As the Santa Barbara City Council considers the future direction of State Street, it should adopt the principle of moderation for guiding its deliberations.
The City Council should avoid extreme positions that advocate “all this” or “all that” when seeking a solution for State Street. Rather, it should reach a compromise solution among the many competing interest groups.
What would such a compromise look like? I think that in large part it would be the simple design by Cass Ensberg, which was widely available and referred to by a number of public speakers at the June 27 council meeting.
For restaurateurs, her proposal continues outdoor dining on sidewalks; for bike riders, it provides space on the street; for pedestrians, it increases usable sidewalk space; for the disabled and elderly, it envisions Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant trollies; and finally, it permits the return of vehicles to some parts of State Street.
Do we really want to spend the next three years — until the end of 2026 — essentially doing nothing when there is a reasonable solution available to us now?
It is incumbent upon the mayor and City Council to take action to implement a reasonable, balanced and moderate approach to solving the State Street situation. This is a solution that allows the sharing of common space among all of us.
Let’s get this done and move on.
Hadley Johnson
Santa Barbara
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I ride a bicycle for several reasons including exercise, enjoyment and to help the environment. I ride my bicycle on State Street frequently. I’vve been doing it for 34 years.
I’ve never ridden an e-bike. I’m not happy with the kids zooming up and down State Street, but I’m less happy when I read Patricia Dixon’s Sept. 1 letter to the editor telling me to leave State Street and go ride on Cabrillo Boulevard instead.
I do ride on Cabrillo, don’t get me wrong, but that is not a solution to her displeasure with the condition of State Street.
I’d also like to remind her that State Street started emptying in 2008 after the mortgage meltdown and emptied further after businesses moved to the Funk Zone.
There are better ideas; Cass Ensberg’s design, for one. Do not chase bikes off State Street!
Brian Epstein
Santa Barbara
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We find ourselves in a cycle of uncertainty regarding State Street’s revitalization. After two unsuccessful committees, we’ve now returned to the City Council, which seems to be intricately managing the process.
During the Aug. 29 council meeting, recommendations from the now disbanded State Street Interim Operations Ad Hoc Committee were discussed, presenting quite the spectacle.
Three prominent conclusions emerged.
First, the city’s financial constraints prohibit pilot programs, raising concerns about funding substantial downtown developments.
Second, the insufficient resources allocated to police hinder the enforcement of safety-maintaining ordinances.
Third, and perhaps most crucially, the council lacks the leadership required to
make progress on this matter.
We need Mayor Randy Rowse to lead on this issue. As the representative of the entire city, not just a district, his responsibility entails guiding the process, fostering compromise and building consensus.
Where are the efforts toward compromise and the exploration of fresh ideas? For instance,
Councilman Eric Friedman proposed the notion of removing planters and expanding sidewalk dining; why was this seemingly disregarded? The mere novelty of an idea does not render it incorrect.
Mayor Rowse, we are ready for you to lead on State Street!
Leslie Colasse
Santa Barbara
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Like so many others, I view the destruction of what used to be the vibrant core of our city with great dismay. It is time to end the disaster that it has become, and move forward to reclaim our downtown.
I support the plan that has been proposed to let the restaurants and shops extend out onto the sidewalk area directly adjacent to their shopfronts, getting rid of the parklets and moving foot traffic to the edge of the sidewalk area by removing planter boxes.
I also support the return of cars and requiring bicycles to use in-street bike lanes. And bring back parades!
Will this sensible solution require another $80,000 consultant fee? No! Take my advice free!
Pat Fish
Santa Barbara
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The Santa Barbara City Council should let go of its grip strangling State Street and its patrons and businesses. The downtown street closure has proven to be a total failure and has been a magnet for the homeless issue, which has yet to be addressed.
State Street has been a long-standing attraction for residents and tourists alike, but since its closure it has become nothing but a circle of derelicts and misbehavior. Look at the police call records!
Reopen State Street and give it back to the taxpayers and residents and you’ll have a thriving business community and a vibrant downtown like the old days!
We moved up to the Santa Ynez Valley years ago to escape the direction the previous city councils were taking with our beautiful city of yesteryear. You didn’t listen to us then, so listen to us now! We would love to visit, shop and dine downtown once again!
Annette and George Fleming
Solvang
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While there are no real details and even conflicting accounts as to whether it was the 6400 block or 6700 block of Del Playa Drive, it’s devastating to learn that another life has been lost to the cliffs in Isla Vista as reported in the Sept. 2 story, “Man Dies After Late-Night Fall from Cliffs in Isla Vista.”
Is anyone keeping a tally?
We lost our son, Noah, to a cliff fall in June 2009. There have been many other cliff fall victims since.
After Noah’s death I tried to engage stakeholders, officials and others to make the health and safety of young people in Isla Vista a priority. I felt like the prevailing narrative was, “it’s not the cliffs, it’s the kids.”
Learning that another cliff fall death has occurred is soul crushing.
I grieve for Noah, who died a week before his graduation from UC Santa Barbara, for the friends left heartbroken and bewildered, and for every family who has had to walk this unimaginable path, navigate their way through the unanswered and unanswerable questions, and bury their dreams for the child whose absence will alter everything and be felt for eternity.
