Having arrived in Santa Barbara in 1970, doing business in downtown SB was always an adventure. Investors looked at property on lower State Street as the “gold standard”. Now, empty retail spaces and the tax paying residents screaming to open up State Street get negated by a City Council that won’t listen! So, let’s get some new Council members with both Tradition and common sense to replace these Bozos!
The people who are destroying our city are the faceless, unelected, bureaucratic “ Staffers” whispering in the ears of the electids that they’re the ones that know best
Who is running our city? Simple answer is overly educated, white liberals. More granular: Environmental Lobby (EDC), Bike Lobby, Unions (SEIU, Teachers, Public Safety), Millennial City Staffers and East Coast libs living in Montecito. All supporting the sub par cast of elected officials which are in lock step with the Democratic Party apparatus.
I used to live in the downtown corridor and walked all over and enjoyed the small town feel of a real City Center. Now it feels gutted and destroyed. I moved my business from 318 State to 2007 State 14 years ago, and what a relief to be out of the constant presence of bums and nutcases and their feces. As I drive around town I am so sad to see yet another street constricted for unused bike lanes, bulb outs and no-auto barriers and parking spaces removed. We are not in as bad a state as many larger cities, but we started as a jewel so we just had farther to fall. "The state of a City Government is shown by the state of the streets."
I was one of Pat's "neighbors" in the artists lofts that Evelyn Howe owned. The bldg was filled with tattoo artists, a thriving breakfast joint, a dance studio, fine artists, an engineer, a graphic designer, an offset printer, and a custom textile wholesaler/retailer. The bldg was full of creative energy. We cooked at home, but has so many options. Downtown was full of professional businesses, restaurants, retail shops, and drinking establishments that all worked symbiotically. Everyone opines that the state of State is due to retail pulling out. But that was only one component of the corridor. The restaurants and bars are still there. So are the professional businesses. What put the nail in the coffin for retail was closing the street. But this has been planned both discreetly and overtly for decades. You can thank The Strategist in the transportation dept of the City for putting the proverbial wheels in (or out, if you will) motion ages ago. Just keep pulling that pension!
We left Montecito for the Santa Ynez Valley eleven years ago, with nary a regret, as we lament what the south coast has become. I first moved to Montecito in 1987. A visit to downtown Santa Barbara for its restaurants, shopping and entertainment was a treat often indulged. On the few occasions we now do so, we always leave disappointed in the overall quality of the experience today versus how we knew it decades ago.
Calla, Globally, there are twice as many bicycles as automobiles, and they outsell automobiles three to one. Among many countries, (yes, including France), the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Japan, actively promote bicycles for shopping and commuting. Interesting that life expectancy is higher in the above mentioned countries as well.
True, but in places like Denmark and Switzerland and the Netherlands, your commute to work is 8 city blocks or, at most, 6 klix to the next town. My commute for years could run 119 miles each way...and I did not complain.
Well, to be fair, I commuted for several months from 34 klix into downtown Milan and it took a bus then a train then a six block walk to get to the office. And, in London...oh it is tough. Lyon was a breeze in comparison. BTW never challenge a Paris taxi in a roundabout...ever.
I would like to see the names of the people that proposed and engineered these "improvements" to our once beautiful Santa Barbara downtown area plus the amount of money that was pocketed in ruining it. I do not know of one person that finds what has been done to Santa Barbara to be anything other than a complete failure.
Agree 100%. Those responsible are retired and living large on egregiously fat taxpayer funded pensions. It would be fun to create a "Most Wanted" poster in that regard.
As a 60 year resident...I worked at Otts while in college, shopped at the Whitehouse clothing store etc...it has been a slow and steady destruction of what once was the ideal American community to live and raise a family...which I did. I knew it would be more expensive than most communities...it costs more to go First Class...and was delighted to make that trade-off for the quality of life. I wouldn't make that choice today.
My children made a similar quality of life choice...they left the state and are raising their families in communities not unlike the Santa Barbara of old. Ironic. And sad.
Long time SB resident since 1960 here. Remember back when State Street was a bustling of commerce and vibrancy. My sister worked in the accounting department at JC Penney’s on State when you actually parked in front of the store. We would often have lunch with her at the Copper Coffee Pot. Times have obviously changed.
