Repeatedly rebuffed by the majority of Santa Barbarians, a clearly out-of-touch City Council pulled the Classic palace coup on both State Street and road narrowing.
Undercover of what we now know was questionable ‘’Fauci Medicine” and the French Laundry joke, the most radical council members passed an Emergency Suspension of Historic Landmarks by removing State Street from the Landmark Commission’s control and reassigning it.
‘’Council Coup’‘ State Street planning (including the master plan process) was effectively removed from HLC’s normal purview by Council action. Council then assigned Closing State Street and called it the “State Street Advisory Committee and related processes.” Their actions excluded the opinions and experiences of the majority of Santa Barbarians.
It was and is an act of clear power politics by the Socialist Council. The partisan vote of 1 September 2026 was an example of ignoring the people (residents and taxpayers) who supposedly matter.
Canceling the Historic Landmarks Commission’s power to safeguard the Pearl Chase Hispanic Downtown is clear arrogance. The City Core that had provided decades of stability in good and bad economic times was torn apart, combined with the concept of Vision Zero (VZ) by narrowing and/or closing streets. The L.A. Times has reported 15 years of Los Angeles failure of Vision Zero. KTLA News has repeated articles about the failure of VZ in the City of Santa Monica.
Rejected for years by the now eliminated DO (Downtown Organization), along with a petition signed by over 90% of businesses against closing State Street and De La Guerra Street, this crafty and unethical Council attacked. They destroyed the safeguard of the Jewel of the California Coast.
Don’t like what the people want?
Too bad.
They removed State Street from HLC’s normal purview.
People who (via re-runs) watch the TV soap Santa Barbara, come expecting to see a slice of Hispanic culture, not high-rise ‘”pack ‘em & stack ‘em’” Los Angeles, complete with congested streets that no longer work. The Santa Barbara City Council – both by action and words – has proclaimed that Santa Barbarians who believe in traditions are persona non grata. Within five years, using city trolls who ignore statistical data, they have carved up a century-old and working transportation grid.
These are the same civil servants (?) who would sell their souls for a golden parachute retirement.
Former Mayor Shiela Lodge: Santa Barbara’s first female mayor, and the longest serving mayor of the city (1981-1993/12 consecutive years), repeatedly stated that she wished she had never started the narrowing of State Street. Mayor Lodge on the HLC, Planning Commission, and in private statements, was ignored. The new radicalized Council said, “So sorry.”
Put This in Perspective
1) The State Street closure began as a temporary emergency measure. It was later codified in 2023 via Title 31 (set to expire at the end of 2026 or upon adoption of a permanent Master Plan).
2) HLC members and others have later expressed frustration that aspects of State Street planning were effectively removed from HLC’s normal purview. The palace coup assigned State Street planning to a State Street Advisory Committee/related processes.
3) The Council spent $11 million to remove the emergency evacuation route of four lanes under Hwy 101 on State Street.
4) The Council under (visionless) Vision Zero expanded the bike paths to just under 100 miles and has not seen an increase in bike use. Milpas is next.
5) Auto drivers/customers/locals, in frustration over Old Town road obstruction-congestion, are now flooding outer State Street.
6) Council statements and reliance on MTD in Old Town, have watched MTD reduce and shut down routes as ridership has shrunk.
7) Public Resistance to Council votes and comments (solely to represent no more than 20% of the public), are met with stonewall silence.
8) When Letters of Comment for Public Record are submitted to Council, the cone of silence descends. Not once, for example, has Cars Are Basic’s statements of fact in opposition to Council actions and statements been commented upon. CAB’s calls for proof of concept are ignored. In other words, we are told to “Sit in your corner and shut up.”
The general public is calling the Council actions and narrow views illegitimate. As public anger grows, so too does the City’s resistance to the public. All the while city employees working on the streets mutter about how deranged the Council is.
Depending upon apathy among the city majority, the radical Council wins. The donkey’s tail is wagging the head. CAB has canvassed a large number of Santa Barbarians and almost 100% of the time the response to the past decade of street destruction and intentional congestion is “Stop It!”
This “restructuring” of Santa Barbara is a fool’s folly; just ask Camino Real Shoppers in Goleta.
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It’s time to act. All Santa Barbara citizens and property owners need to firm their own group and demand changes. This has to stop. Santa Barbara needs to go back to its original roots. NOW
It’s Santa Barbara city Council and the DSA‘s (but I repeat myself), new way of doing the business of politics. We know better than you so shut up and watch us do whatever we want. Rules for thee, but not for me. The destruction of America from within, something they’ve been working on for a very long time.