Kudos to Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse and his March 29 commentary, “Santa Barbara’s Downtown Can’t Afford to Languish in Limbo.”
Looking at Milpas Street and Coast Village Road and their vibrant communities of residents and businesses, the contrast with the current State Street environment is stark.
Things that attract visitors and residents as well are the celebrations that we have. When these are restricted from our “Main Street,” the appeal is remote from previous years.
Safety is compromised with motorized travel restrictions. The handicapped have difficulties with proximity to stores and entertainment locations.
State Street is Main Street USA for Santa Barbara. Let’s return to some resemblance of the life we had before COVID-19.
Gretchen Murray
Noleta
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Mayor Randy Rowse is right. The full length of State Street needs to be open to vehicle travel, yet the street must be able to be closed for cultural events and parades.
It is time to listen to the struggling merchants and open State Street for limited customer/tourist traffic, safe walkways and defined bike lanes. Opening the street will also allow trolleys, emergency vehicles and drop-off vehicles, like Easy Lift, to have convenient access and passage.
C’mon, City Council. Make a decision that helps revive our main downtown corridor and brings more locals and customers back.
John Burk
Santa Barbara
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We are so fortunate to live in this beautiful coastal area that we call home. I count my blessings on a daily basis, and I thank my ancestors for “finding” this place.
I love Santa Barbara like I love my family, unconditionally and completely. Therefore, it pains me to witness the current state of the City of Santa Barbara under the guidance of the City Council.
The most glaring faux pas to date is the misguided oversight of our historic main thoroughfare, State Street.
Providing parklet space to local restaurants during the dark days of COVID-19 was the right thing to do.
Closing State Street with no plan in place, and no plan in motion for the near future, is complete and total negligence. Not only toward the community as a whole, but specifically business owners, property owners, as well as their customers, vendors and the public who used to visit State Street on a regular basis.
I suggest that Santa Barbara reopen State Street immediately, by removing all barriers, allowing cars, trollies and bicycles on the street, and in their designated part of the roadway. And lastly, welcome the public back to the wide, clean walkways that we remember so well.
Basically, reopen State Street as it was in 2020. In the meantime, city planners, council members, as well as local businesses and citizens, should work together to develop a cohesive and viable plan.
Lesley Torgeson
Santa Barbara
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In all this talk about State Street, I don’t understand why architect Cass Ensberg’s creative proposal was dismissed out of hand. It checked all the boxes that everyone seems to want.
Thank you to Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen for continuing to promote it.
Olivia Morales
Santa Barbara
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We completely agree with Mayor Randy Rowse’s comments and concerns. We avoid State Street because going there feels like we’re still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have traveled to many parts of the world recently and none of the beautiful cities we visited remain in the closed-off pandemic environment of State Street.
While other cities are now thriving, Santa Barbara’s downtown is closed off. Our leaders are destroying one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Hopefully Rowse’s opinion will resonate with the rest of Santa Barbara and the City Council.
Melinda Miller
Santa Barbara
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The Glen Annie Golf Club owners recently held a public meeting about closing the golf course and building up to 1,000 homes on that land. Unfortunately, they did not invite adjoining property owners — two of whom own 78 acres of the golf course — to the meeting.
I believe Glen Annie Golf Club is the most beautiful golf course in the area and a great asset to the community.
Glen Annie is one of only three public, 18-hole courses in our area. The loss of it would be extremely sad and very hard to replace.
The owners are not local and don’t seem concerned about the value of it as a community amenity, but are more interested in its value as a monetary good/commodity.
As an adjoining property owner, I know that everyone who lives in this neighborhood knows that the pressure on the streets and roads is immense. They are already overly congested, with no simple solution. Adding 1,000 homes and probably more cars than that will be a nightmare.
A friend alerted me to a community workshop on the proposed development and I attended the March 20 meeting.
The representative for the golf course owners said they had had numerous public meetings, but none of the neighbors along Glen Annie Road and adjacent to the golf course have been notified of any meetings! I spoke to four neighboring property owners and all of them thought it would be a detriment and oppose this development.
One other important fact that seems to have been missing in the presentation is that the owner does not own all of the land that is being presented to be developed.
There are two other owners who have 40-acre parcels that have not been included in the planning for this development process. At least one of them is opposed to this development.
The current owners think they can acquire that land, but it is a very big question whether that will be possible.
The larger question, which we need to be asking ourselves, is what is the best size community? To my knowledge, I have not heard anyone ask this question, at least anyone in government.
Everyone seems to think more housing, or even more affordable housing, is the answer to the housing crunch. But seriously, does anyone think that more and bigger is always the best way to go?
Do you really think adding a few thousand homes or even 10,000 homes will lower the demand for people who want to live here? I doubt it.
I believe you could build 20-story towers along Cabrillo Boulevard and they would fill up and the demand would still be there. In fact, if you do build more and it lowers the price, the odds are there will be more demand.
As Glen Annie Road property owners, we believe there are many considerations that must be explored.
John Whitehurst, Brian Borgatello and Susan Knapp
Goleta
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Really enjoyed Judy Foreman’s March 31 column, “It’s a Dog’s Life, and I’m Just Living In It,” about her doxies and all the goods (and the little challenge) they bring.
