Get this bullshit out of my email, pro-car propaganda is the dumbest possible thing imaginable. Cars ruined America, and they'll ruin Santa Barbara too.
Auto traffic circulation is being ruined in SB, so I do not understand Derek's message. Many of the immigrants to US that I have known well, sent photos of their first home and car to their families back in the old, poor countries, to show them that they had "made it" (home and car ownership) in this most prosperous land.
Whether it was a short escape from a busy work day, a scenic route crossing town with the family, or as a tourist gaining perspective on this beautiful place, slowly driving along State Street admiring the architecture, different businesses, and different people was an easy way to enjoy Santa Barbara. The current model is a disorganized competition for square footage between a unattractive parklets, urban campers, and inconsiderate bikers that, as the numbers show, is often just easier to avoid entirely.
I moved here last summer. I avoid State Street because State Street is a mess. I remember it from years ago when it had a normal traffic and pedestrian flow. It was lovely and hanging out there was a delight. Now it’s just confusing and dysfunctional to the max.
As a former regular weekly spending shopper, diner, and movie goer, I avoid State Street while wondering: Who voted for these Council representatives? When will qualified business and planning pros be identified and elected to Council? Current District reps on Santa Barbara City Council are on self-serving missions to retain their paid jobs or advance to mayor because political jobs with decent pay are only accessible to puppet Democrats with no business experience. Until very recently when two have slightly distanced, all were owned plus controlled by the Democrat machine. They do as instructed.
Business be damned! Improving or maintaining Santa Barbara’s historic uniqueness and financial viability is not the goal! Rather, State Street is to be recreated into low income high rise housing taken off the property tax rolls. State Street will be the future open recreational space for these residents.
The City already owns over 30 tax exempt downtown parcels to block vote on issues of increased taxation for other property owners. Business slowly die or some relocate. It’s the Santa Barbara progressive plan.
Presently, anyone visiting downtown will see few — if any — carrying packaged purchases, and multiple empty buildings with too many vagrants confirming Council’s plan isn’t working. The brave dodge 20mph bikes and skateboards. The high density housing with no parking is coming. The plan to destroy Santa Barbara is progressing.
Pedestrians gained about 20 ft of walking space in the street while the cyclists and skateboarders are contained within a commute lane. You are right that myopic and oblivious walkers who blindly wander into the bike lanes are often surprised by the people actually using them for what they're designated for. Show the same respect which you demand from cyclists and skateboarders by being aware of your surroundings and looking before stumbling into the bike lanes in large groups.
State Street has been failing for years before the road closed to traffic. More cars in our already congested downtown area isn't an answer. Dealing with the exorbitant rent downtown and greedy property management companies who let spaces sit fallow for years at a time seems like a more pressing issue.
There are no greedy property management companies. There are greedy tenants however, who demand sweetheart deals since they do not have viable business plans.
I appreciate the landlords who did let their property remain idle, rather than sell it out to the cheapest, sleaziest businesses who would have jumped at more bargain rate rentals.
These State Street landlords deserve our thanks, not your slurs. Targeted harassment by vagrants drove away downtown retail, long before online shopping and "covid" pounded in their coffin nails. That is where voters and prior city council's dropped the ball.
I read this very good article by Mr. Wenz and I will comment since my family had a hand in the automotive and trucking Industry inventing and producing parts for same. See weblink below>
Derek made an uninformed comment ...... "Cars ruined American"
I quess Derek would say the same about the Wrigth Brother's Airplane. "Airplanes ruined America"
The problem here in Santa Barbara and the State of California is much deeper than our personal freedoms of speech, use of transportation and even our rigth to live openly where we want.
The So-Called-Leaders of this State and here in SB have suppressed many of our core freedoms that are essential to a free community and to a free society and it is not just use of cars and "State Street" or Goleta "Old Town" . Think about it, there are some very serious problems here.
Airplanes didn't ruin America. Cars shredded our cities, flattened our beaches, wiped out ecosystems. You aren't having your freedoms suppressed by having to walk to a store instead of driving down a street.
The problem is, not everyone is able-bodied, and in California's leftist Utopia many have to commute long distances in order to get to their jobs. Those who are older, have physical impairments, and are working-class realize this. Also, don't forget that the people that the author of the letter criticizes have created a situation where the people who live in that area have to go to the North Side of Santa Barbara or Goleta. In decades past, there was plenty of shopping downtown that served the locals, but now that has been wiped out so serve the interests of the tourist industry, which while always having been a major factor in Santa Barbara's economy, was balanced with the needs of the locals: that is no longer the case.
You don't need to be able bodied to sit on a bus or train. Our current car-centered society is worse for our older generations because they are either forced to continue driving even when their health makes it unsafe to do so, or they have to pay extreme costs to all their needs brought to them. Creating a transit oriented, walkable society is better for those who are not able bodied.
