1. Addressing the coming election, a question from the Council was: “Where will the money come from to support and establish the new Farmers Market”? Answer: “From the Police Budget”.
What?!
All should know that much money and time by staff (overpaid) started in previous Administration.
Mayor Rowse was wise to invite the Police Chief and Fire Marshall to address concerns for Public Safety including Fire and Police.
With proposed new location on Carrillo, Staff’s first stop should have been to Police & Fire, never last!
Regardless, the motion passed with exceptions of Mayor Rowse and A Gutierrez.
2. Addressing Parking, I came to the City Council Meeting early concerned about parking. Even so, a nightmare. I finally landed in a 15 minute “Green Zone”. Completely expecting a ticket upon my 2.5 hour stay at the meeting, NO TICKET! Yes, I was delighted, but to their problem of revenue, no enforcement? Like so many other issues facing Downtown Santa Barbara, there is an “Elephant in the room”! Instead of addressing what should be obvious, the Council dances around it.
3. Bicycle advocacy! One of the many reasons that so many citizens avoid going Downtown is the City’s priority to increase bicycle traffic. We have seen the many street configurations change for the promotion of the non income Bicycle users. Automobile users pay hefty license, fuel and insurance premiums. The City installed hundreds of Electric Bikes in various locations. Almost never do I see one in use! It begs the Question: What is the Return on this Investment?
Lastly, a teacher brought in a dozen young kids to address the Council thanking them for their contribution establishing bike lanes!
Note: nobody was present from the automotive world!
4. The perfect Cartoon! All Government agencies completely ignore any downturn in the Economy! They point to Cost of Living increases and vote to pad their already high salaries. Do we have input on these votes? No! Who pays for these salaries? WE DO!
Hello Dana Newquist, forget about Public Safety in this town in particular to SBPD and I quote your statement "Mayor Rowse was wise to invite the Police Chief and Fire Marshall to address concerns for Public Safety including Fire and Police."
Mayor Randy Rouse would be very wise not to unseal certain Documents and Audio Recordings of the SBPD that blow every ones concerns out the SBPD Back Door.
If we really care, everyone of us should make a copy of this article and send it to each member of the city council with an accompanying letter' in support of the article.
This can be done by addressing it to:
Mayor & City Council, P.O. Box 1990 Santa Barbara CA 93102 C/O Holly Perez Executive Assistant. (805 564 5318).
Bonny Donovan works tirelessly to preserve the good about Santa Barbara and to stop poor decisions by the city council and staff that will gradually destroy its appeal as this small but beautiful jewel of the California South Coast.
Safety? Hey, let us crash and burn! Infuriating but not surprising that only one Council Representative Eastside D1 Alejandra Gutierrez and our elected-at-large Mayor Randy Rowse care about resident and tourist safety as evidenced by their vote on the Farmer Market relocation. . Our professional Fire Marshall emphatically stated closing Carrillo our main 2-lane thoroughfare is NOT SAFE. Reminds me of how our elected majority ignored past fire pro recommendations prior to major fires that resulted in too much loss. If YOU voted for or donated to the other five reps, how often do you communicate with them? Each would benefit from regular feedback and guidance; also, stop donating. Find a replacement pro-survival candidate to support. Otherwise, adios to unique, beautiful, historic Santa Barbara that so many volunteers worked to create.
Parking needs to be creatively addressed with options forthcoming from residents. Council has killed downtown. Many of us avoid it. We feel for business owners. We’re not going support the final nail in their coffin. However, parking and safe streets are problems! Perhaps the time has come for a one year citywide $150 annual pass, or $10 daily pass, to park at any City Lot and on any publicly owned street within the City. Too many local narrow streets are barely drivable between parked cars, hazardous bollards and bikes. This Council of self-serving power seat holders is a disaster. What can be done?
Hopefully a slate of three like-minded candidates will run - best way to maximize the critical issues the few participating voters need to hear. Coming up are two lower voter turnout districts, and one higher voter-turnout district.
