Thanks! Simply stated, our Universities and CC's need to learn the word "Budget." It's polite to say yes to P but someone has to be the adult in the room and say NO.
Justin, you blew it out of the ballpark! We, collectively, are grateful for your sacrifice of time and dedication. As we read this in-depth article, appreciate the many hours of dogged researching that supports this article. His is the face of invested citizenship.
The problem with the SB Taxpayers Association and COLAB is that they often seem more interested in feathering their own nests than directing resources toward getting good candidates elected or good legislation passed. I feel embarrassed for self described conservatives who shill for Leftist causes. They lose the respect of the America First voters they pretend to represent and are seen as suckers by the neo-Marxists.
There was a time when SBCTA appeared to be a legitimate organization. I attended a few meetings when they held board meetings at The Red Barn restaurant in Santa Ynez. That was at least 25 years ago. Any dedicated Directors are long gone. I’m curious about the median age of the current donors. This may border on elder abuse. The SBCTA now appears to be a revenue stream for a couple of guys posing as champions of the taxpayer.
I’ve been told Lanny Ebenstein and Tom Widroe’s Santa Barbara County Taxpayer Association (SBCTA) is defunct: no meetings in 6 years. SBCTA is a lawful shell to create an illusion that it represents SB County taxpayers when it actually only represents Ebenstein and Widroe, an elected delegate to the Santa Barbara Republican Central Committee (SBRCC). There’s a website; an annual filing with the CA Sec of State, and IRS. It’s a shell game they play to deceive voters, knowing that very few are aware lacking time or motivation to become informed. They’ve magically mastered wooing voters, with zero concern about their personal integrity because their ‘important community leaders’. What’s the payoff to them? Your trust and respect, and ????
Their deceptive shenanigans are unknown or unimportant to Santa Barbara County residents. They’re wolves in sheep clothing or what?
Great article and comments. As an average voter, admittedly, I knew very little about the Bond shenanigans going on. Have gained much insight from reading these and other like articles. I find Interesting the donor list. It seems Architect and Legal firms in support of this taxpayer bailout, all while eating from the same trough!
It is interesting that most cities in Orange County also have school bonds on the ballot. I do not think it is a coincidence that there is also a proposition (#2) that would result in the state “matching” the local bond funds so taxpayers statewide will be paying for projects that they do not directly benefit from.
246 school bonds on 11/5 CA ballot to circumvent Prop 13. The CA master plan from the school administrator & trustee training course: find the project list voters approved in a prior election. Every 4-8-12 years put same language before voters to fund again. Use the 50% property tax allocation to your school for salaries and pensions; no need to fund campus repairs and maintenance because emotional voters will approve your school’s bond request wanting the best for students. Bond proceeds can also be used to cover deficit spending under revised CA guidelines.
Sadly, throwing more money at schools has not improved student success. Tough love might so vote NO on every bond request. Tell others.
It is not the same bond issue that was passed in 2008. Not when SBCC has a radically new board of trustees with no track record and a shambles of poor college leadership over that past decade.
Who will be spending this money. What do you know about them. Who really has their hands already out for this money as chillingly disclosed in this well-researched article. Starting out with the lie that it is the same bond as voters passed in 2008, proves on its face they are being intentionally deceptive.
Who now will be spending this money and what have they done to SBCC since the last bond issue passed in 2008? It is folly to give this mainly new and inexperienced SBCC board majority this blank check. Not after learning members of this mainly outsider school bond industrial complex are the SBCC bond issue primary supporters.
SBCC materially erred claiming this is the same bond issue as 2008. It is not on every level that matters to voters and property owners. SBCC gets a Grade F for this intentional sleight of hand.
Back to the drawing board SBCC. But next time prove you can actually handle these funds with prudence and fiscal discipline. Stop regarding the local community as your private ATM to make up for your own past decade of fiscal malpractice.
Listen carefully to your two longer-serving members who have come out publicly against this bond. That was your tell this is the wrong bond issue at the wrong time and the wrong board of trustees majority to be entrusted spending this very large amount in the name of local taxpayers.