I think your point of view goes against human nature. When I was a kid in the '60's and 70's we watched documentaries about life in Peking, China. Back then the entire population was on bikes. Fast forward with the opening of their economy and now Bejing looks like any city in the world, although with horrible air.
Look at developing countries, I think it's safe to say they want a lot of what we have. Cars, for easier transportation, and an iPhone, and of course, an air fryer.
I don't think this is about us older people needing our cars, more so the basic idea of CAB. Cars are basic, they make life easy for everyone.
Riding bikes means no iPhone? Cars may seem to make your life easier, but are they making your life BETTER? They’re expensive, polluting, loud, create congestion, and are responsible for the downfall of so many cities and neighborhoods.
That is like saying water causes congestion in an undersized pipe. And the toilet is too loud- better to poop in the bush. Walking is almost free, and is your choice.
It was obvious that State Street was much healthier when it was open to vehicle traffic. But liberals are obsessed with doing the wrong thing even if it doesn't work. They don't care. All they care about is their vision of a European socialist Utopia.
Yes, and we see how well that so called Trotskyite utopian dream is working for Europe yes? Millions of adversarial and barbaric invaders from fifth world filth, crazy taxes, inflation out of control and complete demise of societal traditions and order just to name a few things of the top. That is Santa Barbara's fate if we don't elect a sensible mayor and city council moving forward. Randy Rowse was supposed to turn Santa Barbara around, instead, he, his city council and unelected city bureaucrats have turned Santa Barbara into a utopian NIGHTMARE which is getting worse by the day.
We need to open up State street pronto for car traffic. Also, Solvang and Goleta ( just a few weeks ago) got rid of all street closures and those ugly outside extensions for restaurants which existed in the Covid era. What the hell is the City of Santa Barbara waiting for? Christmas?
I once commented to Charlie the confirmed leftist how a city bus passing by had exactly zero passengers. Charlie replied that this was because the bus schedule needed to be expanded with more routes and more buses. His view seemed to be completely divorced from reality. Apparently this divorce is shared by our city planners whose ideology eclipses reality. It is also said to be the definition of insanity.
That leftist was right. People aren't going to be willing to use busses until the busses cover the destinations they want with enough frequency to be convenient
People choose buses in highly dense cities like NYC & SF, where car ownership and parking costs exceed their budget. Most bus riders can’t afford a car, a cab, or Uber and don’t qualify for Easy Lift. Few choose a bike over a car. Parents, singles, suburbanites, and service businesses need a vehicle.
People choose buses in cities where busses are fast, frequent, and go to the places they want to go. I'm surprised that people are so afraid of moving to a city design model that would save them hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. Cars are incredibly expensive.
Having lived in SF, L.A., NYC, New Orleans, I chose to live in a small manageable safe city under 100,000 residents where the only thing I’d hear daily is chirping birds rather than sirens, constant noise. I’d see beauty rather than high rise buildings, congestion, street vendors, and crowding behaviors. I chose Santa Barbara 45 years ago thinking the limited land space due to mountain to ocean topography, it’s 3-story height requirement (Granada Theater the only exception), and limited fresh water supply would ensure an escape from the stresses of high density city noise and problems. I could get what I needed within 3 miles from my hillside neighborhood.
And you think having ample transit options would result in sirens and constant noise? You know cars also result in sirens and constant noise, right? Busses reduce the number of cars on the road dramatically
Increased Transit translates into increased density. On the Eastside more buses will require street parking limitations to residents. Moreover, because of changes in CA public policy increased transit/ bus stops will allow increased density via construction of high rise residential complexes on each lot. Beware of the domino effect of your wish list, Derek.
Derek, for several years I lived in a Swiss city of similar population to the greater Santa Barbara area. We indeed did rely on our very fine fixed rail transit system that ran so frequently we did not need to worry about time schedules, nor the ability to connect to other fixed rail lines that got us typically within four blocks of where ever we wanted to go.
Summer rain and winter snow did not keep us from carrying out our daily lives using the public tram system. We learned to shop small and on a daily basis since we also had to lug our purchases on our own back to our small apartments.
I suspect this Swiss city would conform to your own idealized model for car-free living in Santa Barbara. Why did this work in this Swiss city, and is not immediately embraced by locales in the western US? The reasons are obvious. But I will let you explain the obvious differences on your own, so we can learn more about where you are really coming from.
In fact you are are insisting on a total tear down of the entire city of Santa Barbara, in order to reconstruct the centuries old evolution from the medieval central market core of most romanticized European cities, that still do well today as high-density, low square footage, high-rise residential lives that can and do support these concentrated fixed rail public transit systems.
