Wow! Noozhawk’s new look is very cool.
I love what you did to show more stories, especially your local sports stories. And you’re right, the website is easier to read and get around.
Thank you for making the improvements, and good luck with your new partners.
Donna Rodriguez
Santa Barbara
• • •
I like your new format.
Sometimes it is difficult to accept a change after years of using the old, but this new format is good.
Dr. Jesus Gonzales
Santa Barbara
• • •
The Dec. 5 article, “Hotel Project with 66 Units Proposed for Multiple Lots on Santa Barbara’s State Street,” about Jim Knell’s new State Street project is very enlightening. It certainly highlights one of the primary problems with building almost anything in Santa Barbara.
As stated in the article, “From Knell’s perspective, any lack of housing is not his fault; that’s on the hands of the city. He proposed a 36-unit, mixed-use housing development — a mix of studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments — with 17 parking spaces on the same spot in 2020. However, he pulled the application after resistance from city staff regarding inclusionary housing and parking requirements. ‘This is a much cleaner way to go,’ Knell said. ‘There’s not anything we need as far as concessions. At this point in time, hotels have a lot more value than apartments.’”
Long delays attempting to get through the city’s process cost property owners a lot, and those costs eventually have to be recovered in higher rents or higher sale prices.
Parking is expensive to build and minimizes the space available for living units. One would think that there must be some way to make parking available in the city parking lots for those who need parking, which many urban dwellers do not.
We constantly hear that the city needs more housing, especially downtown. But the bottom line is demonstrated here in a nutshell that one of the main reasons that we aren’t getting it is resistance from city staff. We have too many rules and reasons to NOT do something, but very little staff help about how to work together to achieve what we say we want and need.
When a property owner attempts to build housing and the city staff throws up roadblocks instead of helping, we get no progress.
Art Thomas
Santa Barbara
• • •
How I wish there were more people with the knowledge and integrity of SIMA Corp. chairman Jim Knell in our city to communicate the truth and act accordingly. He gets it!
Santa Barbara is on a downhill trajectory and picking up momentum. Too many elected government officials are unprepared, under-informed, inexperienced, conflicted, and vote as they’re told by their owners to ensure re-election for their paycheck and power seat.
Imagine a city council and local boards composed of independent free agents, who are experienced, financially savvy, locally mindful, proven business professionals and planners, making decisions about downtown, schools and our community.
I doubt there would be so many local problems on multiple fronts.
Denice Spangler Adams
Montecito
• • •
As a longtime literacy advocate, community member, parent of two students who attended schools in the Santa Barbara Unified School District, and a current member of the district’s Literacy Task Force, I have long been interested in the workings of the school board.
As a former dyslexia consultant with the district, I often worked collaboratively with school board members and know firsthand the importance of the position.
The current board vacancy, left by Laura Capps’ election to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, offers the opportunity for a community member to be appointed to the school board to offer their skills, qualifications and unique point of view to the school board to serve out her term.
As the deadline approaches, I read the Candidate Application Form and was struck that the instructions require applicants to submit the completed form directly to Superintendent Hilda Maldonado.
It seems to me that, since school board members have the unique responsibility of hiring and evaluating the performance of the superintendent, any process of selecting candidates for the board would properly go to the board president and be carried out fully independent of the superintendent’s office.
In the interest of transparency, questions arise, surely not limited to these:
» How are these applications being evaluated?
» Who, exactly, is making the appointment of the next school board member?
» With four current members, what happens in the event of a tie?
» What input does the public have on this process?
» What input does the superintendent have?
» With consideration for a possible re-election bid in two years, how much weight will be given to applicants who currently live in District 2?
I offer my gratitude to all who step forward to take on this responsibility, and my appreciation for those who are making this important decision that will affect many lives.
Please choose wisely.
Cheri Rae
Santa Barbara
• • •
Mail Calls
Noozhawk welcomes and encourages expressions of all views on Santa Barbara County issues. Letters should be BRIEF — as in 200 words-BRIEF — and letters under 150 words are given priority. Each must include a valid mailing address and contact information. Pseudonyms will not be used, and repeat letters will be skipped. Letters may be edited for clarity, length and style.
With rare exceptions, this feature is published on Saturdays.
By submitting any content to Noozhawk, you warrant that the material is your original expression, free of plagiarism, and does not violate any copyright, proprietary, contract or personal right of anyone else. Noozhawk reserves, at our sole discretion, the right to choose not to publish a submission.
Click here for Noozhawk’s Terms of Use, and click here for more information about how to submit letters to the editor and other announcements, tips and stories.