I just found out more about LPA, the architect for the PE building. As of December 31, 2022, SBCC’s local costs for architectural plans and working drawings by LPA for the PE Building were over budget by 44%. Cost overruns are paid with SBCC revenue or a local bond. The state does not increase its share.
Dude the solutions to both improving literacy rates and lowering property taxes by MILLIONS locally, BILLIONS nationally reside in getting rid of predatory data mining technology and training and hiring literacy teachers starting at at least $80,000 a year.
Why are kids doing home-WORK that’s making billionaires even richer? Why haven’t we started to talk about the reparations that are owed to them because of the illegal school closures, which started in a REPUBLICAN administration and carried into a DEMOCRATIC administration?
Don’t we want a better society? My idea will piss off powerful people but that’s on them. The community college thing is something else, I’m just commenting on K-12, K-6 to be more specific.
S.2. School closures in California all came under Governor Newsom a Democrat. With a Democrat state superintendent of schools. Trump had nothing to do with state school closures. Your terminal TDS is showing again, S.2.
Some states closed down tight, others opened as quickly as they could. Newsom managed to keep a grip on his ersatz Covid emergency powers longer than most other states. Did you not get any civics lessors at all in your educational career? Not too late to become an auto-didactic, S.2.
Familiarize yourself also with the case Vegara vs LAUSD to learn the fate of a trial court finding there was documented, detailed systematic education abuse due to thier local district policies that were deemed unconstitutional. A detailed list of remedies was included in the trial court ruling. Then Newsom with the help of the state teachers union appealed that ruling, and it was overturned. Nothing then changed.
Please join the movement to take partisan politics out of public education; not insert even more of them into this very sorry state of affairs.
Thanks! Simply stated, our Universities and CC's need to learn the word "Budget." It's polite to say yes to P but someone has to be the adult in the room and say NO.
Justin, you blew it out of the ballpark! We, collectively, are grateful for your sacrifice of time and dedication. As we read this in-depth article, appreciate the many hours of dogged researching that supports this article. His is the face of invested citizenship.
I already voted no on P
We already voted No on P. And nope to Carbajal, Schiff, Harris …
And a big YES to the country western song “The Outlaw and the Hillbilly”
https://tinyurl.com/4kb5tyan
PS - Justin, you are the best!
Hey Polly, we voted almost the same way. . . except for one biggie.
Is that a biggie in the Arnold Palmer sense?
Sch-WING!!!
The problem with the SB Taxpayers Association and COLAB is that they often seem more interested in feathering their own nests than directing resources toward getting good candidates elected or good legislation passed. I feel embarrassed for self described conservatives who shill for Leftist causes. They lose the respect of the America First voters they pretend to represent and are seen as suckers by the neo-Marxists.
There was a time when SBCTA appeared to be a legitimate organization. I attended a few meetings when they held board meetings at The Red Barn restaurant in Santa Ynez. That was at least 25 years ago. Any dedicated Directors are long gone. I’m curious about the median age of the current donors. This may border on elder abuse. The SBCTA now appears to be a revenue stream for a couple of guys posing as champions of the taxpayer.
I’ve been told Lanny Ebenstein and Tom Widroe’s Santa Barbara County Taxpayer Association (SBCTA) is defunct: no meetings in 6 years. SBCTA is a lawful shell to create an illusion that it represents SB County taxpayers when it actually only represents Ebenstein and Widroe, an elected delegate to the Santa Barbara Republican Central Committee (SBRCC). There’s a website; an annual filing with the CA Sec of State, and IRS. It’s a shell game they play to deceive voters, knowing that very few are aware lacking time or motivation to become informed. They’ve magically mastered wooing voters, with zero concern about their personal integrity because their ‘important community leaders’. What’s the payoff to them? Your trust and respect, and ????
Their deceptive shenanigans are unknown or unimportant to Santa Barbara County residents. They’re wolves in sheep clothing or what?
Great article and comments. As an average voter, admittedly, I knew very little about the Bond shenanigans going on. Have gained much insight from reading these and other like articles. I find Interesting the donor list. It seems Architect and Legal firms in support of this taxpayer bailout, all while eating from the same trough!
The Emperor Has No Cloths.....
