Prior to 2010, SBCC had exemplary leadership and long serving, non-partisan trustees who understood they were spending your tax dollars. That is the college that earned the yes votes for the 2008 SBCC bond issue. That was the college that also earned the, albeit dubious, Aspen Award. (Disclosure, I was privileged to be one part of that former SBCC team.)
After 2010, radical partisan Democrats took over the college and it slipped into slow chaos with a material leadership vacuum for the past decade. You are not passing the same bond issue today, that you passed in 2008, because you now have an entirely different board of trustees and college leadership history that will be spending it.
The current SBCC has not earned your renewed trust. It can in the future if/when both board and long term leadership earn back that former community trust.
Otherwise, you have no assurance this recent failed history of college leadership will not continue to mismanage a new source of funds, which currently papers over this past decade of SBCC partisan chaos.
We see this same partisan driven chaos playing out today at every level of our state operations. The past due bills are now demanding immediate payment at every level. SBCC is symptomatic of the whole, when this state became a one-party, free spending political tyranny several decades ago.
State is on fiscal fire. More bond issue demands will not put these fires out.
Measure “P” is the culmination of a typical confidence game played on the unsuspecting, tax paying public. That is to say, misuse of public funds, letting the physical plant become dilapidated and unusable due to incompetence and supporting a bloated staff that is unsustainable.
This is what the liberal agenda does. They oversee a massive bureaucracy, fail to operate it properly and expect the public to bailout it out.
Enough is enough, time to stop rewarding incompetence. Instead of a taxpayer bailout of nearly half a billion dollars, we should be advocating for our District Attorney to launch a Grand Jury investigation for misappropriation of public funds and fraud.
GR, Yikes! That brings the message home better than any other argument.
What do we really know about the people who will be spending this $1 million a month?
What is their track record. What are even their names. What prior skills or experience do they have handling this much new money, in our names. Why are they asking us to fund their current poor track record of fiscal mismanagement.
This money is fully fungible, so be careful about any claims they make. They avoid making cuts and eliminating favors and inefficiencies, when they get to back fill the real college needs with our new money. We cannot give them this permission.
Do they fundamentally think they are spending free money, or our money?
Dear Karen Jones, I just donated to your fund. Please don't thank me because it is I who am grateful to you and Robert for your bravery. That you still believe in America enough to run for office says that you are exactly the kind of person we need. I hope you will run for further offices.
You are too kind, and my friends will tell you kindness is my kryptonite. Your comment gave me a lump in my throat and my eyes became wet. I have not cried throughout this almost 4 year ordeal, except when people like you have expressed gratitude. The only other time my eyes suddenly became wet was when the bailiff opened the door to the court for my arraignment and my eyes locked with my then 40 year old son who had driven me to the Federal Court Building in Austin. I was fully restrained, my hands shackled to my waist, wearing full leg irons. The bailiff apologized to me when he placed the chains on my body saying, “I can’t believe they are making us do this to you”. The judge was also very kind and expedited the process. But I briefly lost control and became emotional when my child and I looked at each other. My son later told me he was smiling to keep from crying. I did not feel sorry for myself; I felt sorry that America had become a country that allowed persecution of political enemies.
I didn’t intend to run for re-election. I am a fan of self imposed term limits. My dear friend, the late great Kinky Friedman used to say all politicians should serve two terms; one in office and one in prison. If I am elected, this will be my third term. If it had not been for all the nasty, anonymous letters sent to our home and the homes of our neighbors I probably would have let my second term be my last. The final straw was being bullied by financially interested surrogates for those who lobby for high density housing and increased tourism in the valley. I could not allow my friends and neighbors to be steam rolled by people who don’t care about our quality of life in the Township of Santa Ynez.
