Bike path update: The West Sola-Castillo Street "Chess Pawn" bike path connector to West Micheltorena: I have now seen three people using it (Or maybe the same person three times?). Build it, and they will come eventually.
However, the "Chess pawn" barriers prevent the city street sweeper from cleaning this now restricted side of the street, which has become heavily littered with tree droppings, many looking like very sharp objects. The adjacent property owners apparently feel no obligation to keep this gutter area clean on their own, now that the city street sweeper can no longer access it. Including several adjacent parking strips also blighted with high weeds which even now spill over into the bike path itself.
Let's hope the new City Administrator with the City Council's strong urging continues to take the "broken windows" approach and stop the slow degradation and neighborhood blight we now see across our once proud city. But more importantly may locals themselves demonstrate pride of place and undertake these projects on their own. Does this very active "bike coalition" feel any duty to help keep these city-provided bike pathways clear of weeds, litter and debris?
However, how much bureaucratic tangle and threats from the city employee unions will this simple volunteer neighborhood clean-up request entail? A great way for the "bike coalition" to say thank you to the city now impacted by their long-standing demands is to spearhead these special bike path clean up needs.
Which bike riders will volunteer to clean up the West Sola-Castillo Street-West Micheltorena connector path clean up?
Cars Are Basic, placed a hidden camera on Sola a year before the City Destroyed Sola.
Exactly the same result, proving the bike guys claim of "bike demand" was a false. The comment unsolicited by this comment confirms what has been the case of failed bike use by the St. Francis Traffic Plan of a decade ago.
Thank you. Bonnie, for the State Street update, etc. and the encouragement to write to bring the downtown area back to having an open street to drive through. Although some of State Street's businesses had been declining before the pandemic, the closure as it is now has put the nail in the coffin. If it is reopened, hopefully it can be restored to some of its former uniqueness. Being born and raised here in town I have seen many changes and I am sad to say that most of them have not been good ones, the street issue being one.
Other small "downtowns" are thriving with small retail, without closing off their main access streets. Ojai and Lafayette Calif immediately come to mind. Even "downtown" Old Town Goleta. This mess in downtown Santa Barbara is an aberration; not a model for the future.
Goleta and Solvang have completely opened up their downtowns. The only exception is Ventura where the downtown is still closed off. I'm guessing the Ventura city council lot are as bad or worse than the ones here in Santa Barbara.
Wonderful Bonnie. Thank you! Just as I was despairing of the “F*** you, taxpayer” attitude of our local government, I read this and realized there are still people who know that practical local gestures always solve problems better than the top-down “we need to raise taxes for a new $10 million bike lane only three people will use a day!” attitude that has been increasingly cursing Santa Barbara. Vote for the people who know how to make things better, not the idiots who will only use your vote to grift more money for them.
I am a new subscriber but I have appreciated every edition of the SB Current. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to send a couple of emails to express my thoughts regarding the closure of State Street. In case it's helpful or gives encouragement to others, I will include it below. (Sorry it's so long. Read as much as you'd like.)
Every Sunday, I would take my children downtown to have lunch, go shopping, and then go to the movies after eating dinner. Now? I have not visited State Street more than a few times because of what the city did during the pandemic.
It is so ugly now because of the permanent closure. It seems like there's hardly anyone around anymore, except homeless people of course. I have a big heart for anyone in trouble, including homeless people. I have worked and volunteered for many non-profit organizations including the SB Rescue Mission. But that doesn't mean it is safe for me and my daughter. I used to go to Marshall's, Coach, Brighton and Paseo Nuevo all the time, but now that there are so many characters down there and not enough visitors / tourists, we don't go anymore. It doesn't feel safe. It is filthy everywhere you look. There's trash everywhere. The sidewalks are stained with old chewing gum and spilled drinks and squished food. It's absolutely disgusting.
We used to love the hustle of people walking by from all over the world. We used to love watching all kinds of cars drive up and down State Street. I used to drive up and down State Street myself in my convertible mustang with my kids. Then we'd go for ice cream at Thrifty's. They used to love that so much!
But closing down State Street has ruined those memories and new opportunities for the current generation. It has actually ruined State Street. You can see how many failed businesses have left because of the lack of people wanting to shop down there. Our community has felt the financial impact since you closed State Street.
I understand you have a meeting coming up on June 26th. My family have been in this community since 1907. My great grandfather helped build the reservoir in Montecito. My grandparents were charter members of several organizations. My grandfather sold fruit and vegetables at the first farmer's market, was eventually certified as an organic farmer, and continued until he passed away.
So I come from a very long line of people who have given to this community and loved this community for decades. But I look around now and am so sad when I see so much trash everywhere, so many weeds along the sidewalks and the highways, so many homeless people everywhere, a State Street closed to vehicles, and a lack of the hustle and bustle of a happy, thriving community.
Please take care of our Santa Barbara. Please REOPEN STATE STREET.
I contend district elections and term limits lead to rank voter passivity. Add to this city employee unions aggressively defending their own turf from city resident volunteer efforts, and we no longer feel a direct connection between our city government and we the governed.