I'm not insisting on a total teardown, I'm insisting on you people not clinging desperately to forcing car usage onto everybody else. Having a car requires you to be inconvenienced sometimes. You won't always be able to drive everywhere you want, you won't always be able to park exactly where you want. Deal with it. You don't need a pro-car advocacy group.
Fixed-rail. That is the quickest way to make public transit friendlier. One learns and comes to depend upon fixed-rail routes, for the public transportation to work best.
Do you know the route of your closest bus line - where it goes and when it goes, without looking it up on your phone? Do you know where to connect to another line to get you close to any destination in this city ? If not, why not.
The variability of routes and schedules, along with inadequate signage continues to make our entire local transit system far from spontaneous and user friendly.
I always wanted to send the entire MTD board to Switzerland with a list of 50 destinations across the entire country, both remote and obvious. Just drop them off and them figure out how to get to all 50 of them on their own.
What could they learn from probably one of the best interconnected public transit systems in the world. What could they bring back to use to improve our own local system. And what simply could not work here at all, due to our own built in limitations. Including costs and subsidies.
I believe the reason State street is closed to cars and open to parklets is because five city council members voted for it, more than once. They are, Mike Jordan, Meagan Harmon, Kristen Sneddon, Alejandra Gutierrez and my "representative" Oscar Gutierrez. Eric Friedman had a proposal to open the street except for the 500 block, but no, shot down again by these five. Alejandra, Oscar and Mike are all up for reelection. . . I can only vote against Oscar. I think a town with this population is too small for districts. Although I live on the border of Oscar and Mike's districts. I actually look out my windows at Mike's. I have work about five blocks down in the Funk Zone, that's Alejandra's district. But my apartment is closer to Meagan's than any of the others. I can only vote once every four years for my district council member. How is this good for democracy?
Next, I'll admit I'm one of those that liked driving up State very early in the morning. I can't anymore but the same people that rode their bikes up and down State can still ride up and down State. And every year it seems like more traffic lanes are eliminated or reduced for cars, yet bike riders still use ALL streets, and sidewalks. And don't get me started about those E-bikes!! They are a menace to society, and I own one. I rode it once, scared me to death and it's in my garage.
Last, some people here have said State street is vibrant. I won't disagree. It is vibrant at times, the same times that the Funk Zone is vibrant, weekends and special events. The rest of the time, 24/7 the FZ is pretty quiet, but cars, bikes and pedestrians all use it. I agree with CAB, open State street.
Agree: SB City is too small for Judge Ochoa’s victorious demand for Districts. At large Council representation for our town of under 90,000 worked well for decades.
This is so maddening. Why do people like Paris so much? Because there are cars everywhere? Absolutely not! Santa Barbara has one chance at becoming a more European city. People who actually spend time downtown are loving it. I invite you to go on Thursday nights at Satellite and listen to live music and dance in the middle of State Street. This is life. This is the life I want for my kids.
The reason shops are closing are certainly not because of the lack of cars, this is so BS... how about because the rent is unsustainable?
Go to Oak Park and dance on the stage the city parks department has already provided for you. You have alternatives. Catering to your personal entertainment demands one evening of the week for our main commercial downtown corridor is a non-starter.
I totally agree with this rationale about what makes a downtown a special destination, walkability without fear of cars is high up there. I was taking a walk on state street the other evening with my wife and 3 year old toddler and we casually stopped and listened to an outdoor band with a large group of people blocking a good section of the entire street and dancing danced with a group of folks in the street. This type of magic and unique experience would never happen if cars were driving up and down.
If you want EUROPE, please feel free to move there. Santa Barbara is American, more specifically Southern Californian with its own unique flair and culture absent in Europe. You cannot and should not impose a European flair on anything Santa Barbara.
We now have two Funk Zones—the one at the train tracks and the other the erstwhile vibrant downtown State Street. I prefer these days to head to Goleta to the lively world of the Camino Real Marketplace and on the other side of the freeway, the thriving businesses along Calle Real. Major difference between SB and Goleta commercial districts? Availability of FREE off-street parking. And SB is going to raise parking fees and try to capture revenue from street parking? Dah.
I’m confused why the ability of cars to drive on State St (with no street parking anywhere) would affect patronage of businesses along State St. Whether the street is open to traffic or not, potential patrons still need to park elsewhere and walk over. Are we pointing the finger at the configuration of the street when businesses are more likely going broke due to a changing economic climate?
At present, the only available solution is for alternative business candidates to replace the three council members standing for re-election to the city council. All the talking in this forum, alone will be pointless until the leftist grip on the city council is broken.
Replace district elections in this city is the better option. Yet again, on its second try, district elections has failed this small community before the threats of highly punitive CVRA legal consequences forced us into this unviable voting district distortion again.
