I agree 100 percent with your commentary. I have concluded that there are two general classes of people in our community:
The Progressive Liberals, who have the financial ability to ignore these increases. These are made up of Trust Funders, Government workers, Professionals and College students.
The Working Class, who have no interest, time or understanding of the consequences of their choice to remain uninformed and apathetic.
We know that most of the children in our schools fail math. So apparently do the voters. Those who resent those who are successful think "taxing the rich to pay their fair share" is something they ought to vote for. Not realizing higher property taxes will raise their own rents, the cost of products and services. The higher sales tax will cause people to go out of town for big-ticket purchases, another insult to locally owned businesses struggling against online shopping. But the worst insult of all is funding for the failing City College that will be wasted on a new sports pavilion, when our climate provides the ability to exercise outdoors year-round.
None of us voted to create the Lower State Death Alley. No one was given a chance to agree to the street grid destroying limitations, diversions, entry blocking, trees in former parking spaces, bike lanes removing trees....... and who of us needed to beautify the State Street underpass or believed it would draw tourists up from the beach?
Yes, local voters, many of which rent and don’t own their home, passed yet another tax increase…affecting who? Those that own property! Surprise! These tax schemes were passed by…wait for it…transient college kids! While all along they have been spoon fed this garbage by the local academic industrial complex. Can’t spell, can’t do math, can’t put together a compound sentence …no worries, no pasa nada!
In the meantime, we have created a new class of people, those part of the a local privilege class, who get everything funded by the property owners. I think the local mentality for those under say 45, is that they’ll never own a property or new car for that matter, so renting and leasing makes sense. Meanwhile, the rest of us are stuck with the tab!
Ever wonder what the low down is the local charity “One 805?” You know, the big bash held annually on Kevin Costner’s palatial pad? Yes, the one featuring rock stars, celebrities, Montecito wannabes, even British royalties! The funds appear to go to equipment upgrades for first responders and perhaps more importantly, mental counseling for said first responders. Why wouldn’t that funding come from our property tax dollars? Is it because there is no money for those activities because the majority of the budget goes to servicing their bloated salaries and pensions?
Oh well, you know what they have always said about SB?….”the newly wed and the nearly dead!” I see a “envy class” emerging here locally that have those in the workforce with no possibility of owning property, so why not stick it to the man?
Welcome to the SB bubble…that’s how we roll in the 805!
I also recently learned that the state is set to double the annual registration fees for those of us with old -- gasoline-powered -- cars. I am on modest means with a husband in assisted living. I cannot afford a new car. My 15 year old Jeep and his 30 year old Chevy pickup are well-maintained, always passing the smog test. This latest tax will impact folks like me and the poor. Over the years, I paid thousands of dollars to drive my vehicles, from sales tax to the annual DMV fee, the highest in the nation. How is this new tax aimed at those struggling, how is it just? Justifiable?
I once lived near Oregon where all DMV fees for all cars was the same. Someone figured out that the time saved by not having to figure out the tax at a different amount for every car made it possible to have one low fee for everyone. With the result that many of the students at my Washington college drove across the border to register their cars.
A quick glance online reveals "California gas prices could rise up to $1.15 per gallon next year thanks to the state’s new carbon credit system, taxes, refinery regulations, and refinery shutdown. This would require the typical Californian to make up to $1,000 per year more in pre-tax income to “break even,” according to an analysis from a professor at the USC Marshall School of Business. "
I volunteered for 4 weekends in the belly of the beast of Los Angeles. It’s worse than you can even imagine. Provisional ballots with no ID verification for as far as the eye can see
It seems like this interminable amount of time to count the ballots is always helping the Democratic candidates, as evidenced by some super close election results for House seats in Orange County.
hmmm…Santa Barbarans voted for every single tax increase on the ballot…why? because of people are uniformed and have a hard time finding their way thru the maze of misinformation put forth by proponents of new ideas (measures)…you said it succinctly, most people (progressives & conservatives) believe that the additional tax revenue will get them more services or better government…Make America Transparent Again!!!
Democrats vote like sheep. They do whatever they are told to do by the herd leaders without questioning and without independent analysis. From a political standpoint they are the perfect voters. Why do you think they no longer teach critical thinking in college? They are taught what to think, not how to think. This is the result.
Yes this fits with what I said. For the first time in decades voters flipped. “Educated” voters went Democrat and working class voters flipped to Republican. This is because “educated” voters are taught what to think not how to think in school and are buried in Liberal professors. Thus the inability to think independently and they are more likely to vote as they are told, and to vote Democrat. Our Universities are now breeding mindless Democrat voters in other words and the breakdown of voters in this election confirms that. Trumps plan to eliminate the Department of Education is s good place to start.