This has been slow erosion over the past few decades. We became only their passive cash cows, used periodically to paper over their continued fiscal mismanagement. We all do share in this blame. SB Currents acts as the only new live wire in town, creating new connections and the courage to make fighting city hall the work again for all residents; not just for the noisiest who learned how to game the system with only a few members.
Please follow Bonnie's advice. Use those links to let city hall know how you feel about all these important city matters.
The attitude and statements by anti car groups (Move aka bike guys, CEC, and others) that we need more!!!! bike paths ignores the reality of society. The numbers of bike users is down and remains down and has been down for 20 years.
The Council Majority thinks it is winning. Really? How do you win when State St. is now called Death Valley because of terrible lousy transportation planning? How do you think they are winning when you talk with the workers and residents who have had it with destruction of streets and traffic flows.
CAB challenged the City Council to reopen State 2 years ago, and 2023 openly stated they had the opportunity to return State to what it once was from Victoria to Carrillo as an "objective" test case to see if after 5 years (the same time Death Valley has been shut down) retail and the Councils own catch phrase - vibrancy - returns. The groups given money to help out and the author cites as disappointments take your tax dollars and then are used as political action committees the council points to as public majority.
I'll make a blatant offer to the reader. Join CAB (never ever taken any tax money) become active for open retail friendly and community friendly streets. After all our opposition has NEVER been successful in the past 25 years.
Now about Cota street....Laugh when the Parks Dept. agrees with CAB regarding traffic you know the council is sitting on what they think with.
Recent repeat visitors reported trying to get across town now was a total mess, from the city they thought they knew from the past with its tidy, predictable grid of streets. They had to rely on their cell phones to just make simple trip across town. We don't even bother trying to figure out the new "downtown". We just don't go there any longer.
Update. Below is the response I received from Oscar Gutierrez when writing to the SB City Council and my reply to him.
From Oscar:
Thank you for sharing this with us Ms. Bond. You should speak to the Downtown Santa Barbara organization and the Chamber of Commerce and ask them about how they feel. As someone who is on State everyday, I'm not seeing what you're claiming. I'm willing to meet with you and can show me in person to what you're claiming.
My response:
Oscar, are you referring to me as Mrs. Bond? Just because you don't see what I'm "claiming" doesn't mean it's not happening. I believe your response was inappropriate and patronizing. I've also seen people PEEING on the side of Marshall's by the parking garage, then their friend/associate asks me for money, then I have to quickly skirt past a pile of poop surrounded by trash while trying to get out of there as quickly as possible (while covering my nose due to the stench of vomit), but I don't have a photo of that either 🙄
Maybe you just don't see the trash because you're used to it. I stopped visiting downtown soon after State Street was closed off. It was bad then. I have tried to visit several times over the past couple of years and it's only become worse. But if you're there every day...as you claim... maybe you're just not seeing it. If you're down there everyday, then maybe you're surrounding yourself with the only people that can put up with that stench. Thousands of people are no longer in downtown Santa Barbara because they can't stand the way it is now. So you're not even communicating with them and when someone like me does communicate with you, you try to shut me down and tell me you don't see it and I should go talk to someone else. Really?
In terms of contacting the Downtown SB org and Chamber to ask them about "how they feel," I don't really care how they "feel." They should care how I feel and how tourists feel and how so many others in our Santa Barbara community feels. THAT'S their job!
So please, do your job and consider how others are "feeling" about closing off State Street.
(1) The smell of urine was overpowering in the planter box beside the outdoor tables at Renaud on the East Victoria sidewalk. (2) The smell of urine was overpowering in the back lot next to Restoration Hardware.
WHOA! That is disgusting? Are there no public toilets? Providing public toilets would take the burden off private businesses to provide a restroom (restaurants excepted).
There is actually a public toilet about 50 ft from where the person was urinating. The only excuse is that that's what they're used to doing. There are public toilets for men and women right outside the entrance to Marshall's, which is where this person was urinating. Marshall's also has toilets inside their business for customers.
Agreed. It's overpowering even if you just roll down your windows and drive along the side streets near State Street. It's so disgusting. And I can't believe how blind the city council is to our concerns!
Took the grandkids to have a last look at the Restoration Hardware store before it gets torn down, since it was their great, great, great (?) grandfather who started his hardware store in this location after the Gold Rush.
We lost their original Santa Barbara home where the State Street IHOP now stands, but not the Morton Bay fig tree the distant grandmother had planted. The heavy stench of urine behind Restoration Hardware kept them from memorializing their own heritage in this town.
This is so sad! But unfortunately indicative of how commonly you'll find pee, trash, poop, and vomit most places, especially downtown. I'm so sorry your grandchildren had to experience that!
The Westside typically has been one of these CVRA-mandated, population based, low-voter turn out, easy to pick off by special interests, which still gets a full city council vote - one full vote out of the city council seven.
But earned with only a few hundred votes, compared to the thousand votes needed to earn that same one vote in the higher-turnout city districts.
