Introducing The 15 Minute City
by Bonnie Donovan
DID YOU KNOW? …
The Community Environmental Council (CEC) reports to the Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) on Wednesday... Funny, no mention of El Pueblo Viejo here…
Just who are these people on the CEC, anyway?
Are they environmentalists?
Do they work for the state or for the local government?
What is their ground of being, their motivation?
We don’t know, and no one we ask seems to know either.
Continued HLC discussion of the State Street Advisory Committee (SSAC). Is Anthony Grumbine, of HLC, trying to finesse this process? He's working ad hoc with a few select architects (who?) to quietly provide the SSAC with the plan they couldn't get out of MIG (the company that our City Council paid upwards of $800,000 to either re-design the promenade, or to tell us that it ultimately wouldn’t work). In doing so, he's probably working well over the line of ethical behavior since the committee he chairs is being largely (and probably legally) cut out of the State Street planning process by Staff and Council.
This quiet process reminds us of the Traffic Circulation Committee, which claims to have notified the public in 2015 of the plans to change up the streets of Santa Barbara, which we're now seeing implemented, i.e., Sola, Alisos, Gillespie, etc., extracted lanes, bollards... No one we've talked to remembers any such notification... or justification.
Those of us who are now alerted to what is really going on, watch out… More changes coming to Modoc-Las Positas bikeway, Castillo Street, Cliff Drive up on the Mesa, and upper State Street.
We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Back to the February 14 CEC Presentation
Community Environmental Council presents "Bold Climate Action"
State Street is now named State Street Revitalizing, “An Ecological Framework for revitalizing the Santa Barbara City Core"
Could we be so bold as to ask if it would it include a name change for State Street, maybe Deep State Street?
Preamble
“The SB Community has long nurtured an environmental etc. Previous generations... have sought to preserve and protect its Natural Environment as well as its Historic Beauty… blah, blah, blah…”
We ask then why there is no mention of El Pueblo Viejo. Why is the city allowing all this massive housing (and hotels) without Environmental Impact Reports?
The 15-Minute City
“where you can walk, bike, or take public transportation, ride, and get there in 15 minutes”
No Mention of cars. That’s the huge red flag.
“Reduce commute time and relieve traffic congestion...”
Well, they have already screwed this up with all the removed lanes and closed streets.
But they are clearly declaring there will be "Greater Building Heights" and mixed architectural design, including “Pocket Parks,” and “Community Gathering Places.”
Downtown revitalization. We keep asking where are the jobs downtown? Downtown is restaurants and hotels, fewer and fewer retail outlets. Who makes a living wage downtown?
“Workforce” Housing for Imaginary Families
Yes, County and City employees work downtown. Are we supplying housing for that work force? If that’s the case, be transparent. Because we’re not seeing transparency in any of these projects. Downtown density threatens to change the heart of Santa Barbara into something more resembling downtown Oakland.
Let's take a look at what we already experience in the downtown corridor for young people trying to live there. Because, let's face it, that's all it's being designed for... certainly not families, but for young students, professionals, people who are not community-minded, who care little for Santa Barbara traditions.
That said, this young man was born and raised in Santa Barbara. A reader reports that this son recently moved from home to a downtown locale. He got so fed up with dodging the homeless to get from his car to his apartment that he gave notice after a month and moved elsewhere. We'll spare you some of the details that he endured during that month, but let's just say that drugs destroy human dignity and decency in sadly consistent manners.
When added to the myriad complexities of the present homeless condition, we're seeing human beings behave in ways that none of us ever witnessed until this era of homelessness driven mostly by drug proliferation that society refuses to get handled. We suppose that this young Santa Barbaran broke the main rule about living efficiently downtown. He must use a car to get to his job on the Mesa.
Why? Why? Why?
We ask this question repeatedly… who doesn’t need an automobile to get to work? A fraction of the workforce, that’s who. What family can function without one? Clearly, the plan for downtown excludes and sidelines traditional lifestyles. The environmental impact report keeps mentioning multi-use, including pocket parks for children downtown. For what children? How do families live downtown in efficiency studio apartments with no accommodation for parking?
