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Paseo Nuevo, Policy Drift, and Santa Barbara’s Growing Price Tag

By Bonnie Donovan

Dec 05, 2025
∙ Paid

As City Hall pushes new demands on developers and residents, leadership inertia leaves downtown underutilized while taxpayers foot the bill.

If you didn’t watch Tuesday’s City Council meeting, it’s worth your time. Yes, it was long. But the discussion after the Paseo Nuevo item revealed something far more concerning than a struggling mall: it showed how …

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