When someone looks good in this district, we all need to give them our full support so they can win by a few hundred votes instead of just city insiders picking off this district.
PS: we need to convert to a hybrid district voting model - reside in a district, but voted on at large by the entire city. CVRA does allow for hybrid districts.
All I know for sure is that Oscar needs to go. He was so blatant and brazen in his rudeness. It seems like he knows he will always win an election. This is trouble no matter how you slice it.
State Street underpass now has an $11,500,000 budget? They blew right through the $7,000,000 they “sold” to the public. Will it generate revenue to the City!?
The City is about $12,000,000 in debt before spending $11.5m on a non revenue generating project.
Right, they want to raise your taxes, again. They say it will generate $15,000,000 in additional revenue, which is of course coming from you the tax payer.
Council members lie when they say that revenue will go towards housing. It’s General funds money used to pay off debt. Liars.
On top of record high inflation numbers, huge interest rates, eggs doubled in price, gas over $5/gallon they want to tax you an additional $15,000,000.
Question, why is our City so fiscally irresponsible?
As the cost of goods goes up, about double on some, so does sales tax revenue.
As real estate has gone up, so does property taxes. Some years more homes sell than others.
Why are they squeezing the middle and low income people?
The bulk of the budget goes to salaries & benefits. And unlike a business the government keeps increasing its salaries even when they have a $12,000,000 loss. While you suffer in this economy.
City Atty with benefits makes $800,000/ year.
City Administrator $500,000/ year.
After that the highest salaries are to Police and Fire Department upper ranks from about $400-$500,000/year.
Parks & Rec Director $300,000/year.
Community Development Director $300,000/ year.
Economic Development Manager $300,000/year.
How friendly is our city to businesses?
How friendly is our city towards people wanting to build, remodel, and on to their homes?
How friendly is our city to homeless who generate no tax revenue? I’m not talking about the fruitfully employed which are about 117 out of 900 homeless in the City.
How many millions have been spent on housing a few homeless at your expense?
Why does the City remove millions in real estate from the property tax revenues?
Why does the City allow street vendors to pay a $25 license fee while they charge a business exorbitant rent for sidewalk space?
Why do they let businesses like BCycle escape rent & taxes?
Not long ago they upped the sales tax by 1% to solve the debt. And here we are again raiding your taxes just after raising your water rates, again.
VOTE NO, hold them accountable.
County spends $200,000,000/ year on 1,900 homeless
City spends an additional $10,000,000/ year spent servicing 987 Homeless.
This does not include the private donations and other grants.
Ever notice how most homeless are white men?
In SB County there are 44,000 illegal aliens taking housing from US citizens and costing tax payers in services similar to the homeless.
SB we are great hosts of the down & trodden no matter where in the country or world they are from. It costs tax payers tens of millions of dollars. And we still have mentally ill, drug addicted homeless all over the city. Some attack pedestrians, others just yell all day long in front of businesses.
Only 13% of homeless have jobs.
Why are 87% of the homeless ignored by the City & County? Ignored because they purposefully do not have a plan to provide them shelter, while using them for their PR campaigns.
Yet they refuse to enforce laws and refuse to protect neighborhoods.
There are solutions that have been in place in numerous other areas around the country.
But our government turns a blind eye to the 87%.
How many unemployed homeless could get a job to help the hand that feeds them?
Why do City & County parking lots sit empty all night, yet there are not enough Safe Parking spots for homeless?
Why do they allow homeless to park in front of your house defecating on the curb, leaving trash & drug paraphernalia.
Then they say it’s important to maintain the integrity of neighborhoods regarding the Grand Ave 30 unit project while they allow rehab houses by schools.
If you like the way things have been run for decades, keep voting Blue.
Speaking of City Council elections: We need to go back to AT LARGE elections. None of these district by district elections. It is an utter disaster. Second, do we have any members here on the SB Current who can run for city council or mayor? Most people that comment on this site and the article contributors would make excellent council members. Please think of running and filing papers or at least use your connections to recruit great candidates if you can. I will be writing letters to city council and the unelected city bureaucrats for complete reopening of State Street before the deadline mentioned in this article.
Districts in a town of this size are a joke. I live on the street between Mike on the Mesa, and Oscar on the Best side. My apartment is in Oscar's district, and former Mayor Murrillo's, while I look out at Mike's district, and current mayor Randy. But I work about six blocks over in the Funk Zone, Alejandra's district, and regardless of all of this I live closer to Meagan, who lives just over the 101.
Could not agree more. Unfortunately, this districting business was cooked up by a few CROOKED attorneys in Sacramento and then as usual the dictat came in from up on high from central command i.e. Sacramento that all elections are now run through districts. They've done the same thing in Austin, Texas and Austin is crazy woke, worse than Santa Barbara.
California Voting Rights Act (CVRA)- read it carefully and get to know its demands. All part of the "election reform" Trojan Horse that took over California politics a few decades ago.