Yes it is a perfect plan, Government workers vote something like 90% Democrat, so create more and more "Government jobs" and require them to go to a "University" to get brainwashed into a Democrat in order to get that job, then hire them and voila! Another permanent Democrat who not only votes Democrat but also then becomes part of the Deep State unelected Democrat government machine that actually runs the country and is deeply imbedded. It is purely diabolical, and by no means coincidental.
Exactly. This is our shot, we lose this we may lose it all. Sadly RINO"s are in charge of the Senate, with Thune as Leader, and McConell heading the rules committee, and RINO's like Murkowski voting purely with the Democrats there is a LOT they can stop of what Trump needs to do. We need to find a way to vote them out, OR, start a new RINO free third party.
Nothing’s going to change until we take the entire school system back from the progressives. the indoctrination begins the minute. They arrive and they don’t let up until they have left.
We definitely have a bunch of idiots living here. I can not believe they voted for more taxes on top of everything we already pay. It is insane to me. I did NOT vote for any new tax. I definitely would move if I were only younger. This is pathetic and sad.
Right you are JL. When one looks at SB County as a whole, leading employers; UCSB, Cottage Hospital, VSFB, Dignity Health, Bureau of Prisons, Granite Construction and then probably Agriculture. Virtually none if any home construction as well as minimal energy jobs. Virtually ALL related to government contracts or subsidies.
I believe most of the voters did not understand the issues. I did not understand them either, but I voted as per your suggestions. Unfortunately not all the Santa Barbarins don’t read this publication.
No, they’re too busy reading the Independent or saying stupid things on Edhat. Ya, hopefully someday they’ll figure out the unworkable situation they find themselves in is because of the liberal industrial complex which has spoon fed them cradle to grave. Which is, hate everyone who is conservative and carry the water for liberal elite bullshit.
Excellent article. I vote NO NO NO on every tax. Especially school taxes. Our state teacher association is the worse organization ever. They take our tax money and spend it on administration salaries and retirements and benefits. Very few cents of our tax money ever goes for the children's education unless it is to brainwash them on sex changes or other liberal BS.
I really dislike how they use children to pander to our heart strings.
As to other taxes, 99.9% NO!
Government needs to get efficient. There is so much waste in government. You ask, how do I know? Because I worked 40 years for the government and tried to stop the waste in my department. My supervisors, harassed me constantly and finally forced me out. I know for fact, I could run my agency on 25% of its budget.
I pray that Musk and Trump can change things. But the Deep State is very very very deep and corrupt.
They have an almost impossible task ahead of them.
Unbelievable that the Santa Barbara community thinks that increasing sales tax will help anything. With the price of homes my property tax has doubled and everything is more expensive.
The answer seems simple to me. People here in California still vote based on tribal loyalty which is promoted by local news channels and sources and financed by big business and developers. They are completely captured and distracted by their drug of choice, “pop culture” which is hedonism designed and fed to them 24/7 as virtue.
This has evolved over the past 50 years.
I’m not sure what the answer is but I have an inkling that the destruction of these oligarchs currently in charge will come from the very immigrants they currently believe will be theirs to control.
Lou, well said, I thought there was more than enough info re the SBCC bond to have everyone reject it. I remember growing up that public sector employees often made less than their counterparts in the private sector. So one way to balance that was to make sure that the public sector employees had great benefits, health, vacation and retirement to compensate for a lower salary. Now public sector employees are on par with private sector, possibly even slightly ahead, of the private sector but the benefits were never adjusted. Most of the public sector employees have retirement benefits that only private sector employees could dream of. If we don’t come up with a way to control public sector benefits we are going to be taxed and fee forever.
Stupid is what stupid does no getting around it. If our local government bodies manage to drive the proverbial car over the cliff, there would be those that say hey no big deal we can just fix it go on our regular car over cliff way, until we are over the cliff again.
We need change in Santa Barbara! The majority of the USA changed course on 11/5.
SBCC has 9 presidents/superintendents making around $450,000 for a school of 12,000, so that is one for every 1,333 students. Few, if any, private companies are that top heavy.
Democrat voters are tribal sheep, they do whatever the herd leaders tell them to do without question and without thinking. From a politicians point of view they are the perfect voters. Why do you think critical thinking is no longer taught in higher education, they are taught what to think not how to think. This is the result.
I agree 100 percent with your commentary. I have concluded that there are two general classes of people in our community:
The Progressive Liberals, who have the financial ability to ignore these increases. These are made up of Trust Funders, Government workers, Professionals and College students.
The Working Class, who have no interest, time or understanding of the consequences of their choice to remain uninformed and apathetic.