We have one person, well in the thrall of the downtown bike lobby, representing the majority of this downtown area. Basically State Street is an elective process orphan, held captive by a few very low-voter turn out sub-district representatives. Yet the city at large depends on the health of the downtown for its general welfare. The mayor at least understands this, but where are the other three votes to at least make this a city priority?
Unfortunately, district elections carry the enforcement clout of the now wholly out of synch CVRA, which also needs to be rescinded so it stops slicing and dicing our communities along its now well out of date "protected class" lines. It is not working.
The former State Street, as depicted in the photo, drew one in to the pleasing leafy green corridor. The current blocked-off, soulless, shanty town State Street is repellent.
my young family and our friends' favorite activity is going to state for dinner and walking up and down it after dinner. we do that probably twice a week. I'm pro-business and anti govt regulation but my experience on state has been different than yours and I see a lot of folks enjoying the no car thing.
"my young family and our friends"...exactly: you are young and able-bodied, but in the real world not everyone can conform the ageist survival-of-the-fittest ideal the Leftist Hipsters want to impose upon the rest of us. There was a movie back in the 1970's called Logan's Run that featured a society where people over 30 were simply eliminated. I wonder how far that vision is from the new radical left.
im definitely not left or radical left or hipster by any means, but i appreciate the assumption. There is plentiful parking just behind state that in many cases connects to rear entrances of the buildings which makes the distance walked negligible. ADA handicap stalls are even closer. most times we go to state we walk a very short distance to get to the desired location, restaurant, etc...even if cars were allowed, who is to say there would be parking available right in front of your desired end location to make it that much easier to walk there ? With the abundance of parking up and down state, I feel like it doesn't move the needle much to be able to park on the actual state street itself.
Please move past the personal, since there are multiple places where one can enjoy dining and social actives in this town besides the shut-down State Street, including our very nice collection of public parks and any number of local restaurants offering private outdoor patios.
These are the questions I am hoping also get answered first: Is there a city tax revenue generating-need for a more commercially viable downtown district, than what its current limited condition is generating? Has the city found other resources to compensate for this deficit?
I don't know this answer to this question, I only raise it since the city teeters on its growing, unsustainable and fixed debt burden, that now requires an endless need for increased taxation. I only hope the city has already been analyzing this perspective. I would like to know the results of this analysis. Who will howl the most if/when the city starts working on the expense side of this unsustainable equation?
Or as I have also suggested, does re-opening State Street require increased security costs which negate the loss of commercial tax revenues previously generated when State Street was more free-range for aggressive vagrants, permanent encampments, and gang turf wars.
Have the increased property tax rates on local sales of what many call "unaffordable homes" compensated for what got lost when State Street lost its economic downtown vigor? Have online sales taxes compensated the city for lost storefront sales taxes.
Does the city in fact have a hidden interest maintaining higher real property sales prices to keep generating more property taxes, generated by more affluent purchasers?
What is the net-net as a result of this recent major urban dislocation? It may well be cheaper for the city to keep State Street closed and in its currently entombed state.
We should be informed about this part of the State Street question, not just relying reports that some residents like this current state as their own preferred personal entertainment venue.
Show me the money, because we are all in this together. In other words in the bluntest terms, are you asking me to accept higher taxes elsewhere just so you can occasionally enjoy dining in the street in an outdoor shanty? Or is your version of State Street in fact saving me money. May we both find the necessary answers.
i think we both can agree based on the numerous articles shared via the current that the issue with SB government has little to do with revenue generation and more about waste and inefficient use of our tax dollars. I don't want to see the government in huge deficit either. i look forward to learning more about the questions you raised.
KEYT reported last night that the city government is $7million in debt. All the re-imagining at the expense of the locals, who were sacrificed on the altar of the tourist industry, and here they are, wringing their hands in frustration.
There was nothing wrong with the city the way it was, but the Hipsters want to change what they see in order to impose their vision of Utopia. The same "vision" is being implemented in Goleta ("Old Town Goleta") and Solvang. In the end, a few carpetbaggers profit at the expense of the locals.
Get this bullshit out of my email, pro-car propaganda is the dumbest possible thing imaginable. Cars ruined America, and they'll ruin Santa Barbara too.
This comment is sheer genius.
You never know, he may not have a delete key.
Auto traffic circulation is being ruined in SB, so I do not understand Derek's message. Many of the immigrants to US that I have known well, sent photos of their first home and car to their families back in the old, poor countries, to show them that they had "made it" (home and car ownership) in this most prosperous land.
that makes no sense
Whether it was a short escape from a busy work day, a scenic route crossing town with the family, or as a tourist gaining perspective on this beautiful place, slowly driving along State Street admiring the architecture, different businesses, and different people was an easy way to enjoy Santa Barbara. The current model is a disorganized competition for square footage between a unattractive parklets, urban campers, and inconsiderate bikers that, as the numbers show, is often just easier to avoid entirely.