We reap its sad harvest today: (1) super-majority lock by one political party now granted extraordinary powers, (2) budgets now in free-fall and (3) unsustainable future debt thrust upon younger tax payers - if they stick around.
One more peoples' ballot initiative structured by our state constitution to reform this unsupportable status quo, was just shot down today by the California Supreme Court, after also just learning indeed it had qualified for the November ballot. No longer - it will not be on the ballot.
This is getting very scary, folks. There are no exit ramps left to get off this one-party super-majority train wreck. I personally was hoping for a Prop 13 like voter rebellion with this current ballot initiative, but that got lost this very day with the CA Supreme Court ruling.
We can't even out-vote them now in this state. But independents do hold the key - so far they still vote one way with them. Will this ever change now that they are the ones burdened with most of the ruinous down stream consequences of this one-party take over these past 20 years?
There used to be a hunched over little old man in the lower State area I christened Mister Entrophy. Always in the same dark jacket and pants, he'd progress down the street kicking trash and cigarette butts off the sidewalk into the street. Back when there were so few winos and bums they could have cartoon names.
I've long thought that people receiving social assistance should be required to do something. Like pick up a bag of dog poo off the street to trade in for their EBT. In Ireland women who get the "Lone Parent Benefit" to take care of a baby without a partner are required to do social service once a week. Their child goes to a creche and they do something for others. One girl I knew would travel out to remote farms and do mani-pedis for the old ladies isolated out there.
So much needs to be done to set Santa Barbara and the Nation right again.
If the Plandemic taught us anything the onrushing Disease X will not derail us further, but we are caught in a loop of problem-reaction-solution that has us in endless war and social breakdown.
WOW this is an excellent idea!! What a blessing for those little old ladies to get mani-pedis! And an equal blessing for the mother doing it. I bet that came with unintended positive consequences. GREAT IDEA!!
I think Mr. Gutierrez got a little confused when he wrote back to Mrs. D and called her Ms. Bond (my name) as I had just contacted him about the downtown State Street issue. He simply thanked me for sharing my concerns with him and suggested that I contact the Downtown Santa Barbara organization and the Chamber of Commerce to ask them how they feel. I am not feeling a whole lot of help from his email.
NB: Downtown Organization is a mandatory membership dues group if you have a business in the downtown zone. It has very limited powers and budget, esp. now that the business core of the city downtown has been gutted out.
The Chamber of Commerce is a paragon of uselessness and served only to act as spoilers in two critical past elections that could have made a difference, when stubbornly they backed two mayor candidates which got fewer than 10% of the vote, allowing a less favored third party candidate to slip into a winning plurality.
Second update (I cannot believe the email I received from Oscar.)
From Oscar:
Unfortunately Ms. Yada feelings aren't facts which is why I encouraged you to speak to the people who are downtown everyday and invited you to meet me and show me in person but if you're not willing then that's on you.
My response:
Wow. So now you're calling me a liar? What possible motive would I have to lie about what I have witnessed and experienced? There is nothing I have to gain from this at all! But I certainly have uncovered your lack of professionalism and credibility, though. I'll be sure to tell all of my friends and neighbors about your unprofessional responses.
Also, I didn't tell you that I wouldn't meet with you. But it's not my job to do that, it's yours. Your job is to investigate, research, understand, listen, and address the concerns brought to you. You have not done this. And it's clear you are not interested in doing it either.
Oscar sent me a bland "thank you for your thoughts" acknowledgement to my email. But at least he read it! No response from anyone else, and if they told me I should go downtown and "speak to the people" I'd give them an ear full abut the nutter shouting "I'm gong to kill somebody" circling a small group of people eating hot dogs an illegal vendor was serving up... who I patronized because contrary to their online listing that says they stay open until 9-10PM not a restaurant was open at 8:30PM. Death Valley indeed.
City council election 2024: Back to Basics - Blight and Balanced Budgets.
Which candidates best serve both goals. No matter which district you live in, support the team who will get us there. Undo the overall city malaise caused now by district elections, and the partisan and city employee union king-maker role overplayed in this city for far too long.
You don't have to be homeless to pick up trash or remove weeds. If I had a weed like that in front of my house, I would just cut it down and put it in my green container. During my years of military service I once lived in a country where the city didn't sweep the streets because residents were required to maintain and police the street and sidewalk in front of their homes. If you see a mess, clean it up. Otherwise, the city just might hire more overpaid union labor to do it for you.
For 42 years I did have a gardener maintain the end of the cul-de-sac. After writing about the Sola bike route the city came and took control of this area... It was their decision!!!
Bike path update: The West Sola-Castillo Street "Chess Pawn" bike path connector to West Micheltorena: I have now seen three people using it (Or maybe the same person three times?). Build it, and they will come eventually.
However, the "Chess pawn" barriers prevent the city street sweeper from cleaning this now restricted side of the street, which has become heavily littered with tree droppings, many looking like very sharp objects. The adjacent property owners apparently feel no obligation to keep this gutter area clean on their own, now that the city street sweeper can no longer access it. Including several adjacent parking strips also blighted with high weeds which even now spill over into the bike path itself.
