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Council Gives Go-Ahead for De la Guerra Plaza Project
The Santa Barbara City Council voted Tuesday to advance plans for De la Guerra Plaza infrastructure improvements and an alternative giving program.
When the plaza improvement plans were initially brought up in 2004, the Redevelopment Agency staff was directed to “keep it the same but make it better,” said Brian Bosse, housing and redevelopment manager.
After community outreach and design discussions, current plans under consideration include raising the U-road flush with the lawn, changing parking designations and moving electrical boards and other utilities off the lawn.
More than $2 million has been allocated from RDA funds — which come from property taxes — for the project.
“This street really is an embarrassment,” Mayor Marty Blum said.
Council members Dale Francisco and Iya Falcone voted against the project continuing as-is and disagreed with raising the street level. The possibility of loop and De la Guerra Street closures, and new events in the plaza, also were causes of concern for the council.
The issue of parking spaces vs. park space was the focus of Tuesday’s public comment period on the project. Residents worried that removing spaces would decrease access to City Hall and the downtown area. In the current concept design, five parking spaces would be lost, and 75-minute spaces would be converted to 15-minute spots.
The council’s approval is merely the starting point to get the project moving again. It still has to go through more design and environmental reviews.
Another Redevelopment Agency project that got the go-ahead Tuesday was the panhandling education and alternative giving campaign.
Funding of up to $75,000 will be allocated to the two-phase program that includes educating visitors and residents against giving cash to the homeless and helping people find other ways to give.
Phase one, which will launch in March, involves placing countertop donation boxes in local stores and launching a publicity campaign. The second phase will increase giving opportunities to streetside boxes that can bring in more revenue through sponsorships.
Staff members who presented the project said most cash given to homeless on the street is not used for food, clothes or shelter, but is often spent on alcohol or drugs. The program is based on similar ones in other states.
Representatives from the Downtown Organization and the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau spoke in favor of the program, part of the City Council’s 12-point plan to address issues related to homelessness.
The money will be used for street outreach in the areas targeted by the program, including downtown State Street, lower Milpas Street and the waterfront.
Casa Esperanza will help manage the program, and many local agencies are involved in the effort, which has taken months to come to fruition.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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» on 11.25.09 @ 05:02 AM
Removing parking spaces…another way to to make it harder for the elderly and those who are not able bodied to access the area.
I’m thinking that with this disregard for our seniors those who want to take away the parking spaces can rename De la Guerra Plaza “Logan’s Run”.
» on 11.25.09 @ 10:28 AM
How much parking is enough? The great man-eating Moloch of Parking never seems satisfied. If you happened to drive someplace and can’t find a parking space at that moment, then to that person there is not enough parking.
Think about it someday fossil fuel will run out, and then what will we do for seniors? how will we find them easy access?
Isn’t walking good for all, including seniors? Don’t we have a battle of the bulge going on in this country, and might not walking a block or two extra per day help remedy that? Nope, can’t walk more than 100 yards to get where we are going. Then the lame response comes for the 100th time from the business that is failing and wants to find a fall guy, namely the person who dares take away the parking. Businesses rise and fall because of parking. Let’s mow down Santa Barbara and put in more parking. Let’s see if we can get some stimulus money to build more parking lots—cash for parking clunkers. Oh, Earl, don’t you park in a parking lot? Yes, I do, I feel so good about it and my business is not failing because I have a parking space and can get to my business; if I didn’t have a parking space I would go out of business. Life is not possible with out parking lots and street parking. American Capitalism would shrivel up and fade away if we didn’t have parking, parking, parking….
» on 11.25.09 @ 10:48 AM
How many people are thankful they voted for Helene and Grant? HA!
Did not take them long to get back to the business of wasting money.
» on 11.25.09 @ 11:09 AM
The Plaza loop had extra car spaces inserted as a guerilla planning action by George Girth many years ago, who was a transportation engineer who died at work a few years ago. Therefore, no one talks about who did that and how.
The action now to remove those car spaces only returns this street to the required safety design standard so a fire truck can fit at the constriction where the south arm of the road loop meets De la Guerra Street.
» on 11.25.09 @ 11:13 AM
It would really help the elderly if our mass transportation was better and more, and we could add some handicapped parking.
» on 11.25.09 @ 11:31 AM
The Plaza loop had extra car spaces inserted as a guerilla planning action by George Girth many years ago, who was a transportation engineer who died at work a few years ago. Therefore, no one talks about who did that and how.
The action now to remove those car spaces only returns this street to the required safety design standard so a fire truck can fit at the constriction where the south arm of the road loop meets De la Guerra Street.
» on 11.25.09 @ 12:11 PM
I find it unbelievable that our city council is spending money ‘decorating’ the city when our schools and safety needs are are dire straights…
» on 11.25.09 @ 12:24 PM
This city has no money, and the pensions are underfunded.
Big Gov at work—
» on 11.25.09 @ 02:57 PM
The city does all there ‘decorating’ with money from RDA (redevelopment agency). The idea of and RDA is that by improving the blight areas property tax will increase and generate more property tax. Santa Barbara designated a big part of the downtown area a RDA about 42 years ago. The way it works is the RDA keeps all the incremental property tax money and spends it on “redevelopment” with the caveat (imposed byt the state law) that 20% must go to affordable housing. Incremental property tax is the amount that a given property tax has increased over the base year that it was assessed. For the last few years the incremental tax revenue has been around $20M for the downtown RDA area..
It is City of Santa Barbara’s RDA that has paid for the blub-outs, the brick cross walks and all the new affordable housing. Without the RDA the most of the incremental tax money would go to safety and schools.
Time to close down the RDA.
» on 11.25.09 @ 04:04 PM
Lets take away the city employees only lot next to city hall first and turn that into a park, the council and dept heads can lead by example!
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