It’s been a few years since my hero passed away. He was my father, Floyd Proffitt, a battlewagon and submariner sailor from World War II.
I(we) shall never forget the sacrifices that were made by him and his fellow shipmates for they are on Eternal Patrol.
Before World War II started, he served aboard the BB48, USS West Virginia. But during the war, he served aboard the SS200, USS Thresher, and the SS375, USS Macabi.
By the end of the war, he was a seasoned war veteran, a 1st Class Torpedoman who made 10 patrols with the Thresher and, at the end of the war, one patrol with the Macabi.
As the years passed, a congressionally chartered veteran organization was created called the U.S. Submarine Veterans of WWII (USSVWII). It was established to “perpetuate the memory of those shipmates who gave their lives in submarine warfare during WWII.”
Today, the USSVWII has merged with U.S. Submarine Veterans Inc. (USSVI), which includes all submariners of all eras.
Every year since 1956, the two organizations’ conventions and boat reunions were held to keep alive the esprit de corps.
One reflective event during the convention is a memorial service for those submarines and submariners “still on patrol.” A patrol begins when a sub leaves port and ends on its return.
If a sub sinks and doesn’t make it home, the patrol is “eternal.”
A ceremony called the tolling of the boats is held by one ting of a ship bell for each boat lost. It is a sobering reminder of all those who have earned the coveted submariner “dolphins,” past and present, who are “On Eternal Patrol.”
“The Final Patrol,” author unknown
I have one consolation that lives with me today.
That God is near to them, in his own special way.
So God in all Your mercy, keep near Thyself the soul,
Of every Submariner, still on his final patrol.
Lord, this departed shipmate with Dolphins on his chest
is part of an outfit known as the best.
Make him welcome and take him by the hand.
You’ll find without a doubt he was the best in all the land.
So, heavenly Father add his name to the roll
of our departed shipmates still on patrol.
Let them know that we who survive
will always keep their memories alive.
On Memorial Day, we should be reminded of the sacrifices made by these brave young men to keep us free.
And remember that this is an all-volunteer U.S. Navy force that is known as the “Silent Service.” It will always be watching over us, whether it’s the present active duty or “On Eternal Patrol.”
Brad Proffitt, U.S. Army 1st Logistical Command, 1972-1974
Santa Barbara
• • •
On May 30, America will observe and celebrate Memorial Day. There will be speeches, family gatherings and Americanas will honor those who gave all.
What was the history of Memorial Day? It was originally called “Decoration Day” and began during the Civil War when citizens placed flowers on the graves of those who had been
killed in battle.
After World War I, it came to be observed in honor of those who died in all U.S. wars. Its name was then changed to Memorial Day.
This coming Monday we will all observe Memorial Day. It will be a day to reflect on the sacrifices of the men and women who gave all.
As a nation, we must never forget the fallen and that Freedom Isn’t Free. God Bless America.
Diana and Don Thorn
Carpinteria
• • •
Regarding the May 18 article, “Santa Barbara City Council Candidate Wendy Santamaria Tells Crowd ‘We Can Flip This Seat in November’,” as a voter I am able to knowledgeably distinguish between noise and substance.
Many candidates make sweeping promises or dramatic claims, attempting to sway voters with their pipe dreams. However, these pre-office promises are not founded in fact or viability.
Promises made in the heat of a campaign often dissolve in the practical realities of governance. Once elected, these officials face the complexities of policy-making, budget constraints and the need for consensus, often leading to disillusionment among their supporters when promises go unfulfilled.
A candidate’s knowledge, connections and patience are indispensable traits. An individual with a deep understanding of local issues, built through years of involvement and observation, is far more equipped to navigate the intricacies of governance than a newcomer armed only with passionate rhetoric about a singular issue.
Knowledge allows for informed decision-making, connections facilitate effective collaboration, and patience ensures that solutions are both sustainable and carefully considered.
Santa Barbara City Council candidate Wendy Santamaria’s campaign launch on May 18 highlighted her prioritization of political noise over substance.
Political grandstanding should not take place at a park that holds cultural significance for the community — especially without involving the park stewards. This is not only disrespectful to the community but also indicative of a candidate’s lack of local involvement and care.
This action underscores the candidate’s disconnection from the community’s values and traditions, showing a superficial approach to local issues. Single-issue candidates like Santamaria often forget that residents care about more than one thing, and are composed of more than one group.
A mature candidate who enters office with the readiness to learn, adapt and cooperate is likely to achieve meaningful progress.