We know that most of the children in our schools fail math. So apparently do the voters. Those who resent those who are successful think "taxing the rich to pay their fair share" is something they ought to vote for. Not realizing higher property taxes will raise their own rents, the cost of products and services. The higher sales tax will cause people to go out of town for big-ticket purchases, another insult to locally owned businesses struggling against online shopping. But the worst insult of all is funding for the failing City College that will be wasted on a new sports pavilion, when our climate provides the ability to exercise outdoors year-round.
None of us voted to create the Lower State Death Alley. No one was given a chance to agree to the street grid destroying limitations, diversions, entry blocking, trees in former parking spaces, bike lanes removing trees....... and who of us needed to beautify the State Street underpass or believed it would draw tourists up from the beach?
Who benefits?
Yes, local voters, many of which rent and don’t own their home, passed yet another tax increase…affecting who? Those that own property! Surprise! These tax schemes were passed by…wait for it…transient college kids! While all along they have been spoon fed this garbage by the local academic industrial complex. Can’t spell, can’t do math, can’t put together a compound sentence …no worries, no pasa nada!
In the meantime, we have created a new class of people, those part of the a local privilege class, who get everything funded by the property owners. I think the local mentality for those under say 45, is that they’ll never own a property or new car for that matter, so renting and leasing makes sense. Meanwhile, the rest of us are stuck with the tab!
Ever wonder what the low down is the local charity “One 805?” You know, the big bash held annually on Kevin Costner’s palatial pad? Yes, the one featuring rock stars, celebrities, Montecito wannabes, even British royalties! The funds appear to go to equipment upgrades for first responders and perhaps more importantly, mental counseling for said first responders. Why wouldn’t that funding come from our property tax dollars? Is it because there is no money for those activities because the majority of the budget goes to servicing their bloated salaries and pensions?
Oh well, you know what they have always said about SB?….”the newly wed and the nearly dead!” I see a “envy class” emerging here locally that have those in the workforce with no possibility of owning property, so why not stick it to the man?
Welcome to the SB bubble…that’s how we roll in the 805!
LT - I don't agree on much you say. I'm sure we differ by 179 degrees on why this bubble is here - but much what you describe above is spot on.
Ummm, TJ I bet we agree on a lot more than you may think. ESPECIALLY when it involves our wallets!
I also recently learned that the state is set to double the annual registration fees for those of us with old -- gasoline-powered -- cars. I am on modest means with a husband in assisted living. I cannot afford a new car. My 15 year old Jeep and his 30 year old Chevy pickup are well-maintained, always passing the smog test. This latest tax will impact folks like me and the poor. Over the years, I paid thousands of dollars to drive my vehicles, from sales tax to the annual DMV fee, the highest in the nation. How is this new tax aimed at those struggling, how is it just? Justifiable?
I once lived near Oregon where all DMV fees for all cars was the same. Someone figured out that the time saved by not having to figure out the tax at a different amount for every car made it possible to have one low fee for everyone. With the result that many of the students at my Washington college drove across the border to register their cars.
A quick glance online reveals "California gas prices could rise up to $1.15 per gallon next year thanks to the state’s new carbon credit system, taxes, refinery regulations, and refinery shutdown. This would require the typical Californian to make up to $1,000 per year more in pre-tax income to “break even,” according to an analysis from a professor at the USC Marshall School of Business. "
Celeste - do you have a source from where your heard that? I can't find anything about it on a quick google search.
I bet there is some serious monkey business happening in our local and State elections. Just a hunch…😉
I volunteered for 4 weekends in the belly of the beast of Los Angeles. It’s worse than you can even imagine. Provisional ballots with no ID verification for as far as the eye can see
Yikes!
It seems like this interminable amount of time to count the ballots is always helping the Democratic candidates, as evidenced by some super close election results for House seats in Orange County.
hmmm…Santa Barbarans voted for every single tax increase on the ballot…why? because of people are uniformed and have a hard time finding their way thru the maze of misinformation put forth by proponents of new ideas (measures)…you said it succinctly, most people (progressives & conservatives) believe that the additional tax revenue will get them more services or better government…Make America Transparent Again!!!
the Midwits’ attempts to inform the public are smoke & mirrors, by design
Democrats vote like sheep. They do whatever they are told to do by the herd leaders without questioning and without independent analysis. From a political standpoint they are the perfect voters. Why do you think they no longer teach critical thinking in college? They are taught what to think, not how to think. This is the result.
Yes this fits with what I said. For the first time in decades voters flipped. “Educated” voters went Democrat and working class voters flipped to Republican. This is because “educated” voters are taught what to think not how to think in school and are buried in Liberal professors. Thus the inability to think independently and they are more likely to vote as they are told, and to vote Democrat. Our Universities are now breeding mindless Democrat voters in other words and the breakdown of voters in this election confirms that. Trumps plan to eliminate the Department of Education is s good place to start.
