Santa Barbara Council to Take Up Architectural Board of Review Controversy

» LookingWest on 09.24.12 @ 07:35 AM

So, now Larimore-Hall’s group, including Cathy Murillo’s husband, Democratic Central Committee member David Pritchett, has weighed in, making what should be an impartial decision into a political one. What has the Republican Central Committee (is there such a Stalinist-sounding thing?) said?

Now that the restaurant organization has added to its corporate statement, “As we have stated, the Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect, regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.” will the ABR members now be willing to consider any landscaping and other plans?

If so, deciding on that basis is as wrong as refusing to do so. The ABR politicized what should be a non-political process, acted on their own personal beliefs and behaved unethically. There needs to be a change in that board and also in the guidelines for all city boards.

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» AN50 on 09.24.12 @ 10:47 AM

What is wrong is that in spite of their hateful intolerance to those they disagree with, is they had a job to do that had nothing to do with those views. It was about landscaping for a building. If these people cannot separate their intolerant views from the business at hand they have no business in that job, hence they should be removed.

As for the LGBT, GLBA and the local DNC and other left leaning individuals whose quotes are still being repeated, I have asked that they show prove of the hate they accuse other of having, So far I have seen zip, nothing, nada. Just because some other group designates you as a hate group doesn’t make it so, show the proof.

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» Lynnda Rae on 09.24.12 @ 01:07 PM

ABR members; were/are being bias. (PERIOD). They should be fired! No if,ans or buts about it…no one should come and try to explain their behavior & actions. Explain what? That they allowed their personal feelings affect their working “personal” opinions! This is not acceptable. Even Mayor Helene Schneider agreed…I know she will stand by what she agrees to, and what she said. Lets see how, what the out come will be.

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» noleta res on 09.24.12 @ 10:07 PM

As I have mentioned in the comment forums of other articles relating to this controversy, the people who are demanding, *demanding* the ABR members be terminated are bringing a curiously inordinate amount of passion to the discussion. It’s really hard to believe it’s all about architecture for these folks.

Lynnda, these people are volunteers. They cannot be fired.

One of them has already resigned. Two of the abstaining members were not in town when the facts of the Chick-fil-A project were presented to the Board, and therefore abstained *as was the standard practice*. Why would you complain about that?
AN50 you frequently say that people shouldn’t be allowed to vote unless they can demonstrate some kind of working knowledge of the issues…so here is a case where the few people allowed to vote acknowledged their lack of all the pertinent facts and took themselves out of the process by abstaining so only the knowledgeable members would have a say. It was actually an honorable thing to do, in their case. Why are you persisting with the hyperbolic flamethrowing, calling them intolerant and hateful? That’s absurd, but it’s just what you do, I guess.
And by the way, your self-flattery is practically delusional: why would anyone trouble themselves enough to present you, of all people, with “proof” in a Noozhawk forum? I’m sure they have better things to do.

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» John_Adams on 09.25.12 @ 07:34 AM

Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Definitions refer variably to antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, irrational fear, and hatred. In a 1998 address, author, activist, and civil rights leader Coretta Scott King stated that “Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.”

Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of sexual orientations that are non-heterosexual. According to the 2010 Hate Crimes Statistics released by the FBI National Press Office, 19.3 percent of hate crimes across the United States “were motivated by a sexual orientation bias.” Moreover, in a Southern Poverty Law Center 2010 Intelligence Report extrapolating data from fourteen years (1995–2008), which had complete data available at the time, of the FBI’s national hate crime statistics found that LGBT people were “far more likely than any other minority group in the United States to be victimized by violent hate crime.

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» AN50 on 09.25.12 @ 09:27 AM

Noleta, three board members recused themselves for political reasons and the remainder joined in using lack of data as an excuse. The behavior of the board was politically hostile and inexcusable. Had these folks done the same thing against a homosexual business owner the entire community would have rioted. Bias, bigotry, intolerance and hatred are despicable behaviors no matter what your beliefs are.

Now, I asked the LGBT, GLBA and the local DNC, all who said they agreed with the actions of these board members, because they believed the Chick-Fil-A owner (not the business whose project they were judging) to be associated with “designated hate groups” by the SPLC, to prove these associations were indeed practicing hatred. I could not find any instance myself and asked that they provide the evidence. They as of this writing have not done so.

So in effect you have a business owner who expressed disagreement over a gay rights issue, having a business he owns being politically targeted, simply because he gave money to some nonprofits that were “accused” of being hate groups, which no one can provide any evidence actually exists.

That about sum it up for you? I have nothing against these activist groups except that they are perpetuating a disparaging and damaging accusation against other groups and any one associating with them with no evidence to back it up. If you have anything to help them out with then provide it. If you agree with the actions of these board members and the actions these activist groups and the local DNC have taken in their defense then you have a lot of company in history buddy. You can start with the KKK, the Nazi’s and any number of political groups that use lies, distortions and fear to promote hatred toward anyone that disagrees with them.

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