Beth Krom
Irvine
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My heart breaks for the family and friends of the student whose life was tragically cut short along the cliffs of Isla Vista the night of Sept. 2.
I join with the many Isla Vista neighbors as well as the Santa Barbara City College and UCSB community who share in the deep pain of the loss of a young person whose bright future was before him.
One death along these bluffs is one too many — and we have had far too many. Enough is enough: cliff safety must be the driving factor.
I will continue to push for protective fencing and other safety measures as well as redoubling the educational efforts led by the Isla Vista Community Services District and others.
These bluffs pose a real danger to people’s lives. It is time for common-sense safety solutions.
Laura Capps
Santa Barbara County Second District supervisor
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In the Sept. 4 article, “County Democrats Gather to Celebrate Workers, Organize Against Republican ‘Infiltration’,” Assemblyman Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, is quoted as saying: “There were Republicans in the Legislature, local government level, and we have pretty much extinguished that in Santa Barbara County.”
“We are turning our county and the whole state of California a deeper shade of blue,” he added.
Please look in the mirror. Do you stand with the core values of 112,552 Democrats, one group controlling 440,000 residents of Santa Barbara County?
Do you support government creating problem after problem so that you’re taxed more to grow government to solve orchestrated problems? Are you opposed to private property rights? Do you support open borders; different rules for citizens versus those unlawfully here? Are you a Marxist? Do you seek a guaranteed annual income and housing vouchers for all to control us, which is the end goal of the Cloward-Piven strategy being implemented throughout Santa Barbara?
If you answered NO to any of these questions, join 110,984 of us who have had enough of the 112,552 Democrats controlling Santa Barbara County. It is time to re-register No Party Preference (NPP) to join 52,642 of us, or to register Republican (GOP) with 58,342 others in our county.
Denice Spangler Adams
Montecito
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So state Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, believes conservative “infiltration” of local school boards, city councils and supervisorial races must be stopped? How democratic of her.
In the big scheme of things, the political pendulum tends to swing both ways. Santa Barbara County was once reliably Republican Party-controlled but now is reliably Democratic Party-controlled.
Power can be fleeting. Limón and her fellow Democrats might want to remember that because things aren’t all that great under their absolute control.
Sil Gutierrez
Lompoc
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State Sen. Monique Limón called on Democrats to battle the “infiltration” of conservatives at local school boards, city councils and supervisorial races.
Her statement implies conservatives should have no voice in the public square. Any involvement of a conservative is considered an “infiltration,” not civic participation.
This alarming statement by an elected official underscores that only a portion of her constituents in Senate District 19 are served.
Clearly, the values of hardworking parents and citizens who show up to voice their opinions are anathema to her and do not have a right to be heard or represented in the public square that represents all people.
Cheryl Trosky
Santa Barbara
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State Sen. Monique Limon calls Republicans “infiltrators.” So much for civility.
As a possible candidate for Congress against Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, I take umbrage at this slight. We are residents, parents and taxpayers, and just because we are a minority, we are attacked.
How dare we attempt to limit pornographic comic books about lesbian sex in school libraries for 12 year olds.
And how dare we, as a minority, try to limit the anti-family rhetoric taught in our public schools as fact.
We don’t believe teaching 7 year olds they can change their gender with surgery is a good, wholesome idea.
Yet here we are, a minority objecting to the majority’s methods and material being shoved down our children’s throats. Apparently minorities have no rights under the Democrats’ rule. And in fact, as the workers day of celebration indicates, we are a hated and despised minority.
I have a theory that if parents actually saw and read some of the library and teaching materials in our local schools, they would have a different opinion of our local Democratic Party politicians. Because when we try to show parents this material, these Democrat school officials call the police to hide this material from parents.
So we work to change school boards because that is the only way to protect our children, as they are forced by law to attend public schools, run by the majority. We have no choice but to “infiltrate.”
Thomas Cole
Montecito
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After reading the exciting news about Greg Patton being inducted to the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame, “An Accident Started Greg Patton on His Road to Coaching, Success,” I had to write.
When I was in junior high school (1969 or 1970), my mother made me take tennis during summer at Pershing Park … before the new courts were created and used by Santa Barbara City College. I resisted it, but a friend and I ended up taking the class together.
Patton was our tennis teacher. We had a blast! It was because of his great teaching and enthusiasm for tennis, I fell in love with the sport.
I was in my senior year at Santa Barbara High School and was in the advanced tennis class. I remember vividly when the girls’ high school tennis coach asked me why I did not play on the team.
She told me I was better than most of the players. I told her I loved tennis but was a cheerleader and had other obligations.
I continued playing tennis well into my 40s and loved it!
So Greg, thank you for the impact you had on a young and impressionable youth! I appreciated it and you!
Elizabeth Brooks
Adams School kindergarten teacher, Santa Barbara
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Let me keep it simple: Cathedral Oaks Road is a thoroughfare in Goleta, especially with Highway 101 repairs. The current condition is like four-wheeling terrain.
Someone explain to me how this has been ignored for so long. Here is a suggestion: Cut the City Council’s pay by 50% and use it to fix the problem. Money talks, and fixes roads.
Bart Bader
Goleta
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