Merchants in Santa Barbara’s Downtown Business Improvement District and Old Town Business Improvement District will pay a combined $261,000 in fees in 2015 to generate revenue to pay for marketing and promotional activities.
The money will pay for the flag display program, the First Thursday monthly event, the Holiday Parade, State Street holiday décor, the Musical Wine Tour, and website and social media.
“I appreciate the work that is done,” Councilman Harwood “Bendy” White said. “It is one of the many tools we use to make this a great city.”
The business districts have been in place for more than 40 years. Businesses pay for the services through an assessment based on their business license fee, location and type of business.
For example, large clothing store Marshalls pays $133 a month, but tiny Wetzels Pretzels pays $17 a month. The money generated is collected by the city and then given to the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization to spend accordingly.
The city received 22 formal objections to the fees out of a total of 1,177 downtown businesses and three protests from 237 Old Town businesses.
Among the objectors to the fees at Tuesday’s City Council meeting was John Webby, who said he has invested $150,000 into his business on State Street. He said he calls the fee a tax, and that the money should be spent to clean up the homeless problem on State Street.
“I never walked in a town where I could smell urine, where I could smell feces, or see a man and a woman trying to have sex on a bench,” Webby said.
He said any human being should know he or she can’t go into the bathroom in public, and that there isn’t one block on State Street where he can walk without five or six people accosting him and begging him for money.
He said the city needs to get rid of the benches. In Maui, he said, officials removed the benches and stopped the homeless from sleeping on them.
Webby, while speaking, was heckled by homeless activist Bob Hanson, who shouted “in your dreams” in response to Webby saying that the homeless need to go away.
The Downtown Business Improvement District serves businesses between Chapala and Anacapa streets, from Ortega Street north to Micheltorena Street. The Old Town Business Improvement District serves businesses between Chapala and Anacapa streets, from Montecito Street north to Ortega Street.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