If even half of this article is correct it is gross mis-management by the Board. A board that has had a majority of questionable abilities
It is interesting that most cities in Orange County also have school bonds on the ballot. I do not think it is a coincidence that there is also a proposition (#2) that would result in the state “matching” the local bond funds so taxpayers statewide will be paying for projects that they do not directly benefit from.
https://californiapolicycenter.org/ballot-o-rama-a-guide-to-californias-2024-ballot-propositions/
246 school bonds on 11/5 CA ballot to circumvent Prop 13. The CA master plan from the school administrator & trustee training course: find the project list voters approved in a prior election. Every 4-8-12 years put same language before voters to fund again. Use the 50% property tax allocation to your school for salaries and pensions; no need to fund campus repairs and maintenance because emotional voters will approve your school’s bond request wanting the best for students. Bond proceeds can also be used to cover deficit spending under revised CA guidelines.
Sadly, throwing more money at schools has not improved student success. Tough love might so vote NO on every bond request. Tell others.
Thank you for the link.
Good fact filled essay on the corruption running through this behemoth bureaucracy.
Another example of the results of one-party rule.
Great piece, Justin. You hit the nail on the head. Bravo!
It is not the same bond issue that was passed in 2008. Not when SBCC has a radically new board of trustees with no track record and a shambles of poor college leadership over that past decade.
Who will be spending this money. What do you know about them. Who really has their hands already out for this money as chillingly disclosed in this well-researched article. Starting out with the lie that it is the same bond as voters passed in 2008, proves on its face they are being intentionally deceptive.
Who now will be spending this money and what have they done to SBCC since the last bond issue passed in 2008? It is folly to give this mainly new and inexperienced SBCC board majority this blank check. Not after learning members of this mainly outsider school bond industrial complex are the SBCC bond issue primary supporters.
SBCC materially erred claiming this is the same bond issue as 2008. It is not on every level that matters to voters and property owners. SBCC gets a Grade F for this intentional sleight of hand.
Back to the drawing board SBCC. But next time prove you can actually handle these funds with prudence and fiscal discipline. Stop regarding the local community as your private ATM to make up for your own past decade of fiscal malpractice.
Listen carefully to your two longer-serving members who have come out publicly against this bond. That was your tell this is the wrong bond issue at the wrong time and the wrong board of trustees majority to be entrusted spending this very large amount in the name of local taxpayers.
I just found out more about LPA, the architect for the PE building. As of December 31, 2022, SBCC’s local costs for architectural plans and working drawings by LPA for the PE Building were over budget by 44%. Cost overruns are paid with SBCC revenue or a local bond. The state does not increase its share.
Loved you voting suggestions. But why so late. Many voted ASAP due to past counting issues.
Inkling8331
Dude the solutions to both improving literacy rates and lowering property taxes by MILLIONS locally, BILLIONS nationally reside in getting rid of predatory data mining technology and training and hiring literacy teachers starting at at least $80,000 a year.
Why are kids doing home-WORK that’s making billionaires even richer? Why haven’t we started to talk about the reparations that are owed to them because of the illegal school closures, which started in a REPUBLICAN administration and carried into a DEMOCRATIC administration?
Don’t we want a better society? My idea will piss off powerful people but that’s on them. The community college thing is something else, I’m just commenting on K-12, K-6 to be more specific.
S.2. School closures in California all came under Governor Newsom a Democrat. With a Democrat state superintendent of schools. Trump had nothing to do with state school closures. Your terminal TDS is showing again, S.2.
Some states closed down tight, others opened as quickly as they could. Newsom managed to keep a grip on his ersatz Covid emergency powers longer than most other states. Did you not get any civics lessors at all in your educational career? Not too late to become an auto-didactic, S.2.
Familiarize yourself also with the case Vegara vs LAUSD to learn the fate of a trial court finding there was documented, detailed systematic education abuse due to thier local district policies that were deemed unconstitutional. A detailed list of remedies was included in the trial court ruling. Then Newsom with the help of the state teachers union appealed that ruling, and it was overturned. Nothing then changed.
Please join the movement to take partisan politics out of public education; not insert even more of them into this very sorry state of affairs.