Regarding Joshua Molina’s May 15 article, “Santa Barbara County Supervisors Give Themselves a 5% Salary Increase,” Supervisor Das Williams can cry me a river with his whining: “I basically would not be able to afford to do this job if my wife wasn’t basically heavily subsidizing this effort.”
I’m sorry, did Williams not know what the salary was when he ran for the job? Maybe his wife should come out of what he calls her “cave” and basically tell him to go get a real job. Except it doesn’t appear from his helpful biography that he’s ever had one.
Meanwhile, Supervisor Laura Capps says “We want these jobs to be filled not by people who are independently wealthy, or retired, but actually raising kids and in the mix of the kind of work that we are doing.”
That’s a nice thought, but the work is managing an annual $1.5 billion budget. What the Board of Supervisors needs are people with that relevant experience, regardless of whether they have kids.
Ben Gilmore
Buellton
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Regarding Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen’s May 19 column, “Chick-fil-A Taking a Break to Pull Off Santa Barbara Backup Plan,” I KNEW when I read the original report on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voting to raise their pay that he would have something to say about it.
Sure enough, he did! And I happen to agree 100%.
Mark Sutter
Montecito
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Regarding Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen’s May 12 column, “Calle Real Center Introducing Modern Look with Ties to Goleta’s Past,” the shopping center’s plans for a homage to history should include the Lunar Rover built by Delco.
Gary Gleason
Santa Barbara
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Santa Barbara’s dire and critical need for workforce housing far outweighs the needs of short-term rental owners to make a profit.
And yet, there seems to be no avenue for educating those who blindly tout the value of STRs, Airbnbs and the like.
Those who express their opinions supporting the legalization of illegal STRs are apparently wholly unaware of the critical shortage of housing in Santa Barbara for nurses, teachers and essential workers who must commute long distances, pay high gas prices, and spend less and less time with their families.
Short-term rentals take housing away from our workers. Noozhawk readers need to educate themselves regarding the facts around this situation.
Enough with the whining about the existing local laws regarding STRs. Those laws were written to protect workers who care for our community every day, as well as neighborhoods disrupted by STRs. Those laws are not going away.
Santa Barbara does not need protections for short-term rental “hotels,” or any hotels. Santa Barbara needs more workforce housing, now.
Carol Eichler
Santa Barbara
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Sportswriter Mark Patton’s May 14 column, “Gabe Vincent Proves Himself in Heat of the Moment,” is quite a story of Vincent overcoming injuries, losing his coach and making it all the way to the NBA. I’ll try to watch a Miami game against Boston.
Jarrell Jackman
Santa Barbara
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Ron Fink is to be complimented for his May 16 commentary, “Earth Day Event Another Opportunity to Show Hypocrisy.” He nailed it.
I’ve been to events were, after everyone leaves, there is so much trash and plastic everywhere, yet the people who attend it are shouting the loudest about our environment. It really is hypocrisy.
Thank you for telling it like it is.
Della Cook
Montecito
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I am neither left nor right. I just want unvarnished news. Occasional opinion pieces are OK.
However, Ron Fink’s diatribe was an insult to reality. I don’t know how to solve the climate crisis, but vapid denial is unacceptable.
Here is a quote:
“Now, have all the billions of dollars poured into ‘saving the environment’ really worked? Well, the sun still shines, it still rains, there are still periodic droughts, the snow still falls, the glaciers haven’t all melted away, tar balls are on the shore, and the oceans haven’t swallowed Santa Barbara or Malibu yet.
“And Earth Day celebrations still contribute to polluting the environment.”
I read Noozhawk daily, but would never contribute. Some of what you publish makes me cringe. The drivel of Fink’s column really added to my distaste for Noozhawk’s slant.
Don’t write off climate change denial to legitimate discourse.
Mark Preston
Buellton
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I love what Ron Fink wrote about Earth Day and agree with it all. Thank you.
Mike Lewis
Santa Barbara
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Ron Fink’s commentray was shot through with erroneous “facts.”
To take just one, he claims environmentalists “have all but eliminated (the fossil fuel industry) from our country.” Huh?
The U.S. fossil fuel industry is booming. We are a net exporter of oil and are predicted to remain so at least until 2050. The big oil companies raked in $200 billion in profits last year.
Moreover, while it is difficult to ascertain the exact extent of direct and indirect government subsidies that were intended to keep fuel cheap and plentiful — including below-market land leases, exploration incentives, and tax breaks — analysts put the sum between $10 billion and $50 billion annually.
I could continue to go down the list of Fink’s incorrect statements, but for the sake of brevity, I will leave him with just two words: “Google it.”
Barbara Greenleaf
Santa Barbara
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Regarding D.C. Collier’s May 11 commentary, “Mother’s Quiet, Heroic Partnership with God,” I can finally find something to agree with him and thank him for a beautiful Psalm about mothers, though mine wasn’t quite as … never mind. She did the best she could.
The Psalm is rather physical — almost erotic, as he nearly points out.
“When I was made in the secret place.” Don’t blush, Collier. The Psalm/poem is so earthy and real that for a moment I thought it might come from the Songs of Solomon, one of the sexiest, most romantic parts of the Bible.
And he’s really quite inclusive in the opening of his article, which is much appreciated by my agnostic husband and his Jewish wife.
And yet, in my usual contrarian manner, I also must remind Collier that there are Mothers, mothers, mothahs and ________. The blank is deliberate.
I worked for years among children whose mothers were absent, often because they had left their children to come across the border to earn the money to keep those children housed and fed.