Two of these districts therefore can be "bought" more cheaply, than the one-higher voter turn-out district (Mesa). All districts need our attention and good candidates in all districts need support our (time and money); even if they are not "our" own districts.
Let's make sure we as city residents pay attention to candidates in every single district in this city - all six districts, and the three districts that are up for election this year. We must bring balance and fiscal sanity back to Santa Barbara at every level.
Parking, street safety, and emergency vehicle access are a Citywide problem. Come visit the Eastside. Try turning off APS onto Gutierrez! It’s only passable on street cleaning day when there’s no parking. I was in 3 fires in 9 years. Our treats are needed to vacate and for responders. It’s impossible. PLEASE Ms Donavan think beyond your small downtown niche controlled by self-serving Meaghan and power hungry, grossly unprepared Oscar. Eastsiders started to meet often with Alejandra, and she’s finding her voice to confidently speak out to represent their needs. Others represent their personal positions not those of invisible constituents.
I did write about Eastside and Westside!! Again in this column talked about more to come to those areas. It's really important that the Eastside gets involved with their plan for Milpas Street. It's only going to get worse.
Thank you for keeping an eye on what happens with our local government. Looking forward to some suggestions for the coming election. Hopefully, people committed to serving the public and balancing the budget get elected.
Thank you for the photo of the new (chess piece) Sola-Castillo-Micheltorena bike path link. For the past three months I often visit this area, at random times. I have never once seen a single bike rider use this new bike path link in either direction. Maybe others have, but I have not. Not once.
Which bike paths do these armies of demanding bike riders actually use, that warrants the parking disruptions to the contributing neighborhoods? Will the amount of bike traffic ever be audited, and routes eliminated or re-adjusted ?
Thank you Bonnie for keeping Santa Barbara people informed on the business of the City. Regarding all the proposed bicycle paths, I drive Modoc to Las Positas 3 times a week, twice a day and rarely see this very expensive bike path used by more than one or two cyclers. They also don't stop at the stop sign at Veronice Springs Road. Why so much for so few?
Could it have anything to do with the WEF plan to get rid of cars altogether… sure are pushing or preparing for lots of bike riding that’s simply not happening now..
Reminder: Transparent California provides all compensation data for all Santa Barbara city employees; by name or job title.
Santa Barbara city employee pensions can be tracked by name on the CalPERS pension link on the same website.
Should we really be paying pensions for elected city council members, for the rest of their lives? The same council members who got us into this unsustainable city employee pension mess? https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/santa-barbara/
No: elected officials are elected to serve the public. They are not employees. Therefore, no pension. Assigned Abe Lincoln’s widow needed survival assistance. POTUS is a FT 24/7 job. City Council reps have or had or will have other employment w pension provisions.
Name Job title Regular pay Overtime pay Other pay Total pay Benefits Pension debt Total pay &
benefits
Oscar Gutierrez Councilmember
Santa Barbara, 2022 $53,041.00 $0.00 $8,864.00 $61,905.00 $15,781.00 $15,863.17 $93,549.17
« Previous
Montecito - This is Oscar's, it didn't paste as posted. Go to the above transparentcalifornia above click on it and enter any Council members name. You will see the Benifits and Pension. All listed above but you can read clearly on the site.
I read this solid article by Bonnie Donovan that should read
"The SB Community Safety Problem" and I quote Ms. Donovan's
precipient statement "In the upcoming November election, there are three seats available on the Santa Barbara City Council for candidates to fill. It is crucial to elect individuals who can effectively balance the budget and prioritize safety." Please note Ms. Dovovan last words "prioritize safety"
Please read the Indendent Article below and I quote "Appointees Will Replace Existing Fire and Police Commission as New Form of Civilian Oversight"
Co-Chair Linda Esparza Dozer is a former FBI Agent of the Intelligence Branch you know the
"Deep State" that everyone is criticizing ..... so what is fomer Intelligence Agent Dozer doing here as our Co-Chair of the Fire and Police Commission?
Read here on former Intelligence FBI Agent Dozer >>>
And I quote from same above "For 22 years, she investigated civil rights violations, violent crimes, domestic and foreign terrorism and espionage as an FBI agent."
