byproduct the automobile. This article raises the question of the uncertain outcome from moving to a future that will be expensive and could be a disaster. I think it already is a disaster. Architectural historian David Gebhard who was guru of the Landmarks Commission for decades saw the benefit of State Street for cruising. He opposed its closing and if he saw it today, I am sure he would even be more adamant in keeping it open. (BTW, Dr Gebhard was a lifelong bicyclist.) The current street closure is also anti-senior and for others who have physical challenges. Getting dropped off at restaurant or a theatre or retail business can be a problem for these people if the business is in the middle of the block. I can't help but quote Shakespeare's Puck: "What fools these mortals be."
Thank you for writing. The stubbornness of council is astounding! The new police station (at $16k/sq.ft.) has pushed farmers market to Carrillo and State, a main thoroughfare crossing the city; yet another continuing experiment in city planning. Increasing any tax IS governments "creative" solution to their debt, but constricting landlords to raise rents is not. Electric bikes could be charged a fee; after all, they are "motor vehicles" and not bicycles. This action would offset increased parking fees, etc., which tend to affect State St. visitor's wallets. If "Flat, Flexible and Fun" were implemented, I can envision a good downpour flooding shops on (flat) State St.; include (flexible) shabby outdated dining structures washing away, etc.. and I think not a lot of fun cleaning up the mess on "Grand Mistakeo" [Polly]. Three council members are up for election-a time to do something about our government.