Yes it is a perfect plan, Government workers vote something like 90% Democrat, so create more and more "Government jobs" and require them to go to a "University" to get brainwashed into a Democrat in order to get that job, then hire them and voila! Another permanent Democrat who not only votes Democrat but also then becomes part of the Deep State unelected Democrat government machine that actually runs the country and is deeply imbedded. It is purely diabolical, and by no means coincidental.
Exactly. This is our shot, we lose this we may lose it all. Sadly RINO"s are in charge of the Senate, with Thune as Leader, and McConell heading the rules committee, and RINO's like Murkowski voting purely with the Democrats there is a LOT they can stop of what Trump needs to do. We need to find a way to vote them out, OR, start a new RINO free third party.
Nothing’s going to change until we take the entire school system back from the progressives. the indoctrination begins the minute. They arrive and they don’t let up until they have left.
We definitely have a bunch of idiots living here. I can not believe they voted for more taxes on top of everything we already pay. It is insane to me. I did NOT vote for any new tax. I definitely would move if I were only younger. This is pathetic and sad.
Right you are JL. When one looks at SB County as a whole, leading employers; UCSB, Cottage Hospital, VSFB, Dignity Health, Bureau of Prisons, Granite Construction and then probably Agriculture. Virtually none if any home construction as well as minimal energy jobs. Virtually ALL related to government contracts or subsidies.
I believe most of the voters did not understand the issues. I did not understand them either, but I voted as per your suggestions. Unfortunately not all the Santa Barbarins don’t read this publication.
No, they’re too busy reading the Independent or saying stupid things on Edhat. Ya, hopefully someday they’ll figure out the unworkable situation they find themselves in is because of the liberal industrial complex which has spoon fed them cradle to grave. Which is, hate everyone who is conservative and carry the water for liberal elite bullshit.
Excellent article. I vote NO NO NO on every tax. Especially school taxes. Our state teacher association is the worse organization ever. They take our tax money and spend it on administration salaries and retirements and benefits. Very few cents of our tax money ever goes for the children's education unless it is to brainwash them on sex changes or other liberal BS.
I really dislike how they use children to pander to our heart strings.
As to other taxes, 99.9% NO!
Government needs to get efficient. There is so much waste in government. You ask, how do I know? Because I worked 40 years for the government and tried to stop the waste in my department. My supervisors, harassed me constantly and finally forced me out. I know for fact, I could run my agency on 25% of its budget.
I pray that Musk and Trump can change things. But the Deep State is very very very deep and corrupt.
They have an almost impossible task ahead of them.
Unbelievable that the Santa Barbara community thinks that increasing sales tax will help anything. With the price of homes my property tax has doubled and everything is more expensive.
Hopefully everyone will wake up to this insanity
The answer seems simple to me. People here in California still vote based on tribal loyalty which is promoted by local news channels and sources and financed by big business and developers. They are completely captured and distracted by their drug of choice, “pop culture” which is hedonism designed and fed to them 24/7 as virtue.
This has evolved over the past 50 years.
I’m not sure what the answer is but I have an inkling that the destruction of these oligarchs currently in charge will come from the very immigrants they currently believe will be theirs to control.
It’s fraud .. in the face fraud
Lou, well said, I thought there was more than enough info re the SBCC bond to have everyone reject it. I remember growing up that public sector employees often made less than their counterparts in the private sector. So one way to balance that was to make sure that the public sector employees had great benefits, health, vacation and retirement to compensate for a lower salary. Now public sector employees are on par with private sector, possibly even slightly ahead, of the private sector but the benefits were never adjusted. Most of the public sector employees have retirement benefits that only private sector employees could dream of. If we don’t come up with a way to control public sector benefits we are going to be taxed and fee forever.
Stupid is what stupid does no getting around it. If our local government bodies manage to drive the proverbial car over the cliff, there would be those that say hey no big deal we can just fix it go on our regular car over cliff way, until we are over the cliff again.
We need change in Santa Barbara! The majority of the USA changed course on 11/5.
In my opinion the reason the SBCC bond passed was they LIED and spent a boatload of money to spread the lie
SBCC has 9 presidents/superintendents making around $450,000 for a school of 12,000, so that is one for every 1,333 students. Few, if any, private companies are that top heavy.
Democrat voters are tribal sheep, they do whatever the herd leaders tell them to do without question and without thinking. From a politicians point of view they are the perfect voters. Why do you think critical thinking is no longer taught in higher education, they are taught what to think not how to think. This is the result.