You can't slowly walk and do the same? How lazy can people get. Inconsiderate bikers bad, inconsiderate car drivers good. Makes total sense.
I moved here last summer. I avoid State Street because State Street is a mess. I remember it from years ago when it had a normal traffic and pedestrian flow. It was lovely and hanging out there was a delight. Now it’s just confusing and dysfunctional to the max.
As a former regular weekly spending shopper, diner, and movie goer, I avoid State Street while wondering: Who voted for these Council representatives? When will qualified business and planning pros be identified and elected to Council? Current District reps on Santa Barbara City Council are on self-serving missions to retain their paid jobs or advance to mayor because political jobs with decent pay are only accessible to puppet Democrats with no business experience. Until very recently when two have slightly distanced, all were owned plus controlled by the Democrat machine. They do as instructed.
Business be damned! Improving or maintaining Santa Barbara’s historic uniqueness and financial viability is not the goal! Rather, State Street is to be recreated into low income high rise housing taken off the property tax rolls. State Street will be the future open recreational space for these residents.
The City already owns over 30 tax exempt downtown parcels to block vote on issues of increased taxation for other property owners. Business slowly die or some relocate. It’s the Santa Barbara progressive plan.
Presently, anyone visiting downtown will see few — if any — carrying packaged purchases, and multiple empty buildings with too many vagrants confirming Council’s plan isn’t working. The brave dodge 20mph bikes and skateboards. The high density housing with no parking is coming. The plan to destroy Santa Barbara is progressing.
Pedestrians gained about 20 ft of walking space in the street while the cyclists and skateboarders are contained within a commute lane. You are right that myopic and oblivious walkers who blindly wander into the bike lanes are often surprised by the people actually using them for what they're designated for. Show the same respect which you demand from cyclists and skateboarders by being aware of your surroundings and looking before stumbling into the bike lanes in large groups.
State Street has been failing for years before the road closed to traffic. More cars in our already congested downtown area isn't an answer. Dealing with the exorbitant rent downtown and greedy property management companies who let spaces sit fallow for years at a time seems like a more pressing issue.
There are no greedy property management companies. There are greedy tenants however, who demand sweetheart deals since they do not have viable business plans.
I appreciate the landlords who did let their property remain idle, rather than sell it out to the cheapest, sleaziest businesses who would have jumped at more bargain rate rentals.
These State Street landlords deserve our thanks, not your slurs. Targeted harassment by vagrants drove away downtown retail, long before online shopping and "covid" pounded in their coffin nails. That is where voters and prior city council's dropped the ball.
I read this very good article by Mr. Wenz and I will comment since my family had a hand in the automotive and trucking Industry inventing and producing parts for same. See weblink below>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Walther_Sr.
Derek made an uninformed comment ...... "Cars ruined American"
I quess Derek would say the same about the Wrigth Brother's Airplane. "Airplanes ruined America"
The problem here in Santa Barbara and the State of California is much deeper than our personal freedoms of speech, use of transportation and even our rigth to live openly where we want.
The So-Called-Leaders of this State and here in SB have suppressed many of our core freedoms that are essential to a free community and to a free society and it is not just use of cars and "State Street" or Goleta "Old Town" . Think about it, there are some very serious problems here.
Howard Walther, member of a Military Family
Airplanes didn't ruin America. Cars shredded our cities, flattened our beaches, wiped out ecosystems. You aren't having your freedoms suppressed by having to walk to a store instead of driving down a street.
Have you met Nancy Freeman?
🤣
Hahahaha.. o m g
It’s raining cats and dogs!!!
Obviously you believe in fake climate change and probably had 6 quakzeens .. ugh
Derek obviously does not have kids, so he can pick up a burrito for dinner and carry it home.
The problem is, not everyone is able-bodied, and in California's leftist Utopia many have to commute long distances in order to get to their jobs. Those who are older, have physical impairments, and are working-class realize this. Also, don't forget that the people that the author of the letter criticizes have created a situation where the people who live in that area have to go to the North Side of Santa Barbara or Goleta. In decades past, there was plenty of shopping downtown that served the locals, but now that has been wiped out so serve the interests of the tourist industry, which while always having been a major factor in Santa Barbara's economy, was balanced with the needs of the locals: that is no longer the case.
You don't need to be able bodied to sit on a bus or train. Our current car-centered society is worse for our older generations because they are either forced to continue driving even when their health makes it unsafe to do so, or they have to pay extreme costs to all their needs brought to them. Creating a transit oriented, walkable society is better for those who are not able bodied.