Cruising State was memorable while listening to KIST AM, stopping in at Petersen’s for a burger. Life was so good. Seems like the 1969 SB oil spill ushered in all the crazies!
Today well, we all know. How can the City Council continue to fund and allow the Bike Lobby and Environmentalists to dictate our standard of living? The millions spent on bike lanes is scandalous, especially when the end users pay NOTHING, while riding around on bikes that often costs more than $10,000! How can we the taxpayers, continue to fund this infrastructure without user fees and licensing for bike riders? Many “bikes” today are no more than electric motorcycles.
The goal for the Progressive Party regarding State Street? Warehousing thousands of people in 500 soft. subsidized studios, living upstairs, while having Starbucks downstairs, all mixed use buildings. Work from home online, walk to restaurants, rent a scooter if need be, and live your entire life in a 5 mile radius. I call this the “hook-up culture.”
Amen. As a native of SB, my mom’s lineage goes back to the 1830’s and Señor Ortega, and on my dad’s side a few generations, I always so loved downtown SB. It was hustle and bustle, and so pretty at Christmas with the giant trees down the center of the street. It was always a treat to go there with my mom when I was little and with my friends as a teenager. I believe it started being ruined in the early 70’s when the sidewalks were widened and the streets narrowed on State St. Some
city planners idea. Then the 80’s more dumb ideas to reduce our use of cars. The 90’s bulbouts, roundabouts, one way streets that used to be two, and now a closed State St. which I believe have hurt so many businesses. I live in Washington state now, but last April I visited my hometown and was so disgusted by State St, that I only went downtown once. I saw that De la Vina St. is now one lane now which really angered me. Who is running (ruining) this town? Rhetorical question. These fools have wanted us to give up our cars and freedom for so long now that they’ve lost all common sense. Except for a few places, childhood memories, and visiting my friends, I have no desire to go back. These morons have ruined a beautiful city, just like they’ve ruined a beautiful state.
Here's some heresy to consider: Voting for local public office holders should require ownership of property, OR, at least several yrs of local residency. Having lived in the community since 1970 (yr after The Spill)--but now having left SB & CA since 2021 for "less green" pastures--I believe the growing presence of an easily persuadable transient voting class (talking about you, UCSB & SBCC) changed the governing fabric of the South Coast. Those Jackson Brown concerts/keggers in Isla Vista to register and mobilize non-stakeholding student voters from Timbuktu still make me mad. Talk about engineered election results...
Then, add in the Bren School of Environmetal Science & Management grads/idealogues who serve in our county and city(ies) with visions of sugarplums and no cars dancing in their heads. The wielding of planning and urban "re-visioning" as tinker tools of social engineering has replaced pragmatic thought...including leaving well-enough alone. Heavy sigh...
Totally agree, Robert. The influx of affluent people from outside the area during COVID with their own ideas of how things "should work" was the cherry on top of the decades worth of transplants that had gone thru the liberal brainwashing at UC and decided to stay. They have all invaded policy making positions and have no real roots in the community. When one tries to educate them on how SB evolved, they just dismiss it. After all, "it was all based upon a racist and misogynistic group of INVADERS". I always appreciate some good irony!
It seems like a lot of people are forgetting that the covid shutdowns killed a lot of businesses, and the Internet did also (Amazon, etc.). It's not just bad decisions locally.
It sounds like you're substituting the word "mediocrity" when you really mean to say "big failure?" And as far as your stats on bike riding being less than in the past, I can only surmise that if we took away cars and forced people to ride bikes to go get their food, then Americans' health might get a lot better than it is now!
If we look at root causes for this, one is the voting public.
On February 10,2025, Registered voters in Calfornia were Democrat: 45.27%. Republican: 25.22%. No party: 22.34%. Others: 7.17%. These ratios have been substantially the same for many years.
It would appear that the majority of the voting public is ignorant of, or does not care, what the Democratic Party does, or, they just hate the Republican Party.
Having arrived in Santa Barbara in 1970, doing business in downtown SB was always an adventure. Investors looked at property on lower State Street as the “gold standard”. Now, empty retail spaces and the tax paying residents screaming to open up State Street get negated by a City Council that won’t listen! So, let’s get some new Council members with both Tradition and common sense to replace these Bozos!
The people who are destroying our city are the faceless, unelected, bureaucratic “ Staffers” whispering in the ears of the electids that they’re the ones that know best
But why does CC allow the Staffers to continue doing so, despite opposition? Ask yourself. Who is REALLY running our city?
