Two mothers returned to Isla Vista on Thursday afternoon to tell the stories of their sons who died after falling from the bluffs in 2018 and 2022, about four weeks after the death of Benjamin Schurmer, who also fell from a cliff in Isla Vista.
The mothers are just two of the 13 families who have lost a child in an accident involving the bluffs along Isla Vista in the past 30 years.
Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps spoke Thursday, along with other local leaders and safety agencies, about her eight-point plan to address those deaths and make the Isla Vista bluffs safer.
“These are young people with bright futures ahead of them,” Capps said. “These are accidents — tragic accidents — and we have safety measures; we just have to enhance them and make them stronger, do more education.”
Capps’ eight-point plan involves having higher fencing and railings along the bluffs, installing lighting and warning signs along the fences, installing more public bathrooms in Isla Vista, providing education on bluff safety, planting shrubbery to make it harder for people to trespass near the cliffs, enhancing law enforcement, and creating a memorial for the 13 people who have died.
“We need to honor their lives beyond their families and their loved ones, here in Isla Vista,” Capps said. “I believe [a memorial] would do two things — honor their lives and also serve as an important warning for others.”
Heather Havens, mother of Chasen Alibrando, and Ana Esquival, mother of Alessandro Esquivel, spoke about their sons during the Thursday event.
Alibrando graduated from UCSB in 2018 and died at age 25 on April 29, 2022, while at an alumni party weekend in Isla Vista.
“He was just an amazing son,” Havens said. “He was my best friend.”
Havens added that her son was the “best brother” to his two younger brothers.
“It’s been hard,” Havens said. “[Her two younger sons] not only lost their brother, they lost the mother they knew.”
She said that since Alibrando’s death one year and five months ago, three other kids have fallen from the Isla Vista bluffs.
“The number of deaths that we talked about today is just a fraction of those folks that fall over and are severely injured and incapacitated,” County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said. “Unfortunately, the injuries happen even more often than the fatalities that happen here.”
Alessandro Esquivel died on Oct. 20, 2018, at 20 years old. His mother, Ana Esquivel, said that he was “a loving son, a caring brother and a devoted friend.”
“I can say that shared tragedy is an odd platform for friendship, but I have learned through those who walk a common path. We understand each other in ways most people do not,” she said. “I know that I’m not alone in my heartfelt sympathy for the family of Benny Schurmer. I know the deep pain and complicated emotions they’re feeling. There’s anger and disbelief. It is as if the world has turned on its head and your heart has been shattered into a million pieces. To bury a child is the greatest pain a parent can endure, for with them, we must bury our dreams for the future.”
Both mothers spoke of the importance of taking action and expressed their gratitude for Capps’ plan to address bluff safety in Isla Vista.
“Everybody needs to care about the safety of young people in Isla Vista, including the young people themselves,” Esquivel said. “It’s easy to blame victims, but that will only guarantee more victims. It’s time for action, for better fencing, for investments to be made by the property owners and the county, for policy decisions that prioritize the welfare of the young people who help build the local economy, and for those who have lost kids to these cliffs to know by your actions that their beautiful children did not die in vain.”
Capps said she is working with the Isla Vista Community Services District to pursue her eight-point plan and is planning to propose regulatory changes on fencing heights to the Board of Supervisors by Nov. 7.