Regarding the April 14 article, “Review Board Approves Apartment Project for Santa Barbara’s Eastside,” it’s sad that the Architectural Review Board and most everyone in the city is beholden to the laws passed by the state.
These laws allow this four-story apartment building (five feet higher than what is currently allowed on the Milpas Street corridor) to be approved, while almost every person in the neighborhood is against it. I’m against it and I live on the other side of town!
While I was watching the meeting, I had my TV on to the TCM channel. Much to my delight, the classic comedy, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, started playing. At times I couldn’t decide which program was more absurd.
The developer, Bob Ludwick, has the legal right to build 90 units, even more if he wants — without off-street parking! But should he? I don’t think it’s very nice to the neighbors, or to everyone in Santa Barbara.
Dan Seibert
Santa Barbara
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I agree with Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen in his April 18 column about the City of Santa Barbara’s shortsighted approach to downtown parking fees and a crackdown on the “75-minute shuffle.”
Did the parking staff do any evaluation of capacity and usage over the last five years specifically, and compare it to sales tax revenue over the same period?
Those of us who work downtown can see with our own eyes that there are far fewer people there these days versus before COVID-19 and even further back.
Even at Christmas, many of the parking lots were not full. It’s not due to the “75-minute shuffle” depriving the city of its parking fees either.
Also, I had to laugh at the parking supervisor’s plan to limit free parking to one period per day. How does she think she’s going to enforce that?
What if I use a free period in the Lobero Theatre lot and then park in the Victoria Street lot? How will that work? If I have to pay for the second lot, there’s no way I’m coming back. How is that helpful?
Once again, this is another example of city officials constructing an elaborate, confusing procedure when the obvious, easiest answer is right in front of them: Reopen State Street!
Ed Heard
Santa Barbara
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The Santa Barbara Unified School District’s recent decision to reduce required course loads is both strategically concerning and detrimental to our students.
This policy doesn’t simply trim elective credits, it effectively forces all students into idle, “off-campus” blocks by cutting the number of classes they’re required to take.
Many who want a robust schedule, balancing music and a sport, or multiple electives, must now choose one or the other, leaving them with gaps in their day that offer no academic or personal benefit.
The impact is especially dire for proactive juniors and seniors who may already surpass these lowered thresholds. They risk getting pushed out of advanced electives and creative programs that foster critical thinking, collaboration and true depth of learning.
Meanwhile, enrollment in art, music and specialty courses will inevitably drop. Once branded “under-enrolled,” these classes become prime targets for future cuts, a self-fulfilling prophecy that systematically undermines both the arts and rigorous academics.
By lowering overall course requirements, the district has cheapened the value of its high school diploma.
At a time when students need more challenge, not less, prioritizing convenience over academic quality leaves them underprepared for college and careers.
We must act now to reverse course, protect our classrooms and uphold the educational excellence that Santa Barbara deserves.
Michele Voigt
Santa Barbara
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During the last Lompoc City Council meeting, the staff asked the council to approve a contract to improve pathways in Ryon Park “in the total amount of $311,165” and “to approve change orders in an aggregate amount that will not cause total project appropriations of $507,072 to be exceeded.”
This item was on the consent calendar, so it wouldn’t normally be discussed.
But Councilman Steve Bridge asked, “Why are you asking us to approve $200,000 above the contract award as a contingency fund? In my experience contingencies are usually allowed at 10% of the total value (in this case a little over $30,000).”
The staff’s reply was “well, the council approved $507,072 so we are simply adjusting the final total to align with the approved amount.”
This is indicative of “government think” — don’t try to reduce costs, spend every nickel on a project, and then ask for more if we forgot anything.
Bridge wasn’t happy with that answer, so he made a motion to reduce the contingency to less than 10% and it passed unanimously.
Good for him, this is the kind of thoughtful leadership that’s needed in elected officials.
Ron Fink
Lompoc
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Regarding Bill Macfadyen’s April 11 column item on the protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk, I bet most of the sign carriers don’t know the definition of “oligarch.”
Do they know that includes the huge Democratic Party donors like George Soros, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and many other behind-the-scenes billionaires who tried to foist an incompetent Kamala Harris on us while covering up Joe Biden’s obvious cognitive decline?
Trump is no George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, but he sure beats the alternative we were offered by a party whose only real interest is power for power’s sake. They better wake up before 2028 or else resign themselves to permanent second place.
Stephen Weiss
Montecito
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Wow! I didn’t realize that I was part of the rich coastal elites, but according to the April 11 letters to the editor, I am not only rich and elite, but part of the oligarchy.
I’ll be sure to let the veterans, senior citizens, moms walking with their toddlers, and the thousands of others with whom I marched, about this news.
Counterpoint to the two very confused letter writers, though, the only oligarch is currently occupying the Oval Office. The only rich elites are — guess what? — also in the Oval Office.
The richest man on earth (who shall remain nameless, lest nausea sets in) has proven no massive fraud, has taken a blowtorch to every government department and the alleged transparent details such as the “wall of receipts” were quickly taken down due to massive inaccuracies.
So, dear letter writers, be confused no more as to why I march, why I speak up and why I write my elected officials. We see something wrong, we do something, we say something.
This is what DEMOCRACY looks like.
Linda Wasil
Goleta
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I bought my Tesla three years ago here in Santa Barbara because I wanted to help the planet in any way I could. Now I fear taking it out and parking in public because it may be vandalized.
The truth is, I hate Elon Musk more than anyone, but I’m stuck with a symbol of his destruction to our government and way of life. I can’t sell my car without taking a massive loss, which I can’t afford.
To anyone who is out to get Musk, please remember we Tesla owners are not the enemy.
Haik Hakobian
Santa Barbara
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On a stunningly beautiful Saturday, many people were in the local garden centers buying plants and things for their yard.
We decided to make our way up H Street in Lompoc to see if a charity barbecue might solve our dinner requirements. Instead, we were confronted by hordes of sign-carrying protesters, blocking all four corners of Central Avenue and H Street.
There was no central theme. Everyone seemed to just be offended by anything President Donald Trump does. So how did you spend your day?
Jan Lipski
Lompoc
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