I think your point of view goes against human nature. When I was a kid in the '60's and 70's we watched documentaries about life in Peking, China. Back then the entire population was on bikes. Fast forward with the opening of their economy and now Bejing looks like any city in the world, although with horrible air.
Look at developing countries, I think it's safe to say they want a lot of what we have. Cars, for easier transportation, and an iPhone, and of course, an air fryer.
I don't think this is about us older people needing our cars, more so the basic idea of CAB. Cars are basic, they make life easy for everyone.
Riding bikes means no iPhone? Cars may seem to make your life easier, but are they making your life BETTER? They’re expensive, polluting, loud, create congestion, and are responsible for the downfall of so many cities and neighborhoods.
That is like saying water causes congestion in an undersized pipe. And the toilet is too loud- better to poop in the bush. Walking is almost free, and is your choice.
It was obvious that State Street was much healthier when it was open to vehicle traffic. But liberals are obsessed with doing the wrong thing even if it doesn't work. They don't care. All they care about is their vision of a European socialist Utopia.
Yes, and we see how well that so called Trotskyite utopian dream is working for Europe yes? Millions of adversarial and barbaric invaders from fifth world filth, crazy taxes, inflation out of control and complete demise of societal traditions and order just to name a few things of the top. That is Santa Barbara's fate if we don't elect a sensible mayor and city council moving forward. Randy Rowse was supposed to turn Santa Barbara around, instead, he, his city council and unelected city bureaucrats have turned Santa Barbara into a utopian NIGHTMARE which is getting worse by the day.
Should the city put re-opening State Street up for an advisory vote on the next ballot? Pros and cons.
We need to open up State street pronto for car traffic. Also, Solvang and Goleta ( just a few weeks ago) got rid of all street closures and those ugly outside extensions for restaurants which existed in the Covid era. What the hell is the City of Santa Barbara waiting for? Christmas?
I once commented to Charlie the confirmed leftist how a city bus passing by had exactly zero passengers. Charlie replied that this was because the bus schedule needed to be expanded with more routes and more buses. His view seemed to be completely divorced from reality. Apparently this divorce is shared by our city planners whose ideology eclipses reality. It is also said to be the definition of insanity.
That leftist was right. People aren't going to be willing to use busses until the busses cover the destinations they want with enough frequency to be convenient
People choose buses in highly dense cities like NYC & SF, where car ownership and parking costs exceed their budget. Most bus riders can’t afford a car, a cab, or Uber and don’t qualify for Easy Lift. Few choose a bike over a car. Parents, singles, suburbanites, and service businesses need a vehicle.
People choose buses in cities where busses are fast, frequent, and go to the places they want to go. I'm surprised that people are so afraid of moving to a city design model that would save them hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. Cars are incredibly expensive.
Having lived in SF, L.A., NYC, New Orleans, I chose to live in a small manageable safe city under 100,000 residents where the only thing I’d hear daily is chirping birds rather than sirens, constant noise. I’d see beauty rather than high rise buildings, congestion, street vendors, and crowding behaviors. I chose Santa Barbara 45 years ago thinking the limited land space due to mountain to ocean topography, it’s 3-story height requirement (Granada Theater the only exception), and limited fresh water supply would ensure an escape from the stresses of high density city noise and problems. I could get what I needed within 3 miles from my hillside neighborhood.
And you think having ample transit options would result in sirens and constant noise? You know cars also result in sirens and constant noise, right? Busses reduce the number of cars on the road dramatically
Increased Transit translates into increased density. On the Eastside more buses will require street parking limitations to residents. Moreover, because of changes in CA public policy increased transit/ bus stops will allow increased density via construction of high rise residential complexes on each lot. Beware of the domino effect of your wish list, Derek.
Derek, for several years I lived in a Swiss city of similar population to the greater Santa Barbara area. We indeed did rely on our very fine fixed rail transit system that ran so frequently we did not need to worry about time schedules, nor the ability to connect to other fixed rail lines that got us typically within four blocks of where ever we wanted to go.
Summer rain and winter snow did not keep us from carrying out our daily lives using the public tram system. We learned to shop small and on a daily basis since we also had to lug our purchases on our own back to our small apartments.
I suspect this Swiss city would conform to your own idealized model for car-free living in Santa Barbara. Why did this work in this Swiss city, and is not immediately embraced by locales in the western US? The reasons are obvious. But I will let you explain the obvious differences on your own, so we can learn more about where you are really coming from.
In fact you are are insisting on a total tear down of the entire city of Santa Barbara, in order to reconstruct the centuries old evolution from the medieval central market core of most romanticized European cities, that still do well today as high-density, low square footage, high-rise residential lives that can and do support these concentrated fixed rail public transit systems.