Let's hope the new City Administrator with the City Council's strong urging continues to take the "broken windows" approach and stop the slow degradation and neighborhood blight we now see across our once proud city. But more importantly may locals themselves demonstrate pride of place and undertake these projects on their own. Does this very active "bike coalition" feel any duty to help keep these city-provided bike pathways clear of weeds, litter and debris?
However, how much bureaucratic tangle and threats from the city employee unions will this simple volunteer neighborhood clean-up request entail? A great way for the "bike coalition" to say thank you to the city now impacted by their long-standing demands is to spearhead these special bike path clean up needs.
Which bike riders will volunteer to clean up the West Sola-Castillo Street-West Micheltorena connector path clean up?
Cars Are Basic, placed a hidden camera on Sola a year before the City Destroyed Sola.
Exactly the same result, proving the bike guys claim of "bike demand" was a false. The comment unsolicited by this comment confirms what has been the case of failed bike use by the St. Francis Traffic Plan of a decade ago.
Thanks for taking the time to look and count.
Thank you. Bonnie, for the State Street update, etc. and the encouragement to write to bring the downtown area back to having an open street to drive through. Although some of State Street's businesses had been declining before the pandemic, the closure as it is now has put the nail in the coffin. If it is reopened, hopefully it can be restored to some of its former uniqueness. Being born and raised here in town I have seen many changes and I am sad to say that most of them have not been good ones, the street issue being one.
Other small "downtowns" are thriving with small retail, without closing off their main access streets. Ojai and Lafayette Calif immediately come to mind. Even "downtown" Old Town Goleta. This mess in downtown Santa Barbara is an aberration; not a model for the future.
Goleta and Solvang have completely opened up their downtowns. The only exception is Ventura where the downtown is still closed off. I'm guessing the Ventura city council lot are as bad or worse than the ones here in Santa Barbara.
Wonderful Bonnie. Thank you! Just as I was despairing of the “F*** you, taxpayer” attitude of our local government, I read this and realized there are still people who know that practical local gestures always solve problems better than the top-down “we need to raise taxes for a new $10 million bike lane only three people will use a day!” attitude that has been increasingly cursing Santa Barbara. Vote for the people who know how to make things better, not the idiots who will only use your vote to grift more money for them.
I am a new subscriber but I have appreciated every edition of the SB Current. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to send a couple of emails to express my thoughts regarding the closure of State Street. In case it's helpful or gives encouragement to others, I will include it below. (Sorry it's so long. Read as much as you'd like.)
Every Sunday, I would take my children downtown to have lunch, go shopping, and then go to the movies after eating dinner. Now? I have not visited State Street more than a few times because of what the city did during the pandemic.
It is so ugly now because of the permanent closure. It seems like there's hardly anyone around anymore, except homeless people of course. I have a big heart for anyone in trouble, including homeless people. I have worked and volunteered for many non-profit organizations including the SB Rescue Mission. But that doesn't mean it is safe for me and my daughter. I used to go to Marshall's, Coach, Brighton and Paseo Nuevo all the time, but now that there are so many characters down there and not enough visitors / tourists, we don't go anymore. It doesn't feel safe. It is filthy everywhere you look. There's trash everywhere. The sidewalks are stained with old chewing gum and spilled drinks and squished food. It's absolutely disgusting.
We used to love the hustle of people walking by from all over the world. We used to love watching all kinds of cars drive up and down State Street. I used to drive up and down State Street myself in my convertible mustang with my kids. Then we'd go for ice cream at Thrifty's. They used to love that so much!
But closing down State Street has ruined those memories and new opportunities for the current generation. It has actually ruined State Street. You can see how many failed businesses have left because of the lack of people wanting to shop down there. Our community has felt the financial impact since you closed State Street.
I understand you have a meeting coming up on June 26th. My family have been in this community since 1907. My great grandfather helped build the reservoir in Montecito. My grandparents were charter members of several organizations. My grandfather sold fruit and vegetables at the first farmer's market, was eventually certified as an organic farmer, and continued until he passed away.
So I come from a very long line of people who have given to this community and loved this community for decades. But I look around now and am so sad when I see so much trash everywhere, so many weeds along the sidewalks and the highways, so many homeless people everywhere, a State Street closed to vehicles, and a lack of the hustle and bustle of a happy, thriving community.
Please take care of our Santa Barbara. Please REOPEN STATE STREET.
Regards,
Phelps/Smitheram families
I contend district elections and term limits lead to rank voter passivity. Add to this city employee unions aggressively defending their own turf from city resident volunteer efforts, and we no longer feel a direct connection between our city government and we the governed.
This has been slow erosion over the past few decades. We became only their passive cash cows, used periodically to paper over their continued fiscal mismanagement. We all do share in this blame. SB Currents acts as the only new live wire in town, creating new connections and the courage to make fighting city hall the work again for all residents; not just for the noisiest who learned how to game the system with only a few members.