If she’s interested in changing bad habits, I highly recommend the dog trainer, Christine, at Santa Barbara Humane. Her low-cost classes are fun and very helpful in working with owners and their dogs.
We have our second Jack Russell terrier and can really appreciate the behavioral differences between trained and not trained.
Thanks for the humorous article. It could also be very useful for those considering a new pet.
Annie Linn
Goleta
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Thank you for Helen Thomas’ beautiful, newsworthy article about Santa Maria’s historic Minerva Club.
It’s so good to have Santa Maria news that isn’t gang/drug/small housing related!
As membership chairwoman for the Minerva Club, I would love to invite Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen to our club for a presentation as to why his Noozhawk is so vital to our county! I’ll buy lunch!
Dottie Lyons
Santa Maria
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To save our United States we must vote in the 2024 elections at all levels, from city council to president. The last election in 2020 was a crazy quilt example of irregularities.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, to keep voters safe at home, voting was done by mail-in ballots.
Hundreds of thousands of ballots were mailed and millions of dollars were spent to open them, check the signatures, and weeks were taken to read them and report the vote.
To keep ballots safe from being stolen from postal boxes, new steel, armored boxes were built and placed for deposit of the mail-in ballots. Thirty boxes were place around Sana Barbara County, costing millions of dollars and still in place for the next election.
The number of “traditional polling places” was reduced and the qualification to get a ballot at the polls was minimal.
Now the “pandemic” is over and things look a lot better, but the state government liked this arrangement and has decided to keep it by incorporating mail-in ballots into state law. Now all elections will be held using mail-in ballots.
California has also set up a special fund to pay for all the added expense needed for mail-in ballots called “the System Replacement Grant.” Our tax dollars.
Santa Barbara County must mail 238,661 mail-in ballots for each election, plus the official information guide and the sample ballot booklet, or 715,983 pieces of mail for each election.
“Vote by Mail” is more expensive and takes longer to report results and is subject to ballot harvesting and theft, than are the venerable local polling precincts.
A large number of mail ballots are out of date due to delays in reviewing county voter registration lists. So millions of dollars are wasted on dead ballots.
Voting by mail does NOT increase voter turnout as shown by the March 5 primary election in which 100,160 votes were cast, or 41.56 % of the 238,661 registered voters. And there are fewer precincts now to make it more difficult to vote in person.
What happened to the 138,500 mail-in ballots not used? At the precinct polls, you sign next to your name in the book and your ballot is ready to be counted when you drop it in the box.
The voting system has been watered down. Reliable voting is what voting is all about. Voters have doubts, so low turnouts.
For better results:
- You Must ID yourself and show that you are the one voting, your real ID.
- You must appear at the precinct to vote unless you have requested an absentee ballot before vote day.
- You must sign your name on the voter log book, not on a wobbly computer screen so your signature can be verified if necessary.
- There must be voting only on vote day, between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.
- Require update of registration files every two years.
Justin Ruhge
Lompoc
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Regarding R. Merrifield’s March 29 letter to the editor about Joe Guzzardi’s March 24 commentary, “Weaponized Immigration Wrecking Sovereign America,” contrary to the comments, Guzzardi intimates and even states outright that it is Congress’ role to establish immigration law.
But he argues that the Biden administration has ignored those laws and unlawfully created its own policies.
Basic civics tells us that, in the United States, the legislative branch passes laws and the executive branch enforces them.
It’s disingenuous to cry about the need for more immigration laws when myriad laws languish. What we need is for the executive branch to do its job and enforce the existing laws.
The current tidal wave of illegal immigration falls squarely on the shoulders of President Joe Biden and his cabinet. As President Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.”
The Biden administration has chosen to continue to make immigration a partisan issue by blatantly ignoring its constitutional responsibility to protect the sovereignty of this nation.
Biden SHOULD be blamed for this mess because he’s at fault. Spread the blame if you want to, but that doesn’t absolve the president.
What happened to the Joe Biden who thought illegal immigration was a bad thing?
Ross Lloyd
Santa Barbara
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In rebuttal to R. Merrifield arguing that Joe Guzzardi’s opinion pieces should be banned from Noozhawk, I feel that the democratic process would be further hindered if alternative viewpoints are prohibited by not only our three branches of federal government but also state and local governments, and especially the Fourth Estate, the news media!
If this person disagrees with Guzzardi’s opinion, he or she has the right to argue against his views. However, I have often read and researched his opinions and have found that, whether you agree or not, Guzzardi does cite fact-base sources.
Perhaps Guzzardi’s pieces should be looked upon as an open invitation to do our due diligence as responsible citizens, and research these tender subjects further prior to our emotional knee-jerk reactions and proposed restrictions.
Last week, I congratulated two UC Santa Barbara students for a peaceful demonstration of their views. This week I’m asking all of us to open our minds and hearts to our neighbors of differing viewpoint and politics.
Again I stress that only through thoughtful communication and peaceful interaction can we change the world in viable ways that can work for us all.
Brian Massey
Bow, Washington
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