Here are the keys to the bulldozer. Have at it.
I'm not insisting on a total teardown, I'm insisting on you people not clinging desperately to forcing car usage onto everybody else. Having a car requires you to be inconvenienced sometimes. You won't always be able to drive everywhere you want, you won't always be able to park exactly where you want. Deal with it. You don't need a pro-car advocacy group.
I am lost in your confused responses. Sorry, Derek.
Nobody is forcing you to drive a car, you can bike or walk wherever you please.
Electric busses.
Fixed-rail. That is the quickest way to make public transit friendlier. One learns and comes to depend upon fixed-rail routes, for the public transportation to work best.
Do you know the route of your closest bus line - where it goes and when it goes, without looking it up on your phone? Do you know where to connect to another line to get you close to any destination in this city ? If not, why not.
The variability of routes and schedules, along with inadequate signage continues to make our entire local transit system far from spontaneous and user friendly.
I always wanted to send the entire MTD board to Switzerland with a list of 50 destinations across the entire country, both remote and obvious. Just drop them off and them figure out how to get to all 50 of them on their own.
What could they learn from probably one of the best interconnected public transit systems in the world. What could they bring back to use to improve our own local system. And what simply could not work here at all, due to our own built in limitations. Including costs and subsidies.
I believe the reason State street is closed to cars and open to parklets is because five city council members voted for it, more than once. They are, Mike Jordan, Meagan Harmon, Kristen Sneddon, Alejandra Gutierrez and my "representative" Oscar Gutierrez. Eric Friedman had a proposal to open the street except for the 500 block, but no, shot down again by these five. Alejandra, Oscar and Mike are all up for reelection. . . I can only vote against Oscar. I think a town with this population is too small for districts. Although I live on the border of Oscar and Mike's districts. I actually look out my windows at Mike's. I have work about five blocks down in the Funk Zone, that's Alejandra's district. But my apartment is closer to Meagan's than any of the others. I can only vote once every four years for my district council member. How is this good for democracy?
Next, I'll admit I'm one of those that liked driving up State very early in the morning. I can't anymore but the same people that rode their bikes up and down State can still ride up and down State. And every year it seems like more traffic lanes are eliminated or reduced for cars, yet bike riders still use ALL streets, and sidewalks. And don't get me started about those E-bikes!! They are a menace to society, and I own one. I rode it once, scared me to death and it's in my garage.
Last, some people here have said State street is vibrant. I won't disagree. It is vibrant at times, the same times that the Funk Zone is vibrant, weekends and special events. The rest of the time, 24/7 the FZ is pretty quiet, but cars, bikes and pedestrians all use it. I agree with CAB, open State street.
Agree: SB City is too small for Judge Ochoa’s victorious demand for Districts. At large Council representation for our town of under 90,000 worked well for decades.
This is so maddening. Why do people like Paris so much? Because there are cars everywhere? Absolutely not! Santa Barbara has one chance at becoming a more European city. People who actually spend time downtown are loving it. I invite you to go on Thursday nights at Satellite and listen to live music and dance in the middle of State Street. This is life. This is the life I want for my kids.
The reason shops are closing are certainly not because of the lack of cars, this is so BS... how about because the rent is unsustainable?
Go to Oak Park and dance on the stage the city parks department has already provided for you. You have alternatives. Catering to your personal entertainment demands one evening of the week for our main commercial downtown corridor is a non-starter.
I totally agree with this rationale about what makes a downtown a special destination, walkability without fear of cars is high up there. I was taking a walk on state street the other evening with my wife and 3 year old toddler and we casually stopped and listened to an outdoor band with a large group of people blocking a good section of the entire street and dancing danced with a group of folks in the street. This type of magic and unique experience would never happen if cars were driving up and down.
If you want EUROPE, please feel free to move there. Santa Barbara is American, more specifically Southern Californian with its own unique flair and culture absent in Europe. You cannot and should not impose a European flair on anything Santa Barbara.
Spanish?
I rarely come up to SB from Carp anymore. I totally agree that you have killed downtown.
One would think that a dead mall would be proof enough of that.
We now have two Funk Zones—the one at the train tracks and the other the erstwhile vibrant downtown State Street. I prefer these days to head to Goleta to the lively world of the Camino Real Marketplace and on the other side of the freeway, the thriving businesses along Calle Real. Major difference between SB and Goleta commercial districts? Availability of FREE off-street parking. And SB is going to raise parking fees and try to capture revenue from street parking? Dah.
I’m confused why the ability of cars to drive on State St (with no street parking anywhere) would affect patronage of businesses along State St. Whether the street is open to traffic or not, potential patrons still need to park elsewhere and walk over. Are we pointing the finger at the configuration of the street when businesses are more likely going broke due to a changing economic climate?