They will understand that real change requires more than bold statements; it demands meticulous planning, persistence and a commitment to working within the established frameworks of local government.
Voters should prioritize substance over noise in our electoral choices. A measured candidate with comprehensive insights, respect for local traditions, and the ability to build consensus across diverse groups is positioned to lead our community effectively.
Promises made need to be promises kept. A candidate grounded in the realm of what is achievable rather than one that panders to a single group is what Santa Barbara needs.
Kim Burnell
Santa Barbara
• • •
Is labor organizer Wendy Santamaria aware the City of Santa Barbara has a $7 million budget deficit?
How about a downtown that most locals want nothing to do with, one of the largest municipal staff sizes per capita in California, out-of-control public employee costs, the homeless, and a housing crisis that no amount of rent “stabilization” can fix?
Just curious whether she has any opinions other than her one issue. It would be nice to know.
City Councilwoman Alejandra Gutierrez has done an excellent job and is well-versed on the many issues that affect her district. Gutierrez deserves to be re-elected.
Donna Trujillo
Santa Barbara
• • •
I grew up in Goleta, but have lived throughout the world working as a management consultant. Now, here is where I purchased a home, married my wife and welcomed our first child.
I love this city.
While I enthusiastically support this city, there are two major problems that cannot be ignored.
- State Street: chronically mishandled and action must be taken
Erin Graffy highlighted the glorious history of State Street. Sadly, if that article were written today it would read, “Tourists sip their lattes while observing store vacancies and empty stares from the homeless while trying to avoid collisions from the e-bikes and wondering which of the empty parklets might be serving lunch.”
Idea after idea has been presented, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on professionals to solve the problem. However, the City Council only kicks the can.
How can the City Council can keep a straight face when stating it’s a “multidecade” project?I’d like to know how the business owners who have put everything at stake feel about a multidecade timeline.
Fixing State Street is a big task, but elected officials need to stop using the magnitude of the project as a delay tactic. Their continued delays, inconsistencies and lack of decisiveness is damaging.
- Housing: new development projects are viewed skeptically
Does anyone in control of Santa Barbara understand economics? When demand is high and supply is low, prices will be high.
Demand to live in Santa Barbara is essentially out of our control. Supply, however, is influenced by the City Council’s actions, or lack thereof. The City Council and Planning Commission’s pushback on development is limiting supply.
Second, the push for affordable housing is out of control. If 20% affordable housing for new builds isn’t good enough, is it 40%? 75%? 100% for new builds?
We need to incentivize investment. Most developers are locals who employ local. Adding additional “affordable” housing above the 20% mandate, alongside onerous building codes and the permit process, removes the incentive to invest in Santa Barbara.
Finally, to have influential people in our city claim development will create a “significant overdevelopment of market-rate units” is disheartening.
This is illogical and goes against their desire to drive housing prices down (remember supply versus demand).
Not all projects should be streamlined, but to hear leadership say “market-rate units” are what’s holding back development makes it clear why we’re in trouble.
To believe Santa Barbara will stay on top because we have been successful in the past is foolish. See San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The City Council’s lack of actions is bad for our city and council members should have to prove to why they should remain in office.
Mark Philibosian
Santa Barbara Sister Cities vice president
• • •
Kudos to Cass Ensberg for her May 17 letter to the editor and her analysis of the State Street disaster and her sensible suggestions for resolving it.
Ensberg already submitted to the City of Santa Barbara some useful ideas for the design and function of State Street, but they were ignored. The city should listen to her voice of reason.
Thank you for not giving up, Cass.
Susan Shields
Santa Barbara
• • •
What feeling is Santa Barbra trying to exude on State Street?
I’ve just returned from a trip through France, Spain and Portugal. In Barcelona, I saw the cleanest well-organized city.
The streets were clean, there were no homeless people sleeping on the street or benches. Sections of streets were restricted from automobiles with al fresco dining and bicycle traffic only. The rest of the city was well serviced, with buses making stops every 15 to 20 minutes and motorcycles almost outnumbering automobile parking. Taxis were abundant. It was a well-oiled, pleasant environment.
Those making the decisions about State Street should spend a day in Barcelona — or dozens of other cities in Spain, France or Portugal — and see how cities should be run.
One point: People who live in Barcelona live in apartments. The single-family standalone home did not exist in the city limits.
Public transportation mixed well with private transportation, much of it motorcycles and scooters. Most of all, I was impressed with the cleanliness.
Jan Lipski
Lompoc
• • •
Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse’s May 22 commentary, “Santa Barbara — and Santa Barbarans — Deserve a Fully Open State Street,” lacks original or practical ideas.