Please follow Bonnie's advice. Use those links to let city hall know how you feel about all these important city matters.
What's new? Not much.
The attitude and statements by anti car groups (Move aka bike guys, CEC, and others) that we need more!!!! bike paths ignores the reality of society. The numbers of bike users is down and remains down and has been down for 20 years.
The Council Majority thinks it is winning. Really? How do you win when State St. is now called Death Valley because of terrible lousy transportation planning? How do you think they are winning when you talk with the workers and residents who have had it with destruction of streets and traffic flows.
CAB challenged the City Council to reopen State 2 years ago, and 2023 openly stated they had the opportunity to return State to what it once was from Victoria to Carrillo as an "objective" test case to see if after 5 years (the same time Death Valley has been shut down) retail and the Councils own catch phrase - vibrancy - returns. The groups given money to help out and the author cites as disappointments take your tax dollars and then are used as political action committees the council points to as public majority.
I'll make a blatant offer to the reader. Join CAB (never ever taken any tax money) become active for open retail friendly and community friendly streets. After all our opposition has NEVER been successful in the past 25 years.
Now about Cota street....Laugh when the Parks Dept. agrees with CAB regarding traffic you know the council is sitting on what they think with.
Recent repeat visitors reported trying to get across town now was a total mess, from the city they thought they knew from the past with its tidy, predictable grid of streets. They had to rely on their cell phones to just make simple trip across town. We don't even bother trying to figure out the new "downtown". We just don't go there any longer.
Update. Below is the response I received from Oscar Gutierrez when writing to the SB City Council and my reply to him.
From Oscar:
Thank you for sharing this with us Ms. Bond. You should speak to the Downtown Santa Barbara organization and the Chamber of Commerce and ask them about how they feel. As someone who is on State everyday, I'm not seeing what you're claiming. I'm willing to meet with you and can show me in person to what you're claiming.
My response:
Oscar, are you referring to me as Mrs. Bond? Just because you don't see what I'm "claiming" doesn't mean it's not happening. I believe your response was inappropriate and patronizing. I've also seen people PEEING on the side of Marshall's by the parking garage, then their friend/associate asks me for money, then I have to quickly skirt past a pile of poop surrounded by trash while trying to get out of there as quickly as possible (while covering my nose due to the stench of vomit), but I don't have a photo of that either 🙄
Maybe you just don't see the trash because you're used to it. I stopped visiting downtown soon after State Street was closed off. It was bad then. I have tried to visit several times over the past couple of years and it's only become worse. But if you're there every day...as you claim... maybe you're just not seeing it. If you're down there everyday, then maybe you're surrounding yourself with the only people that can put up with that stench. Thousands of people are no longer in downtown Santa Barbara because they can't stand the way it is now. So you're not even communicating with them and when someone like me does communicate with you, you try to shut me down and tell me you don't see it and I should go talk to someone else. Really?
In terms of contacting the Downtown SB org and Chamber to ask them about "how they feel," I don't really care how they "feel." They should care how I feel and how tourists feel and how so many others in our Santa Barbara community feels. THAT'S their job!
So please, do your job and consider how others are "feeling" about closing off State Street.
(1) The smell of urine was overpowering in the planter box beside the outdoor tables at Renaud on the East Victoria sidewalk. (2) The smell of urine was overpowering in the back lot next to Restoration Hardware.
WHOA! That is disgusting? Are there no public toilets? Providing public toilets would take the burden off private businesses to provide a restroom (restaurants excepted).
There is actually a public toilet about 50 ft from where the person was urinating. The only excuse is that that's what they're used to doing. There are public toilets for men and women right outside the entrance to Marshall's, which is where this person was urinating. Marshall's also has toilets inside their business for customers.
Agreed. It's overpowering even if you just roll down your windows and drive along the side streets near State Street. It's so disgusting. And I can't believe how blind the city council is to our concerns!
Took the grandkids to have a last look at the Restoration Hardware store before it gets torn down, since it was their great, great, great (?) grandfather who started his hardware store in this location after the Gold Rush.
We lost their original Santa Barbara home where the State Street IHOP now stands, but not the Morton Bay fig tree the distant grandmother had planted. The heavy stench of urine behind Restoration Hardware kept them from memorializing their own heritage in this town.
This is so sad! But unfortunately indicative of how commonly you'll find pee, trash, poop, and vomit most places, especially downtown. I'm so sorry your grandchildren had to experience that!
Oscar's seat is one of the three up in November! We need someone from the westside to run...
If Downtown SB Org and Chamber are so happy with how things are... Then why are they saying they need more cleaning etc and promoting the CBID???
The Westside typically has been one of these CVRA-mandated, population based, low-voter turn out, easy to pick off by special interests, which still gets a full city council vote - one full vote out of the city council seven.
But earned with only a few hundred votes, compared to the thousand votes needed to earn that same one vote in the higher-turnout city districts.
When someone looks good in this district, we all need to give them our full support so they can win by a few hundred votes instead of just city insiders picking off this district.