I think we all have very very serious problems rigth here in our little ole Beach Town.
Give readers specific examples of where Mrs. Dozer has fallen short on objectivity. Ms. Dozer knows this community plus resides in a high fire neighborhood where homeowners meet to discuss our limited evacuation options because more and more cars park on narrow Eastside and Montecito streets. Moreover, she’s aware of the $300,000 Fire SAFETY study paid for by Montecito that was totally ignored by elected officials who are controlled by the local DEM Machine. She’s informed. Living under single, uni-party control of BOS, Councils, schools and boards is bad for all. No Party Preference (NPP) voters need to organize because GOP has yet to get its act together to deliver needed results.
Hello Montecito, I was hoping that you could read between the lines of my post and Ms. Dozer's background so let me inform you. Please read the below link Titled
"Public Corruption - The FBI’s top criminal investigative priority poses a fundamental threat to our national security and way of life."
Thank you Bonnie. You brought many good, sound environmental impact issues to this discussion. INCLUDING WATCH who you vote for! It is beyond comprehension how a liberal proceeds through life compared to a conservative. If you want a neighborhood, small community, city, or state to implode, take everyone's rights away, call everyone a bigot, impose ridiculous unsustainable laws on the public, introduce lax laws for criminal activity, make it impossible for small business to survive in the name of going WOKE. Of course today's discussion is on keeping Santa Barbara alive AND WELL. Like many residents, I do not shop downtown or enjoy the many restaurants because of the current parking limitations. As I watch the city continue to decline due to ignorance and greed, how many elected officials have to be caught in corruption before the voting publuc wakes up? Talk about a poorly ran global beauty. I was shocked at the lack of infrastructure upkeep when I first came 5 years ago. Weeds over 5 feet tall on our freeway exits, growing up through the cracks in the deteriorating asphalt and sidewalks, palm trees never cleaned on our roads leaving them to be 60 foot torches in the event of a wild fire. Some work has finally begun. But in the light of the illegal practices ousting a legitimate ambulabce company which was proven that the leadership of this city opted to break the law, causing millions of dollars lost because if their arrogant entitlement of cronyism, they are the ones destroying the economic backbone of this county. Due to their greed and inability to run a solvent healthy economic climate, parking costs are just one of the very reasons parking fees must be increased. As many residents have voiced their concerns, this will only bring LESS locals and tourists downtown bringing even greater reduction in the city's budget.
Coming to Santa Barbara 5 years ago I saw a dying town. More clueless demands on the public will only ensure greater revinue losses.
Are liberal policies more important than solvency and sustainability?
Blocked streets with turns now "bike only" and bulb-outs and those strange tree plots that randomly take up a neighborhood parking space... and now they want to block the fire station on Carrillo for the Farmers' Market? Who thinks of these things? Whose agenda is being fulfilled?
I see simple sensible solutions being proposed and they go nowhere. When the architect explained the solution of clearing the sidewalks on State, giving the restaurants frontage for tables immediately in front of their location and returning cars to the middle, forcing the manic e-bike riders to use a bike lane, I gave a sigh of relief. How easy. But no, we still have shabby "parklets" aka rat condos and a dead zone that is not pedestrian friendly.
Who thinks that having the Farmers Market on State Street twice a week is a bad idea? But, that said, who doesn't see that charging even MORE for parking downtown isn't going to drive every shopper to Goleta. I keep waiting to hear what the up-front cost for installing meters is going to be, and whose son-in-law owns the company.
Looking at the world situation the tension and anger is so pervasive, and locally I see in all these bad faith decisions by our elected officials a trend toward making everyday life more annoying for the people who are already struggling economically. Those of us who have lived here for decades look back to an internationally renowned Shangri-La, transforming now to a physical grid of streets laid out to annoy car drivers into bicycle riding. Prioritizing tax money to absurd projects, or worse yet to more studies about how to spend money we don't have.