While he argues that reopening the street will restore vitality and business, several counterpoints suggest this might not be the best solution.
Rowse’s arguments overlook the true causes of retail decline. Factors such as limited residential space, shifting shopping habits, high rents and the absence of anchor businesses have a more significant impact.
For example, the decline of La Cumbre Plaza, which lost one of its two anchor stores, is unrelated to automobile access.
Rowse suggests that the Highway 101 underpass could draw more traffic downtown. However, this project is designed to encourage pedestrian and bike traffic, not to increase automobile presence.
Many cities have found that pedestrian-only streets can boost business by creating a more inviting atmosphere for shoppers and tourists. Santa Monica and Boulder, Colorado, are prime examples of thriving pedestrian malls that attract both visitors and locals.
Urban planning trends are increasingly favoring mixed-use developments and pedestrian-friendly spaces. Permanently reopening State Street to cars might be a step backward in terms of modern urban design principles that prioritize human-centered environments.
The debate over State Street doesn’t have to be zero-sum. There are numerous ways to compromise.
Here are just a few ideas that should be considered:
- Have a trial period during which the street is reopened. If no effective difference is demonstrated, consider closing it again.
- Implement time-based closures in which the street is open to pedestrians during peak hours (e.g., evenings and weekends) and open to vehicles during other times.
- Establish designated delivery zones and times for businesses to receive goods, ensuring that logistical needs are met without disrupting pedestrian-friendly periods.
- Introduce a frequent and reliable shuttle service or electric tram running along State Street, making it easy for people to travel without needing cars.
- Installing speed bumps to slow down traffic (bikes, cars, skateboards).
By exploring these and other innovative solutions, we can create a vibrant downtown that meets the needs of all stakeholders.
Jeff Ohlman
Santa Barbara
• • •
State Street is a damn gem and cars won’t polish it.
I congratulate Mayor Randy Rowse in admitting that cars may not be a panacea, and that a return of the trolley would be a welcomed opening for our beloved downtown.
Rowse posits, however, that the community has spoken out in support of reopening State Street to car traffic. I would love to see the methodology of the study or survey supporting this claim.
State Street is not quiet because access is difficult, or because one must turn off State Street after exiting the freeway — but rather because there is a dearth of attractive businesses that can afford the rent.
Arts and activities, which cannot be experienced by shopping online, is what brings foot traffic to revitalize businesses. After all, malls across America are dying or dead, and there is plenty of ease of car access at those destinations.
So, yes, bring back the festivals and parades. Work with entrepreneurs to open a skating rink instead of delaying the process until it’s too expensive to continue.
Incentivize the community to our downtown and the tourist dollars will flow.
It isn’t the cars or even the gorgeous architecture that brings people to our downtown. It is our vibrant community. Let’s keep it open to our foot traffic.
Ilan Ben-Yehuda
Santa Barbara
• • •
Bring back cars to maximize profit is what I got from Mayor Randy Rowse’s commentary.
Or the award the Nobel Peace prize to Henry Kissinger. Tom Lehrer said the art of satire died today.
Robert Antonucci
Santa Barbara
• • •
Congratulations to Richard Closson for his straightforward and understandable May 20 commentary, “Preserving Downtown Santa Barbara’s Charm Requires Balance of Growth, Affordability,” on the housing issues that we face here in Santa Barbara.
I would add to the list of misleading terms that that the so-called experts use, “pencil out,” which is a code word for profit, and the word “affordability,” which doesn’t really define Santa Barbara affordability.
There is a long history in Santa Barbara of outside money wanting to take advantage of the backdrop of the Santa Ynez Mountains, our architectural heritage and our location along the ocean to benefit their pocketbooks.
Let’s not make our city just like any other coastal city by allowing unfettered arrogance to overrule our century of well-crafted guardrails to protect the heritage we hold so dear.
Fred Sweeney
Santa Barbara
• • •
I read Richard Closson’s commentary with great interest. As a 50-year residenty, I’ve watched the price of housing climb steadily, from about two to three times a household’s annual salary in the early 1980s to many times that amount today.
I heartily agree with Closson that the typical supply-demand principles that work elsewhere don’t work in this community. Where demand greatly exceeds supply, such as in desirable Santa Barbara, purchasing a home or renting an apartment will always be difficult.
And we’ve seen with the AUD (Average Unit Size Density) program that adding supply without price controls does not begin to close the gap as housing prices have continued to climb.