My beloved Guatemalan housekeeper in Los Angeles left three little kids behind with their desperate abuelita because they would have starved had the brave Francisca not come to the United States illegally.
Francisca quickly found work in my neighbor’s home where she cared for another woman’s three little children. She cleaned my house on her day off.
Many years later her eldest girl was able to go to secretarial school in Guatemala; she became a professional with a government job.
After 17 years of separation, Francisca went back for a visit. This daughter would not address her Mama, except as Señora: she had abandoned her Mother, too! Imagine the heartbreak all over again.
Yet Francisca returned, carried on working seven days a week and faithfully sent the money back home to support her now aging parents. Tragically Francisca died of cancer when she was 52.
My own mother gave me up to a courageous French Catholic nun during World War II because my German Jewish parents no longer felt they could protect me from the Nazis …
The consequences from such events, the scars, never heal entirely. We were reunited, though I, a 5 year old, pretended not to know them when they came to get me after nearly a year of separation.
I have never ceased to fear abandonment. So, my dear Mother, while gentle and warm with people outside the family, reverted to her own strict, sometime Germanic upbringing that was tainted by her own upbringing during World War I.
This is almost biblical: Sins of the fathers visiting upon the children: Exodus 34:6-7. The awful spell was broken when she became a most loving grandmother, however.
But bless you for your most inclusive column so far.
Josie Levy Martin
Montecito
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I have worked in education for more than 30 years and in the Santa Barbara Unified School District for 28.
Due to prioritization of veteran teachers, the union and previous district administrations to attract and retain good teachers, leaders have always negotiated a salary schedule that fast-tracked pay increases for new hires.
As a result, my starting salary in the Santa Barbara Unified School District was slightly higher than surrounding districts. In addition, when I first began my tenure at SBUSD, I did not have to pay for my medical, vision or dental insurance.
Even with a more generous pay scale and fewer medical benefits to pay for, new teachers like me struggled to find places to rent.
I commuted from Santa Maria during my first year teaching and then rented a 500-square-foot apartment for many years before I could even think of purchasing any stability. I was fortunate that my rent was not raised exponentially in the same way that current rents have spiked.
About eight to 10 years in, I took home less money than when I started. We had not received any significant pay raises, and due to an increase in medical insurance costs, the district had to pass along some of those costs to its employees.
We were a low-revenue school district during this period because we received money based on attendance and enrollment, and our enrollment had declined.
Our union sat at the negotiating table with full transparency of what was being given to us by the State of California and what was being charged by the insurance company and agreed; the district had no choice.
Fast forward a few years and the district hit another crisis when tax revenue at the state level declined significantly, and the state sent word that it would not be able to pass down the projected revenue.
Our budgets are always built on those projections, and teaching contracts were given and renewed based on that estimated revenue before the actual state revenues hit the district’s bank account.
In the face of the change in circumstances, the district declared an emergency. The administrative leadership worked with the union to come up with options.
Veteran teachers, who understood the importance of retaining the newest hires, voted to take on the lion’s share of that shortfall by allowing furlough days rather than laying off their new colleagues. They also agreed to class size increases with the same goal: retain the new teachers.
We had up to 38 students in a class and no furniture to seat them. Students were sitting on heaters and folding chairs with no desks. I started bringing furniture from home.
None of these changes in contract language happened during a year when salaries were supposed to be negotiated. Teachers and classified staff did everything they could to mitigate these factors so they would not have an impact on students.
In our current year, we have a change in circumstances again: rising inflation, rising rents, but also a rise in property taxes.
We are now a Basic-Aid District, where our property taxes supersede what the state would give us based on enrollment. A rise in property taxes means more revenue is coming into the district budget.
Due to the often unpredictable variables that make up the negotiated salary agreements, teachers have requested that salaries be open to negotiation and included with other contract language negotiations that happen every year.
The district said it would be more “appropriate” to wait until our contract ends to open salary negotiations. Therefore, the district considers it inappropriate for us to ask to sit at the table, see the incoming revenue, and ask for changes because the variables have changed.
Given the history of how teachers and staff have shouldered the burdens of the district’s budget shortfalls, this categorization of appropriateness creates a perceived disconnect between what the district says about valuing employees and its actions.
It is challenging to feel appreciated when you know how much sacrifice teachers and staff have made for the district’s rainy days, and to keep changing circumstances from impacting students.
When does the district feel obligated to meet the needs of employees during their rainy season?
They have to know experienced teachers leaving the district negatively impacts students. Why won’t the district have a conversation that might lessen the exodus of teachers when they have the resources to do so? It is difficult for us to make this make sense.
Teachers are not asking for a specific pay increase. What we are asking for is a sit-down with the district. The union is asking for a conversation regarding the additional income from property taxes and an overabundance in reserve to alleviate the plight of teachers who do not want to leave the district but are being forced out by the gap between pay and living expenditures.
We are also asking the district to look at whether it is paying paraeducators a living wage. As a former paraeducator in the San Diego Unified School District, I know the kind of work they do and the students they serve. They deserve to be paid as the professionals they are.
The lack of willingness to even begin a conversation is hurtful, especially when we have seen the district hire more administrators.
It is hard to get invitations to Teacher Appreciation events from the district and believe SBUSD officials when they say they care. It would be easier to believe when they deem it appropriate to negotiate a salary that will keep us living and working in Santa Barbara.
We are simply asking for a transparent look at the budget and a conversation about making working in Santa Barbara financially feasible.
It is absolutely appropriate to request to open up salary negotiations. We have earned the conversation.
Vicki Hanes
Goleta
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