On the topic of moving the farmers market Saturday’s… why don’t we just do a repeat of Tuesday’s market on Saturday..? State Street..
O M G it’s not rocket science
And perhaps have more than 2 farmers market days a week.. on state street that is already blocked off and if they reopen state street simply close for the farmers market like we do on Tuesdays for years for a few hours 4 days a week perhaps .. why not?
You know that park on Castillo /Cabrillo, sits empty .., next to baseball field with a large parking lot???? Or west campus SBCC up top because the cabrillo lot also has carnival fair days ..
But blocking off the Carrillo Fire Station makes more sense… ugh
And are they saying the parking lot on Castillo and Carrillo? That’s a bathroom for many of our homeless..
I lived down the street from that lot a few yrs back.. it’s not good..:::::
If the farmers market is getting real busy we need to add more days for farmers market and keep it on State then we are not forced to go only on Tuesday and Saturday..
lots of folks don’t want veggies that are going through processing plants into the grocery stores.. so stands to reason we should adapt and grow the farmers market ..
Castillo/Carrilo Commuter lot has already been given to Housing Authority for housing I think they said rent will be 3,000.00 plus :) Commuter Lot at Cota and Santa Barbara Street is for the New Police Station... Do you see they have no concern for parking??? How about La Cumbre Plaza for the Farmers Market with all that free parking and it could be in the parking lot at the top-level parking lot which isn't used much???
That’s a great idea…! Soooo much parking .., love it!
Ok since we are throwing around ideas, there is also Earl Warren Showgrounds parking lot
Incase you lacumbre plaza idea gets shut down ..anything but closing Carrillo and impacting the emergency services .. and taking money from the police department funds.. that’s just crazy
I thought of Earl Warren which would be Great except when the fair comes to town and this year two weekends back-to-back which would cancel the farmers market. How about City College :)
If that gets shot down the school parking lots like SBHS or are parks off limits ? Ortega park .. the old mission perhaps .. La cumbre jr Hugh has a big parking lot
who says state street is to much walking? The FM committees?
anything but purposed Carrillo plan that’s for sure
If I can help let me know and have a great beautiful afternoon!!
I’d run but no one is getting elected in this town on a no growth platform, and besides, the idiots I’d have to work with would drive me insane. We are just another dem run city soon to be a shithole. On a side note, I lived in Baja for 7 years. Mexico does not have much in the way of services because taxation is not much of a thing. There’s no money to do anything. And when they do have money, they do a half assed job of it. SB, soon to be just like Baja.
Ohhh, yes! An American cry on the decline of our nation by incompetent, immature children in leadership positions. You said it perfectly. I feel the same. I'm older and will probably vacate California due to the impossible task of living a peaceful financially doable life. This is Helter Skelter! Insanity of the 60s finally came home to roost. The people have put nurse Ratched in charge!! And hired Charles Manson to be our guardian. Pure Insanity 😪
Thank you Bonnie Donovan......cities learned centuries ago that having at least one wide cross street (such as Carrillo Street) is highly effective in fighting fires in urban spaces.
Those without education (such as Sophomores and their adult equivalent) ignore the wise actions of previous generations in their quest to try something new.
Thank you Bonnie for your article!
1. Addressing the coming election, a question from the Council was: “Where will the money come from to support and establish the new Farmers Market”? Answer: “From the Police Budget”.
What?!
All should know that much money and time by staff (overpaid) started in previous Administration.
Mayor Rowse was wise to invite the Police Chief and Fire Marshall to address concerns for Public Safety including Fire and Police.
With proposed new location on Carrillo, Staff’s first stop should have been to Police & Fire, never last!
Regardless, the motion passed with exceptions of Mayor Rowse and A Gutierrez.
2. Addressing Parking, I came to the City Council Meeting early concerned about parking. Even so, a nightmare. I finally landed in a 15 minute “Green Zone”. Completely expecting a ticket upon my 2.5 hour stay at the meeting, NO TICKET! Yes, I was delighted, but to their problem of revenue, no enforcement? Like so many other issues facing Downtown Santa Barbara, there is an “Elephant in the room”! Instead of addressing what should be obvious, the Council dances around it.
