There were some positive improvements in Lompoc during 2022.
Some streets were resurfaced; CALTRANS started work on improving Ocean Avenue; the Beatty Park play area was improved dramatically; county tax Measure A road funding was allocated after years of “talking” to improve the bridge across the Santa Ynez River on Highway 246; and plans are in the works to improve bicycle access along H Street.
But many lingering challenges remain for 2023.
The most visible is the homeless issue. As steps are taken by the government to “fix the problem,” they only seem to make it worse. Twenty years ago, the problem was probably manageable, but endless meetings and political jaw flapping hasn’t gotten the job done.
The most aggravating homeless issue is the brazen thefts that occur daily in many of our businesses. The thieves go unpunished, so they continue to escalate their thievery to new heights. In the meantime, you and I pay through increased prices to help the business owners make up for lost merchandise and increased insurance costs.
Even though streets in some of the main corridors in town were resurfaced last year, many miles of poor roads exist throughout the city. The response during budget preparation is always “we don’t have enough money,” even though we pay taxes every time we buy gas to fix the roads.
The street we live on was last resurfaced more than 30 years ago; today there are ruts where heavy trash trucks turn in the cul-de-sac, the road surface has turned to sand, and the pavement is severely cracked.
Of course, the city tells me that interior streets will be the last to get any TLC. Many other streets in town are in far worse shape.
And while the Beatty Park play area got a makeover last year and the largely volunteer College Park makeover project is almost finished, other major venues are in sad shape.
Pioneer Park is next on the list, but Ryon Park has needed a major overhaul for decades, and the city can never figure out how to obtain a grant to fix it. This venue is popular during the summer, however little to no effort has been put into revamping the place to serve the various festival events that occur each year.
Public safety facilities are also a serious concern. The police facility is undersized to serve the current staff, and if the department got much-needed increases to staffing, there would be no place to put them.
One example is evidence storage. Each year thousands of pieces of evidence are collected. They must be cataloged, and some of it is stored for several years in case future litigation should come up and it’s needed for a trial.
The need for police body cameras has been discussed, but there has been no resolution. Lompoc is the only agency in the county that does not have them.
The dispatch center is jammed into what appears to be an old closet. It is undersized for the work performed there; it will soon be relocated upstairs to an old storage room, but the workspace is still dreary at best.
The city has pursued annexations to the north and west of the current city limits. But, in their haste to provide more housing, they overlooked moving Fire Station 52 to a more central location so they could provide an acceptable level of service to the new areas. And there is no active plan in place to move this station.
Fire Station 51 downtown needs major repairs; and it would also likely fail during an earthquake and possibly trap, injure, or kill the firefighters inside. Once again, there is no plan to either repair or replace this vital facility.
Lompoc isn’t a rich city; the median income in Lompoc is about $60,000, not nearly enough to buy a home, and barely enough to rent a place and feed your family.
The city cannot continue to have the largest percentage of assisted and subsidized housing in the county since it is having a devastating impact on the ability to provide General Fund services.
Currently, the city’s tax base can’t support needed projects, and considering the way the economy has been wrecked in the past couple of years, there is little hope that there will be an infusion of revenue to support these kinds of projects.
The City Council faces some tough challenges during the next budget cycle. We’ll see how they handle them.