They talk about mixing up the style of architecture… Yes, Spanish architecture is beautiful; it’s expensive. What they have planned to “mix it up” looks very much like what one sees in any new building in San Jose or Ventura, or even in our own backyard. Just try and avoid that monstrosity of a building right alongside the railroad tracks facing the freeway in Goleta.
Pushing Back is Required
What we wonder is why the City of Santa Barbara doesn't wake up and pay attention to the policies being quietly put into place and by whom. The City and County government – elected and unelected alike – continue to implement and approve these projects, unchecked, unnoticed...
So, let’s face it, this is a well-organized global attempt to usurp the world order. But we’re simply at a place where we can still push back, at least locally. We don’t have to succumb like we see others doing in cities around our nation, in towns and cities in various pockets of Europe.
For myriad reasons, little to do with freedom, we continue to see masses of people clamoring to get into this country and being let in by the millions by the feckless Biden administration. Once here, many complain loudly, demanding handouts and lower academic standards, with absolutely no idea how that all works out economically.
Who foots that bill? Who pays the price for an undereducated society?
In the meantime, back here in Santa Barbara, apparently – right under our noses – its beauty, its traditions, its decency is being taken away one chess move at a time. So why are they so determined to make us follow what they are doing?
We end with an invitation to an important Meet and Greet:
An evening of Wine & Cheese
Come meet Bob Nelson, who is running for 4th District County Supervisor.
Where: 55 S. La Cumbre, Suite 4, Santa Barbara (upstairs above O'Reilly's, park in La Cumbre Plaza parking lot).
When: Come get your questions answered today (March 15), from 5 to 7 pm.
Subjects: How the County Board of Supervisors impacts our local lives in areas such as: High Density Housing Development, Rent Control, Roads and Infrastructure, Homeless Shelters, Electric-Green Dominance vs. Gas and Oil, Taxes, 15-Minute Cities, Election Integrity, Voting, and More.
If you haven’t met Bob Nelson yet, you’re in for a treat. He’s the real thing. Mature, intelligent, feet on the ground with sound practical solutions who can accurately and articulately define our present conditions.
RSVP to neighborsforliberty@SBCRP.org
Ballots Are Out
Need to toss Das and all his fellow career politicians. Monique Limon, Salud Carbajal, Gregg Hart, and Das Williams are all up for re- election. Salud, for example, hasn't helped one bit with the border where illegals and drugs come across. This Gang of Four has been complicit in the ongoing destruction of the City we love. Let’s help get rid of them by voting for someone else!
One More Thing
A reminder for the 76-year local tradition of celebrating orchids: Santa Barbara International Orchid Show, March 8-10 at the Earl Warren Showgrounds.
Bonnie, my career and livelihood is real estate investment. I started attending City Council meetings many years ago when agenda items were being discussed regarding our downtown. Along the way, I was invited to sit on many a ‘stakeholder’ committee for State Street because I really love and care for this beautiful community. In my naivety, I thought that care, common sense and a genuine vision towards improving Santa Barbara was truly what was wanted. I learned very quickly that not only were thoughtful ideas not wanted, but indeed if you dared speak up or pose questions that went against what was being proposed, future invitations would no longer be extended. I was so confused by the direction that was being taken. Surely they weren’t INTENTIONALLY destroying downtown?! What was the point of all of the hired consultants with no action towards improvement?!“How could anyone want to destroy something so beautiful” slowly began to change to “How could a group of leaders be so recklessly stupid”? After a solid decade of watching the nonsensical degradation of one of the most beautiful cities in America you know that it can only be by design. Let that sink in. What kind of person(s) destroys something so beautiful?? Once you make that hard found realization, you understand that from the very top of the California political chain all the way down to the bottom is an infiltration of literal Communists/Marxists/Destroyers/Useful Idiots…and every single one follows the marching orders of our madly powerful shadowy leaders at the DCC. The ‘Build Back Better’ slogan is simply a way to destroy our Cities and States to rebuild in their twisted vision of 15 Minute Cities and You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy motto. All of this is enabled by our local media which is as captured as the other political positions. (SB Currents excluded)
Good, decent citizens must wake up in mass and quickly, if we have any hope of salvaging this downward spiraling at the hands of the destroyers.
Intriguing , frightening and sobering ! Thank you Bonnie for your crafted written voice that cuts like a knife with a warning to wake up our sleepy community . Our city is in deep trouble .