3. Bicycle advocacy! One of the many reasons that so many citizens avoid going Downtown is the City’s priority to increase bicycle traffic. We have seen the many street configurations change for the promotion of the non income Bicycle users. Automobile users pay hefty license, fuel and insurance premiums. The City installed hundreds of Electric Bikes in various locations. Almost never do I see one in use! It begs the Question: What is the Return on this Investment?
Lastly, a teacher brought in a dozen young kids to address the Council thanking them for their contribution establishing bike lanes!
Note: nobody was present from the automotive world!
4. The perfect Cartoon! All Government agencies completely ignore any downturn in the Economy! They point to Cost of Living increases and vote to pad their already high salaries. Do we have input on these votes? No! Who pays for these salaries? WE DO!
Classic was the lady/teacher who brought the children to speak on bike paths and the ocean. I wanted to go see if they all left in a vehicle.
Hello Dana Newquist, forget about Public Safety in this town in particular to SBPD and I quote your statement "Mayor Rowse was wise to invite the Police Chief and Fire Marshall to address concerns for Public Safety including Fire and Police."
Mayor Randy Rouse would be very wise not to unseal certain Documents and Audio Recordings of the SBPD that blow every ones concerns out the SBPD Back Door.
Howard Walther, memner of a Military Family
.
If we really care, everyone of us should make a copy of this article and send it to each member of the city council with an accompanying letter' in support of the article.
This can be done by addressing it to:
Mayor & City Council, P.O. Box 1990 Santa Barbara CA 93102 C/O Holly Perez Executive Assistant. (805 564 5318).
Or
HPerea@SantaBarbaraCA.gov
Bonny Donovan works tirelessly to preserve the good about Santa Barbara and to stop poor decisions by the city council and staff that will gradually destroy its appeal as this small but beautiful jewel of the California South Coast.
Safety? Hey, let us crash and burn! Infuriating but not surprising that only one Council Representative Eastside D1 Alejandra Gutierrez and our elected-at-large Mayor Randy Rowse care about resident and tourist safety as evidenced by their vote on the Farmer Market relocation. . Our professional Fire Marshall emphatically stated closing Carrillo our main 2-lane thoroughfare is NOT SAFE. Reminds me of how our elected majority ignored past fire pro recommendations prior to major fires that resulted in too much loss. If YOU voted for or donated to the other five reps, how often do you communicate with them? Each would benefit from regular feedback and guidance; also, stop donating. Find a replacement pro-survival candidate to support. Otherwise, adios to unique, beautiful, historic Santa Barbara that so many volunteers worked to create.
Parking needs to be creatively addressed with options forthcoming from residents. Council has killed downtown. Many of us avoid it. We feel for business owners. We’re not going support the final nail in their coffin. However, parking and safe streets are problems! Perhaps the time has come for a one year citywide $150 annual pass, or $10 daily pass, to park at any City Lot and on any publicly owned street within the City. Too many local narrow streets are barely drivable between parked cars, hazardous bollards and bikes. This Council of self-serving power seat holders is a disaster. What can be done?
What can be done? Find a candidate worthy of the council seat to run against the incumbents.
Downtown Parking is trying to pass the $10.00 max per day with what they presented at Finance. They would make more on the Street Meter program.
Hopefully a slate of three like-minded candidates will run - best way to maximize the critical issues the few participating voters need to hear. Coming up are two lower voter turnout districts, and one higher voter-turnout district.
Two of these districts therefore can be "bought" more cheaply, than the one-higher voter turn-out district (Mesa). All districts need our attention and good candidates in all districts need support our (time and money); even if they are not "our" own districts.
Let's make sure we as city residents pay attention to candidates in every single district in this city - all six districts, and the three districts that are up for election this year. We must bring balance and fiscal sanity back to Santa Barbara at every level.
