Should cars return to the State Street promenade?

That is the multi-million dollar question it seems everyone in Santa Barbara is trying to answer.

As city leaders, community activists and politicians come together to help decide the future of State Street, a new group has emerged, Strong Towns SB, and its members have big, bold ideas for the future of Santa Barbara’s most popular strip.

“For State Street particularly cars have the entirety of the rest of the city,” said Tristen Miller, a Santa Barbara resident and member of Strong Towns SB. “Can we have one place where they aren’t?”

Three members of Strong Towns SB, Miller, Ian Baucke and Joanna Kaufman, appear on the latest episode of the podcast Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina. Click on the YouTube link below to watch the video.

The group, in the podcast, makes it clear that it is not “anti-car,” but believe there’s no reason for cars to return to downtown State Street. The 500 to 1300 blocks, they said, should be a place for pedestrians, bicyclists and public transportation.

“We’re not saying we want to socially engineer a community and ban people from driving cars,” Kaufman said. “I think what we are saying is we need to start incorporating more of this because actually the more people we have biking, taking transit and walking in our community, it’s a net benefit for everyone, even people who say they never want to ride a bicycle, they never want to set foot on a bus.”

Baucke grew up in Santa Barbara on the Riviera. He remembers what it was like to walk to the park on roads without sidewalks. That’s tough for a kid. He went to college in Washington, D.C., where he never needed a car because of the effective public transportation. He believes Santa Barbara can do better to make the community more welcoming for people who don’t drive cars.

“We’re not anti-car,” Baucke said. “We’re anti-car dependency and anti-car dominance. It shouldn’t be forced by the government. It’s a policy choice. You have a street, are you going to have sidewalks or not. Are you going to have bike lanes or not. Are you going to make it so there’s an equal, legitimate choice.”

Santa Barbara’s State Street Advisory Committee will meet at 4 p.m. on July 15 to make recommendations on what State Street should look like, block-by-block.

Right now, the city staff has recommended a “flat-and-flexible” road from the 500 block to the 800 block. From the 900 to the 1200 blocks, the staff has recommended one-way car travel, and two-way on the 1300 block.

Miller thanked everyone for their involvement. Even with all the conflicting views, he remains optimistic.

“We can do this,” he said. “We can make a fantastic downtown together.”

Joshua Molina is journalist who hosts the podcast Santa Barbara Talks, 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. He works at Noozhawk.com and formerly worked at the San Jose Mercury News and Santa Barbara News-Press covering City Hall. Subscribe to his podcast here and consider a contribution here.