My husband’s great-great grand parents were Ramona Ortega Twist and WW Twist. She was a Chumash woman and he was the first Sheriff of Santa Barbara. My daughter Kara Twist Scott, a graduate of Santa Ynez Elementary and Santa Ynez High School is named in their honor. Kara’s great grandmother Ruth Twist, was the first female Post Mistress in Santa Barbara County, working along side her successor Ruth Pratt at the Santa Ynez Post office. Kara is the 4th generation to grow up in the 125 year old cabin where my husband Robert and I still live, behind what used to be the Jones Garage (now the Johnson Building) at the corner of Edison and Sagunto Streets.
Our family is like many of the working class families who live in the Santa Ynez Community Service District. We are mostly young families with children or retired folks who now live on fixed incomes. Those who serve on boards should not be immune to the impact of decisions made by those representing us. I am grateful to the SC Current for writing about Special Districts. Local government is where individuals can have the greatest impact.
Thank you for your beautiful response. Jan 6th is one of the biggest disgraces of American history. And I'm so sorry for your loss of Kinky Friedman. They don't make Jews like Jesus anymore.
A huge "NO" on measure P and to Karen Jones, and all the other J-6 victims, what a disgrace upon the U.S. for the disgusting actions taken against them ! I had no idea that we had local people involved like this. What a shame. Thanks, Derek, for the article.
Why is there never any mention of Lompoc's Measure R? This will be a spaced themed amusement park for children on over 80 acres of ravines, formerly dedicated as the Ken Adams Park. This measure will have no cost to the residents of Lompoc, but it is estimated that it will annually increase the city revenues by about $5 million. The ballot is very misleading since it says that this measure will discontinue use of the 82 acre parcel containing Ken Adams Park. However I have never seen anyone walking into any of the steep ravines. There are about 2 acres of level land that everyone calls the Ken Adams Park. This measure will enhance that park area by spending $350 million to upgrade the public restrooms, making them ADA compliant, and install new park benches, tables and BBQ areas and pave a new parking lot. None of the trees will be removed.
Keep in mind the city’s rush to take as many properties off the tax rolls and hand them over to non- profit agencies who are property tax exempt, means there are smaller pools of property tax paying residents left to shoulder the burden of any future bond issues.
Where is the pro forma on this trend.
Or, is the city secretly invested in increased property values, while mouthing they want more “affordable” housing. High value property is what pays their own bills.
I'm stuck on the $240 Million in Interest. I'm thinking don't you just love $240M in interest. Who's getting the interest. What is the interest rate? Maybe I can find a cheaper interest rate and make some bucks on the side. What business on earth would provide a government entity a loan at any interest rate in these times. Oh, the Feds are providing the load, perhaps? And the taxpayers are paying for the interest, too? Isn't it grand how the money changes hands. The interest thing needs to be studied.
The school bond industrial complex gets this money. And the eager bond share holders who know private property tax based investments in this area are a good thing. Many hands are out to take their additional shares as well.
Both school bond funding and getting actual hard scape results on campus have many, many hands skimming off their”fair share” as these long term bonds play out. The Citizens Oversight Committee is only window dressing used to garner voter approval to pass these money sink holes.
How does a private square footage construction project compare to a similarly sized and function school bond-funded construction project, such as the $100 million dollar new gymnasium?
What additional requirements get built into these government funded projects, and why?
The dollar amount cost of these projects needs examination, too. The costs seem way to high, begging the question who are all the entities receiving this money?
“Marsha Croninger – the longest-serving trustee on the Board of Trustees – voted "No" on the proposal to advance Measure P to a public vote and she has published an Op-Ed in Newsmakers that details all the reasons for her "No" decision. It is a very informative disclosure of the facts. Please go to Newsmakers on-line; read it before you vote.”
I took the author’s advice and read the Op-Ed by Marsha Croninger. First of all, Ms. Croninger should be commended for her honesty and willingness to do the right thing, even if it alienates her from people she once considered friends. She does a thorough job of detailing the current state of buildings, current budgets and the plummeting enrollment. Ms. Croninger also exposes the deception in the ballot description. I’m glad I am now familiar with Newsmakers on-line. I was already a subscriber and fan of the Santa Barbara Current but Newsmakers makes me even more appreciative of my access to this site. Thank you.