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Parking, street safety, and emergency vehicle access are a Citywide problem. Come visit the Eastside. Try turning off APS onto Gutierrez! It’s only passable on street cleaning day when there’s no parking. I was in 3 fires in 9 years. Our treats are needed to vacate and for responders. It’s impossible. PLEASE Ms Donavan think beyond your small downtown niche controlled by self-serving Meaghan and power hungry, grossly unprepared Oscar. Eastsiders started to meet often with Alejandra, and she’s finding her voice to confidently speak out to represent their needs. Others represent their personal positions not those of invisible constituents.
I did write about Eastside and Westside!! Again in this column talked about more to come to those areas. It's really important that the Eastside gets involved with their plan for Milpas Street. It's only going to get worse.
Thank you for keeping an eye on what happens with our local government. Looking forward to some suggestions for the coming election. Hopefully, people committed to serving the public and balancing the budget get elected.
Thank you for the photo of the new (chess piece) Sola-Castillo-Micheltorena bike path link. For the past three months I often visit this area, at random times. I have never once seen a single bike rider use this new bike path link in either direction. Maybe others have, but I have not. Not once.
Which bike paths do these armies of demanding bike riders actually use, that warrants the parking disruptions to the contributing neighborhoods? Will the amount of bike traffic ever be audited, and routes eliminated or re-adjusted ?
Thank you Bonnie for keeping Santa Barbara people informed on the business of the City. Regarding all the proposed bicycle paths, I drive Modoc to Las Positas 3 times a week, twice a day and rarely see this very expensive bike path used by more than one or two cyclers. They also don't stop at the stop sign at Veronice Springs Road. Why so much for so few?
Exactly… good question
Could it have anything to do with the WEF plan to get rid of cars altogether… sure are pushing or preparing for lots of bike riding that’s simply not happening now..
Hmmmm…
Reminder: Transparent California provides all compensation data for all Santa Barbara city employees; by name or job title.
Santa Barbara city employee pensions can be tracked by name on the CalPERS pension link on the same website.
Should we really be paying pensions for elected city council members, for the rest of their lives? The same council members who got us into this unsustainable city employee pension mess? https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/santa-barbara/
No: elected officials are elected to serve the public. They are not employees. Therefore, no pension. Assigned Abe Lincoln’s widow needed survival assistance. POTUS is a FT 24/7 job. City Council reps have or had or will have other employment w pension provisions.
Name Job title Regular pay Overtime pay Other pay Total pay Benefits Pension debt Total pay &
benefits
Oscar Gutierrez Councilmember
Santa Barbara, 2022 $53,041.00 $0.00 $8,864.00 $61,905.00 $15,781.00 $15,863.17 $93,549.17
« Previous
Montecito - This is Oscar's, it didn't paste as posted. Go to the above transparentcalifornia above click on it and enter any Council members name. You will see the Benifits and Pension. All listed above but you can read clearly on the site.
I read this solid article by Bonnie Donovan that should read
"The SB Community Safety Problem" and I quote Ms. Donovan's
precipient statement "In the upcoming November election, there are three seats available on the Santa Barbara City Council for candidates to fill. It is crucial to elect individuals who can effectively balance the budget and prioritize safety." Please note Ms. Dovovan last words "prioritize safety"
Please read the Indendent Article below and I quote "Appointees Will Replace Existing Fire and Police Commission as New Form of Civilian Oversight"
https://www.independent.com/2022/12/14/santa-barbara-city-council-appoints-five-members-of-police-commission/
Co-Chair Linda Esparza Dozer is a former FBI Agent of the Intelligence Branch you know the
"Deep State" that everyone is criticizing ..... so what is fomer Intelligence Agent Dozer doing here as our Co-Chair of the Fire and Police Commission?
Read here on former Intelligence FBI Agent Dozer >>>
https://www.thechannels.org/features/2019/04/24/sbcc-hires-former-fbi-agent-for-new-job-as-title-ix-coordinator/
And I quote from same above "For 22 years, she investigated civil rights violations, violent crimes, domestic and foreign terrorism and espionage as an FBI agent."
I think we all have very very serious problems rigth here in our little ole Beach Town.