Who is running our city? Simple answer is overly educated, white liberals. More granular: Environmental Lobby (EDC), Bike Lobby, Unions (SEIU, Teachers, Public Safety), Millennial City Staffers and East Coast libs living in Montecito. All supporting the sub par cast of elected officials which are in lock step with the Democratic Party apparatus.
You really nailed it LT. A bunch of stinking Commie-Dems!
Have you done a survey of how many of these folks are actually white?
Seriously, you’re kidding, right?
I'm not there, I don't see them all. Do you have any statistics?
https://bestneighborhood.org/race-in-santa-barbara-ca/
I used to live in the downtown corridor and walked all over and enjoyed the small town feel of a real City Center. Now it feels gutted and destroyed. I moved my business from 318 State to 2007 State 14 years ago, and what a relief to be out of the constant presence of bums and nutcases and their feces. As I drive around town I am so sad to see yet another street constricted for unused bike lanes, bulb outs and no-auto barriers and parking spaces removed. We are not in as bad a state as many larger cities, but we started as a jewel so we just had farther to fall. "The state of a City Government is shown by the state of the streets."
I was one of Pat's "neighbors" in the artists lofts that Evelyn Howe owned. The bldg was filled with tattoo artists, a thriving breakfast joint, a dance studio, fine artists, an engineer, a graphic designer, an offset printer, and a custom textile wholesaler/retailer. The bldg was full of creative energy. We cooked at home, but has so many options. Downtown was full of professional businesses, restaurants, retail shops, and drinking establishments that all worked symbiotically. Everyone opines that the state of State is due to retail pulling out. But that was only one component of the corridor. The restaurants and bars are still there. So are the professional businesses. What put the nail in the coffin for retail was closing the street. But this has been planned both discreetly and overtly for decades. You can thank The Strategist in the transportation dept of the City for putting the proverbial wheels in (or out, if you will) motion ages ago. Just keep pulling that pension!
" we started as a jewel so we just had farther to fall. " Spot on.
We left Montecito for the Santa Ynez Valley eleven years ago, with nary a regret, as we lament what the south coast has become. I first moved to Montecito in 1987. A visit to downtown Santa Barbara for its restaurants, shopping and entertainment was a treat often indulged. On the few occasions we now do so, we always leave disappointed in the overall quality of the experience today versus how we knew it decades ago.
And I moved to France where the vélo is king---clogging small streets and many without helmets! Typical! CJC
Calla, Globally, there are twice as many bicycles as automobiles, and they outsell automobiles three to one. Among many countries, (yes, including France), the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Japan, actively promote bicycles for shopping and commuting. Interesting that life expectancy is higher in the above mentioned countries as well.
True, but in places like Denmark and Switzerland and the Netherlands, your commute to work is 8 city blocks or, at most, 6 klix to the next town. My commute for years could run 119 miles each way...and I did not complain.
Tom, excellent point. Of all the countries I just mentioned, they have first world rail and bus systems. The United States; not so much.
Well, to be fair, I commuted for several months from 34 klix into downtown Milan and it took a bus then a train then a six block walk to get to the office. And, in London...oh it is tough. Lyon was a breeze in comparison. BTW never challenge a Paris taxi in a roundabout...ever.
klix? https://www.military.com/military-life/how-far-is-a-klick
I would like to see the names of the people that proposed and engineered these "improvements" to our once beautiful Santa Barbara downtown area plus the amount of money that was pocketed in ruining it. I do not know of one person that finds what has been done to Santa Barbara to be anything other than a complete failure.
Agree 100%. Those responsible are retired and living large on egregiously fat taxpayer funded pensions. It would be fun to create a "Most Wanted" poster in that regard.
As a 60 year resident...I worked at Otts while in college, shopped at the Whitehouse clothing store etc...it has been a slow and steady destruction of what once was the ideal American community to live and raise a family...which I did. I knew it would be more expensive than most communities...it costs more to go First Class...and was delighted to make that trade-off for the quality of life. I wouldn't make that choice today.
My children made a similar quality of life choice...they left the state and are raising their families in communities not unlike the Santa Barbara of old. Ironic. And sad.