Great article!
At present, the only available solution is for alternative business candidates to replace the three council members standing for re-election to the city council. All the talking in this forum, alone will be pointless until the leftist grip on the city council is broken.
Replace district elections in this city is the better option. Yet again, on its second try, district elections has failed this small community before the threats of highly punitive CVRA legal consequences forced us into this unviable voting district distortion again.
We have one person, well in the thrall of the downtown bike lobby, representing the majority of this downtown area. Basically State Street is an elective process orphan, held captive by a few very low-voter turn out sub-district representatives. Yet the city at large depends on the health of the downtown for its general welfare. The mayor at least understands this, but where are the other three votes to at least make this a city priority?
Unfortunately, district elections carry the enforcement clout of the now wholly out of synch CVRA, which also needs to be rescinded so it stops slicing and dicing our communities along its now well out of date "protected class" lines. It is not working.
The former State Street, as depicted in the photo, drew one in to the pleasing leafy green corridor. The current blocked-off, soulless, shanty town State Street is repellent.
my young family and our friends' favorite activity is going to state for dinner and walking up and down it after dinner. we do that probably twice a week. I'm pro-business and anti govt regulation but my experience on state has been different than yours and I see a lot of folks enjoying the no car thing.
"my young family and our friends"...exactly: you are young and able-bodied, but in the real world not everyone can conform the ageist survival-of-the-fittest ideal the Leftist Hipsters want to impose upon the rest of us. There was a movie back in the 1970's called Logan's Run that featured a society where people over 30 were simply eliminated. I wonder how far that vision is from the new radical left.
im definitely not left or radical left or hipster by any means, but i appreciate the assumption. There is plentiful parking just behind state that in many cases connects to rear entrances of the buildings which makes the distance walked negligible. ADA handicap stalls are even closer. most times we go to state we walk a very short distance to get to the desired location, restaurant, etc...even if cars were allowed, who is to say there would be parking available right in front of your desired end location to make it that much easier to walk there ? With the abundance of parking up and down state, I feel like it doesn't move the needle much to be able to park on the actual state street itself.
How about charging "young families" admission tickets so they can enjoy this new Downtown State Street Entertainment Zone?
sounds good, i imagine the enforcement agency would outweigh the benefit but lets give it a shot
Please move past the personal, since there are multiple places where one can enjoy dining and social actives in this town besides the shut-down State Street, including our very nice collection of public parks and any number of local restaurants offering private outdoor patios.
These are the questions I am hoping also get answered first: Is there a city tax revenue generating-need for a more commercially viable downtown district, than what its current limited condition is generating? Has the city found other resources to compensate for this deficit?
I don't know this answer to this question, I only raise it since the city teeters on its growing, unsustainable and fixed debt burden, that now requires an endless need for increased taxation. I only hope the city has already been analyzing this perspective. I would like to know the results of this analysis. Who will howl the most if/when the city starts working on the expense side of this unsustainable equation?
Or as I have also suggested, does re-opening State Street require increased security costs which negate the loss of commercial tax revenues previously generated when State Street was more free-range for aggressive vagrants, permanent encampments, and gang turf wars.
Have the increased property tax rates on local sales of what many call "unaffordable homes" compensated for what got lost when State Street lost its economic downtown vigor? Have online sales taxes compensated the city for lost storefront sales taxes.
Does the city in fact have a hidden interest maintaining higher real property sales prices to keep generating more property taxes, generated by more affluent purchasers?
What is the net-net as a result of this recent major urban dislocation? It may well be cheaper for the city to keep State Street closed and in its currently entombed state.
We should be informed about this part of the State Street question, not just relying reports that some residents like this current state as their own preferred personal entertainment venue.
Show me the money, because we are all in this together. In other words in the bluntest terms, are you asking me to accept higher taxes elsewhere just so you can occasionally enjoy dining in the street in an outdoor shanty? Or is your version of State Street in fact saving me money. May we both find the necessary answers.
i think we both can agree based on the numerous articles shared via the current that the issue with SB government has little to do with revenue generation and more about waste and inefficient use of our tax dollars. I don't want to see the government in huge deficit either. i look forward to learning more about the questions you raised.
KEYT reported last night that the city government is $7million in debt. All the re-imagining at the expense of the locals, who were sacrificed on the altar of the tourist industry, and here they are, wringing their hands in frustration.
There was nothing wrong with the city the way it was, but the Hipsters want to change what they see in order to impose their vision of Utopia. The same "vision" is being implemented in Goleta ("Old Town Goleta") and Solvang. In the end, a few carpetbaggers profit at the expense of the locals.