Croninger risked her Trustee seat authoring that OpEd. Once you enter politics as a local school trustee, you MUST support the majority position. Period. She can be censured as was Trustee Gallardo. That leaves their Districts with NO voice on the school board. Forget friends: there’s no such thing, is there in politics?
Ms. Croninger has Constitutional right to disagree with the board decisions and to speak out against their decision, but you are correct, doing so after the majority voted to put the bond on the ballot Ms. Croninger has neglected her duty of loyalty to support the board decision. Perhaps she feels a deeper sense of loyalty to her community when she decided to write the Op-Ed. This was a public farewell to the board she could no longer show loyalty to. Your remark about no friends in politics reminded me of what President Truman said: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Twenty years later William Safire revised the quote: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog, but make sure it’s a small one in case it turns on you.”
Why is there never any mention of Lompoc's Measure R? This will be a space themed amusement park for children on over 80 acres of ravines, formerly dedicated as the Ken Adams Park. This measure will have no cost to the residents of Lompoc, but it is estimated that it will annually increase the city revenues by about $5 million. The ballot is very misleading since it says that this measure will discontinue use of the 82 acre parcel containing Ken Adams Park. However I have never seen anyone walking into any of the steep ravines. There are about 2 acres of level land that everyone calls the Ken Adams Park. This measure will enhance that park area by spending $350,000 to upgrade the public restrooms, making them ADA compliant, and install new park benches, tables and BBQ areas and pave a new parking lot. None of the trees will be removed.
Prior to 2010, SBCC had exemplary leadership and long serving, non-partisan trustees who understood they were spending your tax dollars. That is the college that earned the yes votes for the 2008 SBCC bond issue. That was the college that also earned the, albeit dubious, Aspen Award. (Disclosure, I was privileged to be one part of that former SBCC team.)
After 2010, radical partisan Democrats took over the college and it slipped into slow chaos with a material leadership vacuum for the past decade. You are not passing the same bond issue today, that you passed in 2008, because you now have an entirely different board of trustees and college leadership history that will be spending it.
The current SBCC has not earned your renewed trust. It can in the future if/when both board and long term leadership earn back that former community trust.
Otherwise, you have no assurance this recent failed history of college leadership will not continue to mismanage a new source of funds, which currently papers over this past decade of SBCC partisan chaos.
We see this same partisan driven chaos playing out today at every level of our state operations. The past due bills are now demanding immediate payment at every level. SBCC is symptomatic of the whole, when this state became a one-party, free spending political tyranny several decades ago.
State is on fiscal fire. More bond issue demands will not put these fires out.
Measure “P” is the culmination of a typical confidence game played on the unsuspecting, tax paying public. That is to say, misuse of public funds, letting the physical plant become dilapidated and unusable due to incompetence and supporting a bloated staff that is unsustainable.
This is what the liberal agenda does. They oversee a massive bureaucracy, fail to operate it properly and expect the public to bailout it out.
Enough is enough, time to stop rewarding incompetence. Instead of a taxpayer bailout of nearly half a billion dollars, we should be advocating for our District Attorney to launch a Grand Jury investigation for misappropriation of public funds and fraud.
Re Bond P: Another way to look at the cost is that $1M per month will be spent over the next 35 years.
And yes, thank you Karen Jones.
GR, Yikes! That brings the message home better than any other argument.
What do we really know about the people who will be spending this $1 million a month?
What is their track record. What are even their names. What prior skills or experience do they have handling this much new money, in our names. Why are they asking us to fund their current poor track record of fiscal mismanagement.
This money is fully fungible, so be careful about any claims they make. They avoid making cuts and eliminating favors and inefficiencies, when they get to back fill the real college needs with our new money. We cannot give them this permission.
Do they fundamentally think they are spending free money, or our money?
Our money comes at no cost to these people since California has single party rule. As far as they are concerned it is their money.