Long time SB resident since 1960 here. Remember back when State Street was a bustling of commerce and vibrancy. My sister worked in the accounting department at JC Penney’s on State when you actually parked in front of the store. We would often have lunch with her at the Copper Coffee Pot. Times have obviously changed.
Cruising State was memorable while listening to KIST AM, stopping in at Petersen’s for a burger. Life was so good. Seems like the 1969 SB oil spill ushered in all the crazies!
Today well, we all know. How can the City Council continue to fund and allow the Bike Lobby and Environmentalists to dictate our standard of living? The millions spent on bike lanes is scandalous, especially when the end users pay NOTHING, while riding around on bikes that often costs more than $10,000! How can we the taxpayers, continue to fund this infrastructure without user fees and licensing for bike riders? Many “bikes” today are no more than electric motorcycles.
The goal for the Progressive Party regarding State Street? Warehousing thousands of people in 500 soft. subsidized studios, living upstairs, while having Starbucks downstairs, all mixed use buildings. Work from home online, walk to restaurants, rent a scooter if need be, and live your entire life in a 5 mile radius. I call this the “hook-up culture.”
No thanks.
Amen. As a native of SB, my mom’s lineage goes back to the 1830’s and Señor Ortega, and on my dad’s side a few generations, I always so loved downtown SB. It was hustle and bustle, and so pretty at Christmas with the giant trees down the center of the street. It was always a treat to go there with my mom when I was little and with my friends as a teenager. I believe it started being ruined in the early 70’s when the sidewalks were widened and the streets narrowed on State St. Some
city planners idea. Then the 80’s more dumb ideas to reduce our use of cars. The 90’s bulbouts, roundabouts, one way streets that used to be two, and now a closed State St. which I believe have hurt so many businesses. I live in Washington state now, but last April I visited my hometown and was so disgusted by State St, that I only went downtown once. I saw that De la Vina St. is now one lane now which really angered me. Who is running (ruining) this town? Rhetorical question. These fools have wanted us to give up our cars and freedom for so long now that they’ve lost all common sense. Except for a few places, childhood memories, and visiting my friends, I have no desire to go back. These morons have ruined a beautiful city, just like they’ve ruined a beautiful state.
Christine Lord
Here's some heresy to consider: Voting for local public office holders should require ownership of property, OR, at least several yrs of local residency. Having lived in the community since 1970 (yr after The Spill)--but now having left SB & CA since 2021 for "less green" pastures--I believe the growing presence of an easily persuadable transient voting class (talking about you, UCSB & SBCC) changed the governing fabric of the South Coast. Those Jackson Brown concerts/keggers in Isla Vista to register and mobilize non-stakeholding student voters from Timbuktu still make me mad. Talk about engineered election results...
Then, add in the Bren School of Environmetal Science & Management grads/idealogues who serve in our county and city(ies) with visions of sugarplums and no cars dancing in their heads. The wielding of planning and urban "re-visioning" as tinker tools of social engineering has replaced pragmatic thought...including leaving well-enough alone. Heavy sigh...
Cue the slings & arrows.
Totally agree, Robert. The influx of affluent people from outside the area during COVID with their own ideas of how things "should work" was the cherry on top of the decades worth of transplants that had gone thru the liberal brainwashing at UC and decided to stay. They have all invaded policy making positions and have no real roots in the community. When one tries to educate them on how SB evolved, they just dismiss it. After all, "it was all based upon a racist and misogynistic group of INVADERS". I always appreciate some good irony!
It seems like a lot of people are forgetting that the covid shutdowns killed a lot of businesses, and the Internet did also (Amazon, etc.). It's not just bad decisions locally.
It sounds like you're substituting the word "mediocrity" when you really mean to say "big failure?" And as far as your stats on bike riding being less than in the past, I can only surmise that if we took away cars and forced people to ride bikes to go get their food, then Americans' health might get a lot better than it is now!
Great article Scott, perhaps depressing, but nevertheless very good <g>.
If we look at root causes for this, one is the voting public.
On February 10,2025, Registered voters in Calfornia were Democrat: 45.27%. Republican: 25.22%. No party: 22.34%. Others: 7.17%. These ratios have been substantially the same for many years.
It would appear that the majority of the voting public is ignorant of, or does not care, what the Democratic Party does, or, they just hate the Republican Party.
Bring parades, cars, and prosperity back to Santa Barbara's State Street!