PS: we need to convert to a hybrid district voting model - reside in a district, but voted on at large by the entire city. CVRA does allow for hybrid districts.
All I know for sure is that Oscar needs to go. He was so blatant and brazen in his rudeness. It seems like he knows he will always win an election. This is trouble no matter how you slice it.
State Street underpass now has an $11,500,000 budget? They blew right through the $7,000,000 they “sold” to the public. Will it generate revenue to the City!?
The City is about $12,000,000 in debt before spending $11.5m on a non revenue generating project.
Right, they want to raise your taxes, again. They say it will generate $15,000,000 in additional revenue, which is of course coming from you the tax payer.
Council members lie when they say that revenue will go towards housing. It’s General funds money used to pay off debt. Liars.
On top of record high inflation numbers, huge interest rates, eggs doubled in price, gas over $5/gallon they want to tax you an additional $15,000,000.
Question, why is our City so fiscally irresponsible?
As the cost of goods goes up, about double on some, so does sales tax revenue.
As real estate has gone up, so does property taxes. Some years more homes sell than others.
Why are they squeezing the middle and low income people?
The bulk of the budget goes to salaries & benefits. And unlike a business the government keeps increasing its salaries even when they have a $12,000,000 loss. While you suffer in this economy.
City Atty with benefits makes $800,000/ year.
City Administrator $500,000/ year.
After that the highest salaries are to Police and Fire Department upper ranks from about $400-$500,000/year.
Parks & Rec Director $300,000/year.
Community Development Director $300,000/ year.
Economic Development Manager $300,000/year.
How friendly is our city to businesses?
How friendly is our city towards people wanting to build, remodel, and on to their homes?
How friendly is our city to homeless who generate no tax revenue? I’m not talking about the fruitfully employed which are about 117 out of 900 homeless in the City.
How many millions have been spent on housing a few homeless at your expense?
Why does the City remove millions in real estate from the property tax revenues?
Why does the City allow street vendors to pay a $25 license fee while they charge a business exorbitant rent for sidewalk space?
Why do they let businesses like BCycle escape rent & taxes?
Not long ago they upped the sales tax by 1% to solve the debt. And here we are again raiding your taxes just after raising your water rates, again.
VOTE NO, hold them accountable.
County spends $200,000,000/ year on 1,900 homeless
City spends an additional $10,000,000/ year spent servicing 987 Homeless.
This does not include the private donations and other grants.
Ever notice how most homeless are white men?
In SB County there are 44,000 illegal aliens taking housing from US citizens and costing tax payers in services similar to the homeless.
SB we are great hosts of the down & trodden no matter where in the country or world they are from. It costs tax payers tens of millions of dollars. And we still have mentally ill, drug addicted homeless all over the city. Some attack pedestrians, others just yell all day long in front of businesses.
Only 13% of homeless have jobs.
Why are 87% of the homeless ignored by the City & County? Ignored because they purposefully do not have a plan to provide them shelter, while using them for their PR campaigns.
Yet they refuse to enforce laws and refuse to protect neighborhoods.
There are solutions that have been in place in numerous other areas around the country.
But our government turns a blind eye to the 87%.
How many unemployed homeless could get a job to help the hand that feeds them?
Why do City & County parking lots sit empty all night, yet there are not enough Safe Parking spots for homeless?
Why do they allow homeless to park in front of your house defecating on the curb, leaving trash & drug paraphernalia.
Then they say it’s important to maintain the integrity of neighborhoods regarding the Grand Ave 30 unit project while they allow rehab houses by schools.
If you like the way things have been run for decades, keep voting Blue.
Speaking of City Council elections: We need to go back to AT LARGE elections. None of these district by district elections. It is an utter disaster. Second, do we have any members here on the SB Current who can run for city council or mayor? Most people that comment on this site and the article contributors would make excellent council members. Please think of running and filing papers or at least use your connections to recruit great candidates if you can. I will be writing letters to city council and the unelected city bureaucrats for complete reopening of State Street before the deadline mentioned in this article.
Districts in a town of this size are a joke. I live on the street between Mike on the Mesa, and Oscar on the Best side. My apartment is in Oscar's district, and former Mayor Murrillo's, while I look out at Mike's district, and current mayor Randy. But I work about six blocks over in the Funk Zone, Alejandra's district, and regardless of all of this I live closer to Meagan, who lives just over the 101.
Could not agree more. Unfortunately, this districting business was cooked up by a few CROOKED attorneys in Sacramento and then as usual the dictat came in from up on high from central command i.e. Sacramento that all elections are now run through districts. They've done the same thing in Austin, Texas and Austin is crazy woke, worse than Santa Barbara.
California Voting Rights Act (CVRA)- read it carefully and get to know its demands. All part of the "election reform" Trojan Horse that took over California politics a few decades ago.
We reap its sad harvest today: (1) super-majority lock by one political party now granted extraordinary powers, (2) budgets now in free-fall and (3) unsustainable future debt thrust upon younger tax payers - if they stick around.