Howard Walther, member of a Military Family
Give readers specific examples of where Mrs. Dozer has fallen short on objectivity. Ms. Dozer knows this community plus resides in a high fire neighborhood where homeowners meet to discuss our limited evacuation options because more and more cars park on narrow Eastside and Montecito streets. Moreover, she’s aware of the $300,000 Fire SAFETY study paid for by Montecito that was totally ignored by elected officials who are controlled by the local DEM Machine. She’s informed. Living under single, uni-party control of BOS, Councils, schools and boards is bad for all. No Party Preference (NPP) voters need to organize because GOP has yet to get its act together to deliver needed results.
Hello Montecito, I was hoping that you could read between the lines of my post and Ms. Dozer's background so let me inform you. Please read the below link Titled
"Public Corruption - The FBI’s top criminal investigative priority poses a fundamental threat to our national security and way of life."
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/public-corruption
I further quote from same "Investigating violations of federal law by public officials at the federal, state, and local levels of government"
I cannot be any more direct and neither can former FBI executive Tom Parker article in
the SB Independent>"Perceptions of Political Corruption Too Often the Harbingers
of Stark Reality"
https://www.independent.com/2020/02/22/perceptions-of-political-corruption/
Please focus on one Issue here in SB "Public Corrpution"
Howard Walther, member of a Military Family
So you’re implicating Mrs Dozer of being corrupt? Where’s you evidence? Thousands work for the FBI who are not corrupt, devious, or underhanded.
Again you miss the point and just the opposite. This is exactly
why Ms. Dozer is here and the FBI.
Howard
Thank you Bonnie. You brought many good, sound environmental impact issues to this discussion. INCLUDING WATCH who you vote for! It is beyond comprehension how a liberal proceeds through life compared to a conservative. If you want a neighborhood, small community, city, or state to implode, take everyone's rights away, call everyone a bigot, impose ridiculous unsustainable laws on the public, introduce lax laws for criminal activity, make it impossible for small business to survive in the name of going WOKE. Of course today's discussion is on keeping Santa Barbara alive AND WELL. Like many residents, I do not shop downtown or enjoy the many restaurants because of the current parking limitations. As I watch the city continue to decline due to ignorance and greed, how many elected officials have to be caught in corruption before the voting publuc wakes up? Talk about a poorly ran global beauty. I was shocked at the lack of infrastructure upkeep when I first came 5 years ago. Weeds over 5 feet tall on our freeway exits, growing up through the cracks in the deteriorating asphalt and sidewalks, palm trees never cleaned on our roads leaving them to be 60 foot torches in the event of a wild fire. Some work has finally begun. But in the light of the illegal practices ousting a legitimate ambulabce company which was proven that the leadership of this city opted to break the law, causing millions of dollars lost because if their arrogant entitlement of cronyism, they are the ones destroying the economic backbone of this county. Due to their greed and inability to run a solvent healthy economic climate, parking costs are just one of the very reasons parking fees must be increased. As many residents have voiced their concerns, this will only bring LESS locals and tourists downtown bringing even greater reduction in the city's budget.
Coming to Santa Barbara 5 years ago I saw a dying town. More clueless demands on the public will only ensure greater revinue losses.
Are liberal policies more important than solvency and sustainability?
No we didn't get to vote on them. Sad for all of us.
Blocked streets with turns now "bike only" and bulb-outs and those strange tree plots that randomly take up a neighborhood parking space... and now they want to block the fire station on Carrillo for the Farmers' Market? Who thinks of these things? Whose agenda is being fulfilled?
I see simple sensible solutions being proposed and they go nowhere. When the architect explained the solution of clearing the sidewalks on State, giving the restaurants frontage for tables immediately in front of their location and returning cars to the middle, forcing the manic e-bike riders to use a bike lane, I gave a sigh of relief. How easy. But no, we still have shabby "parklets" aka rat condos and a dead zone that is not pedestrian friendly.
