Santa Barbara City Councilman Eric Friedman said the City Council was playing “The Price is Right” when it approved $2-per-square-foot fee for outdoor dining.
“It was like the ‘Price is Right’ to me,” said Friedman. “You get your own parklet on beautiful downtown State Street, for however long, what’s the value of that?”
The council went for the low bid of $2, Friedman said.
Friedman speaks out in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina.
The councilman abstained from a recent vote on outdoor dining on State Street. He said he was disappointed with his colleagues who negotiated from $5 a square foot for outdoor dining space to $2, all with taxpayer money.
Mayor Randy Rowse voted no, but five other council members supported the $2 fee.
At one point, Councilman Mike Jordan advocated for no fees.
“To advocate for zero, where does that money come from?” Friedman asked. “I honestly was like, are we not City Council members? Are we members of Congress? Can we print our own money now?
Friedman said an ad hoc committee made of up members of the council met for six months to discuss the fees that were originally presented to the council, and then the council flipped.
All that work, Friedman said, amounted to nothing.
“What we ultimately resulted with, that could have be done in a day and a half,” Friedman said. “Just call up the restaurant owners, they will say $2.
Friedman also expresses concerns about the 695-unit housing plan proposed for La Cumbre Plaza, the city budget and the plans for the Library Plaza renovation.
Joshua Molina is journalist who currently writes for Noozhawk and teaches journalism at Santa Barbara City College and Cal State University, Northridge. He formerly covered politics and land use for the San Jose Mercury News. Santa Barbara Talks is an independently owned podcast where Molina looks to bring together voices from all perspectives to discuss and provide solutions to the challenges related to housing, education, transportation and other community issues. Subscribe to his podcast here and consider a contribution here.