One more peoples' ballot initiative structured by our state constitution to reform this unsupportable status quo, was just shot down today by the California Supreme Court, after also just learning indeed it had qualified for the November ballot. No longer - it will not be on the ballot.
This is getting very scary, folks. There are no exit ramps left to get off this one-party super-majority train wreck. I personally was hoping for a Prop 13 like voter rebellion with this current ballot initiative, but that got lost this very day with the CA Supreme Court ruling.
We can't even out-vote them now in this state. But independents do hold the key - so far they still vote one way with them. Will this ever change now that they are the ones burdened with most of the ruinous down stream consequences of this one-party take over these past 20 years?
I agree. Dem control of the western States and the MAGA of the South/mid west as created a system that is dysfunctional
.
I'm all for it. Is 'at large' an option.?
There used to be a hunched over little old man in the lower State area I christened Mister Entrophy. Always in the same dark jacket and pants, he'd progress down the street kicking trash and cigarette butts off the sidewalk into the street. Back when there were so few winos and bums they could have cartoon names.
I've long thought that people receiving social assistance should be required to do something. Like pick up a bag of dog poo off the street to trade in for their EBT. In Ireland women who get the "Lone Parent Benefit" to take care of a baby without a partner are required to do social service once a week. Their child goes to a creche and they do something for others. One girl I knew would travel out to remote farms and do mani-pedis for the old ladies isolated out there.
So much needs to be done to set Santa Barbara and the Nation right again.
If the Plandemic taught us anything the onrushing Disease X will not derail us further, but we are caught in a loop of problem-reaction-solution that has us in endless war and social breakdown.
WOW this is an excellent idea!! What a blessing for those little old ladies to get mani-pedis! And an equal blessing for the mother doing it. I bet that came with unintended positive consequences. GREAT IDEA!!
It is a system that brings a community together with a spirit of cooperation. So many small social tasks for wards of the government to perform.
always appreciate hearing SB City happenings from a Great on-the-ground tour guide…Thanks again Bonnie…
I think Mr. Gutierrez got a little confused when he wrote back to Mrs. D and called her Ms. Bond (my name) as I had just contacted him about the downtown State Street issue. He simply thanked me for sharing my concerns with him and suggested that I contact the Downtown Santa Barbara organization and the Chamber of Commerce to ask them how they feel. I am not feeling a whole lot of help from his email.
NB: Downtown Organization is a mandatory membership dues group if you have a business in the downtown zone. It has very limited powers and budget, esp. now that the business core of the city downtown has been gutted out.
The Chamber of Commerce is a paragon of uselessness and served only to act as spoilers in two critical past elections that could have made a difference, when stubbornly they backed two mayor candidates which got fewer than 10% of the vote, allowing a less favored third party candidate to slip into a winning plurality.
Exactly! And because I called him out on it, he basically called me a liar and was VERY rude. I posted his response in another comment.
Second update (I cannot believe the email I received from Oscar.)
From Oscar:
Unfortunately Ms. Yada feelings aren't facts which is why I encouraged you to speak to the people who are downtown everyday and invited you to meet me and show me in person but if you're not willing then that's on you.
My response:
Wow. So now you're calling me a liar? What possible motive would I have to lie about what I have witnessed and experienced? There is nothing I have to gain from this at all! But I certainly have uncovered your lack of professionalism and credibility, though. I'll be sure to tell all of my friends and neighbors about your unprofessional responses.
Also, I didn't tell you that I wouldn't meet with you. But it's not my job to do that, it's yours. Your job is to investigate, research, understand, listen, and address the concerns brought to you. You have not done this. And it's clear you are not interested in doing it either.
This tells me all I need to know about you.
Oscar sent me a bland "thank you for your thoughts" acknowledgement to my email. But at least he read it! No response from anyone else, and if they told me I should go downtown and "speak to the people" I'd give them an ear full abut the nutter shouting "I'm gong to kill somebody" circling a small group of people eating hot dogs an illegal vendor was serving up... who I patronized because contrary to their online listing that says they stay open until 9-10PM not a restaurant was open at 8:30PM. Death Valley indeed.
Thank you for all of the local updates, your advocacy is appreciated, I enjoy reading your column.
Nice write up on King Robert Johns for the 50th anniversary of the Solstice Parade.
City council election 2024: Back to Basics - Blight and Balanced Budgets.
Which candidates best serve both goals. No matter which district you live in, support the team who will get us there. Undo the overall city malaise caused now by district elections, and the partisan and city employee union king-maker role overplayed in this city for far too long.
You don't have to be homeless to pick up trash or remove weeds. If I had a weed like that in front of my house, I would just cut it down and put it in my green container. During my years of military service I once lived in a country where the city didn't sweep the streets because residents were required to maintain and police the street and sidewalk in front of their homes. If you see a mess, clean it up. Otherwise, the city just might hire more overpaid union labor to do it for you.
For 42 years I did have a gardener maintain the end of the cul-de-sac. After writing about the Sola bike route the city came and took control of this area... It was their decision!!!