The last time Santa Barbara had a reasonable balance of housing types that a majority of the community could afford was when the city’s Redevelopment Agency was putting about 25% of its tax increment revenues into deed-restricted affordable housing.
The State of California took away that option in 2011 and the city’s affordability has been declining ever since.
Until a sustainable and generous funding source is available for truly affordable rental and ownership housing, Santa Barbara is going to continue its trajectory toward the few “haves” and the many “have-nots.”
Patricia Saley
Santa Barbara
• • •
Hear, hear! for Rick Closson’s commentary.
The math is simple, but people in charge refuse to look at the numbers or care about what they are creating. And what they are destroying. Or the backdrop of views they are selling out from under us.
Our world at present is driven by “bottom line” dollars and carpetbagging developers who have been given free rein by local politicians, most of whom fancy themselves as progressives with a vision cloaked in their benevolence.
Oh, my word. The City Council and the rental housing groups champion (subsidized) housing for anyone who demands the right to live in Santa Barbara.
But it is not a right, nor has it ever been possible for everyone who wants to be here, to live here. What draws people to Santa Barbara is the awe of the gentle and safe, small-town appeal — uniquely positioned in this rare and magnificent setting.
Now downtown State Street is a glorified bike path, empty, except for e-bikers whizzing by vacant storefronts. Why do tourists still visit? No window shopping to be had, inspiration that creates desire is also absent.
Affordable housing. Affordable to whom? The well-to-do can afford Santa Barbara, savers can afford Santa Barbara, local old-timers who inherited can afford Santa Barbara.
And why should Santa Barbara be affordable? It’s a beach town! A relatively limited piece of land between the mountains and the ocean. People who can live anywhere often choose to live here.
BEACH TOWNS HAVE NEVER BEEN AFFORDABLE!
Can a City Council ruin a town? YES, we are in the midst of it right now.
The fallout all around they ignore, and instead they paint the streets and tell us it’s all for the sake of “green.”
C. Neuhauser
Santa Barbara
• • •
In support of Rick Closson’s commentary, I might add that one might reflect on why it is that worldwide, Santa Barbara is known for and remains a destination of distinction.
Why not Ventura, Huntington Beach, Marina del Rey? Besides Carmel, let’s face it, all other coastal cities in California cannot measure up to what it is that makes Santa Barbara so distinctive.
Does anyone think it’s strictly because of the unique position of mountain backdrop behind ocean access? No, in fact, our beaches are OK. The mountains are majestic.
But it’s the rare combination of these factors, the natural attributes with the stunning unified architecture, the original state of State Street before this current dismal post-pandemic chapter.
Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s finite. It can become just another coastal town in California by misjudgment of the management of the downtown corridor, by the dismantling of our architectural standards and by overbuilding.
Linda Williams
Santa Barbara
• • •
Why doesn’t Noozhawk write an article about the rather depraved differences between events that exclude the average-earning local resident by charging ridiculous prices for a two-hour wine tasting ($101), for example, or make a point about how all these events that appear available are actually designed (or so it seems to me) to preclude the average resident of our community from … God forbid, mingling!! with the same over-pictured bunch of wealthy local residents.
I can afford these outrageous prices for say, Thanksgiving dinner at one of THE hotels ($265 per person, if I remember correctly) … but something smells bad about the charges.
What does Noozhawk think the message is? I dare you to say.
Isn’t it time SOMEONE says something? Elitism? Undemocratic? Divisive? Separating the Haves and Have Nots? Creating even MORE separations?
Nancy Freeman
Goleta
• • •
Regarding the May 21 news release, “Telling It Like It Is: Local Journalists Offer Free Media Literacy Training,” I find myself rather suspicious of any group of “media professionals” that so very generously offers to conduct workshops to educate the public on how to identify what they consider misinformation, fact from fiction and how to become “savvy” media consumers.
In this age of ubiquitous sources for information and opinions blanketing a highly polarized political society in the midst of a major election season, is it even conceivable that these workshops will operate without taint from the personal political views of the workshop operators?
How close will they come to seem as personifications of characters in George Orwell’s imaginations, in which select people have the audacity to tell other people how to think?
How inevitable is it that any information or opinions broadcast from sources on the other side of the political divide from their own will be considered “misinformation”?
Will they be conducting what in effect is a training camp for a modern day “thought police?”
A tremendous amount of hubris must be required for anyone to suggest that they have the superior knowledge and understanding to instruct on what is true or false, good or bad, right or wrong, reliable or unreliable.
Glenn Dorfman
Montecito
• • •
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