Dear Karen Jones, I just donated to your fund. Please don't thank me because it is I who am grateful to you and Robert for your bravery. That you still believe in America enough to run for office says that you are exactly the kind of person we need. I hope you will run for further offices.
You are too kind, and my friends will tell you kindness is my kryptonite. Your comment gave me a lump in my throat and my eyes became wet. I have not cried throughout this almost 4 year ordeal, except when people like you have expressed gratitude. The only other time my eyes suddenly became wet was when the bailiff opened the door to the court for my arraignment and my eyes locked with my then 40 year old son who had driven me to the Federal Court Building in Austin. I was fully restrained, my hands shackled to my waist, wearing full leg irons. The bailiff apologized to me when he placed the chains on my body saying, “I can’t believe they are making us do this to you”. The judge was also very kind and expedited the process. But I briefly lost control and became emotional when my child and I looked at each other. My son later told me he was smiling to keep from crying. I did not feel sorry for myself; I felt sorry that America had become a country that allowed persecution of political enemies.
I didn’t intend to run for re-election. I am a fan of self imposed term limits. My dear friend, the late great Kinky Friedman used to say all politicians should serve two terms; one in office and one in prison. If I am elected, this will be my third term. If it had not been for all the nasty, anonymous letters sent to our home and the homes of our neighbors I probably would have let my second term be my last. The final straw was being bullied by financially interested surrogates for those who lobby for high density housing and increased tourism in the valley. I could not allow my friends and neighbors to be steam rolled by people who don’t care about our quality of life in the Township of Santa Ynez.
My husband’s great-great grand parents were Ramona Ortega Twist and WW Twist. She was a Chumash woman and he was the first Sheriff of Santa Barbara. My daughter Kara Twist Scott, a graduate of Santa Ynez Elementary and Santa Ynez High School is named in their honor. Kara’s great grandmother Ruth Twist, was the first female Post Mistress in Santa Barbara County, working along side her successor Ruth Pratt at the Santa Ynez Post office. Kara is the 4th generation to grow up in the 125 year old cabin where my husband Robert and I still live, behind what used to be the Jones Garage (now the Johnson Building) at the corner of Edison and Sagunto Streets.
Our family is like many of the working class families who live in the Santa Ynez Community Service District. We are mostly young families with children or retired folks who now live on fixed incomes. Those who serve on boards should not be immune to the impact of decisions made by those representing us. I am grateful to the SC Current for writing about Special Districts. Local government is where individuals can have the greatest impact.
If you were on our ballot we would vote for you in a heartbeat. We need more people like you!
Thank you for your beautiful response. Jan 6th is one of the biggest disgraces of American history. And I'm so sorry for your loss of Kinky Friedman. They don't make Jews like Jesus anymore.
Judges are government employees too. They respond to labor peace demands of thier unionized court staff too.
A huge "NO" on measure P and to Karen Jones, and all the other J-6 victims, what a disgrace upon the U.S. for the disgusting actions taken against them ! I had no idea that we had local people involved like this. What a shame. Thanks, Derek, for the article.
I have been talking about what happened that day on the Kill Tony podcast at Joe Rogan’s Mothership.Most people have no idea what really happened: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxR_QPa3Z79vVwhNkxbGSxDzo-XA9mD2th?si=RIqVCofVkOeKS2EK
Thank you, Granny, for the website and getting the word out.
Amen.
Well stated
Why is there never any mention of Lompoc's Measure R? This will be a spaced themed amusement park for children on over 80 acres of ravines, formerly dedicated as the Ken Adams Park. This measure will have no cost to the residents of Lompoc, but it is estimated that it will annually increase the city revenues by about $5 million. The ballot is very misleading since it says that this measure will discontinue use of the 82 acre parcel containing Ken Adams Park. However I have never seen anyone walking into any of the steep ravines. There are about 2 acres of level land that everyone calls the Ken Adams Park. This measure will enhance that park area by spending $350 million to upgrade the public restrooms, making them ADA compliant, and install new park benches, tables and BBQ areas and pave a new parking lot. None of the trees will be removed.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention!