Who thinks that having the Farmers Market on State Street twice a week is a bad idea? But, that said, who doesn't see that charging even MORE for parking downtown isn't going to drive every shopper to Goleta. I keep waiting to hear what the up-front cost for installing meters is going to be, and whose son-in-law owns the company.
Looking at the world situation the tension and anger is so pervasive, and locally I see in all these bad faith decisions by our elected officials a trend toward making everyday life more annoying for the people who are already struggling economically. Those of us who have lived here for decades look back to an internationally renowned Shangri-La, transforming now to a physical grid of streets laid out to annoy car drivers into bicycle riding. Prioritizing tax money to absurd projects, or worse yet to more studies about how to spend money we don't have.
On the topic of moving the farmers market Saturday’s… why don’t we just do a repeat of Tuesday’s market on Saturday..? State Street..
O M G it’s not rocket science
And perhaps have more than 2 farmers market days a week.. on state street that is already blocked off and if they reopen state street simply close for the farmers market like we do on Tuesdays for years for a few hours 4 days a week perhaps .. why not?
Farmers Market said it would be too much walking :o
You know that park on Castillo /Cabrillo, sits empty .., next to baseball field with a large parking lot???? Or west campus SBCC up top because the cabrillo lot also has carnival fair days ..
The actual Farmers said that?
But blocking off the Carrillo Fire Station makes more sense… ugh
And are they saying the parking lot on Castillo and Carrillo? That’s a bathroom for many of our homeless..
I lived down the street from that lot a few yrs back.. it’s not good..:::::
If the farmers market is getting real busy we need to add more days for farmers market and keep it on State then we are not forced to go only on Tuesday and Saturday..
lots of folks don’t want veggies that are going through processing plants into the grocery stores.. so stands to reason we should adapt and grow the farmers market ..
State street is an easy fix..
no brainer
Castillo/Carrilo Commuter lot has already been given to Housing Authority for housing I think they said rent will be 3,000.00 plus :) Commuter Lot at Cota and Santa Barbara Street is for the New Police Station... Do you see they have no concern for parking??? How about La Cumbre Plaza for the Farmers Market with all that free parking and it could be in the parking lot at the top-level parking lot which isn't used much???
That’s a great idea…! Soooo much parking .., love it!
Ok since we are throwing around ideas, there is also Earl Warren Showgrounds parking lot
Incase you lacumbre plaza idea gets shut down ..anything but closing Carrillo and impacting the emergency services .. and taking money from the police department funds.. that’s just crazy
I thought of Earl Warren which would be Great except when the fair comes to town and this year two weekends back-to-back which would cancel the farmers market. How about City College :)
Another great idea…I’d go👏👏
If that gets shot down the school parking lots like SBHS or are parks off limits ? Ortega park .. the old mission perhaps .. La cumbre jr Hugh has a big parking lot
who says state street is to much walking? The FM committees?
anything but purposed Carrillo plan that’s for sure
If I can help let me know and have a great beautiful afternoon!!
I’d run but no one is getting elected in this town on a no growth platform, and besides, the idiots I’d have to work with would drive me insane. We are just another dem run city soon to be a shithole. On a side note, I lived in Baja for 7 years. Mexico does not have much in the way of services because taxation is not much of a thing. There’s no money to do anything. And when they do have money, they do a half assed job of it. SB, soon to be just like Baja.
Ohhh, yes! An American cry on the decline of our nation by incompetent, immature children in leadership positions. You said it perfectly. I feel the same. I'm older and will probably vacate California due to the impossible task of living a peaceful financially doable life. This is Helter Skelter! Insanity of the 60s finally came home to roost. The people have put nurse Ratched in charge!! And hired Charles Manson to be our guardian. Pure Insanity 😪
Why not block off 8 blocks on Milpas Street and move the Farmers Market there?
HaHa
Thank you Bonnie Donovan......cities learned centuries ago that having at least one wide cross street (such as Carrillo Street) is highly effective in fighting fires in urban spaces.
Those without education (such as Sophomores and their adult equivalent) ignore the wise actions of previous generations in their quest to try something new.
Sorry I didn't proof read my comments for type Os!