I’m interested in learning more about this.
Contact Badbonds.com
Keep in mind the city’s rush to take as many properties off the tax rolls and hand them over to non- profit agencies who are property tax exempt, means there are smaller pools of property tax paying residents left to shoulder the burden of any future bond issues.
Where is the pro forma on this trend.
Or, is the city secretly invested in increased property values, while mouthing they want more “affordable” housing. High value property is what pays their own bills.
I'm stuck on the $240 Million in Interest. I'm thinking don't you just love $240M in interest. Who's getting the interest. What is the interest rate? Maybe I can find a cheaper interest rate and make some bucks on the side. What business on earth would provide a government entity a loan at any interest rate in these times. Oh, the Feds are providing the load, perhaps? And the taxpayers are paying for the interest, too? Isn't it grand how the money changes hands. The interest thing needs to be studied.
The school bond industrial complex gets this money. And the eager bond share holders who know private property tax based investments in this area are a good thing. Many hands are out to take their additional shares as well.
Both school bond funding and getting actual hard scape results on campus have many, many hands skimming off their”fair share” as these long term bonds play out. The Citizens Oversight Committee is only window dressing used to garner voter approval to pass these money sink holes.
How does a private square footage construction project compare to a similarly sized and function school bond-funded construction project, such as the $100 million dollar new gymnasium?
What additional requirements get built into these government funded projects, and why?
The dollar amount cost of these projects needs examination, too. The costs seem way to high, begging the question who are all the entities receiving this money?
Loved the cheeky suggestion on the Karl Marx write in for office in Isla Vista. How appropriate for the Soviet State of UCSB
“Marsha Croninger – the longest-serving trustee on the Board of Trustees – voted "No" on the proposal to advance Measure P to a public vote and she has published an Op-Ed in Newsmakers that details all the reasons for her "No" decision. It is a very informative disclosure of the facts. Please go to Newsmakers on-line; read it before you vote.”
I took the author’s advice and read the Op-Ed by Marsha Croninger. First of all, Ms. Croninger should be commended for her honesty and willingness to do the right thing, even if it alienates her from people she once considered friends. She does a thorough job of detailing the current state of buildings, current budgets and the plummeting enrollment. Ms. Croninger also exposes the deception in the ballot description. I’m glad I am now familiar with Newsmakers on-line. I was already a subscriber and fan of the Santa Barbara Current but Newsmakers makes me even more appreciative of my access to this site. Thank you.
Croninger risked her Trustee seat authoring that OpEd. Once you enter politics as a local school trustee, you MUST support the majority position. Period. She can be censured as was Trustee Gallardo. That leaves their Districts with NO voice on the school board. Forget friends: there’s no such thing, is there in politics?
Ms. Croninger has Constitutional right to disagree with the board decisions and to speak out against their decision, but you are correct, doing so after the majority voted to put the bond on the ballot Ms. Croninger has neglected her duty of loyalty to support the board decision. Perhaps she feels a deeper sense of loyalty to her community when she decided to write the Op-Ed. This was a public farewell to the board she could no longer show loyalty to. Your remark about no friends in politics reminded me of what President Truman said: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Twenty years later William Safire revised the quote: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog, but make sure it’s a small one in case it turns on you.”
Why is there never any mention of Lompoc's Measure R? This will be a space themed amusement park for children on over 80 acres of ravines, formerly dedicated as the Ken Adams Park. This measure will have no cost to the residents of Lompoc, but it is estimated that it will annually increase the city revenues by about $5 million. The ballot is very misleading since it says that this measure will discontinue use of the 82 acre parcel containing Ken Adams Park. However I have never seen anyone walking into any of the steep ravines. There are about 2 acres of level land that everyone calls the Ken Adams Park. This measure will enhance that park area by spending $350,000 to upgrade the public restrooms, making them ADA compliant, and install new park benches, tables and BBQ areas and pave a new parking lot. None of the trees will be removed.