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Figeroa Mountain Hike Santa Barbara is considered by many to be the birthplace of the modern environmental movement in the United States. Join us in protecting this wonderful place.
WE HAVE TILL Dec. 15TH WE NEED 5,000 SIGNATURES. WILL YOU VOLUNTEER?
FIRST, AN UPDATE. MICHAEL SELF, the Santa Barbara City Councilmember up for re-election on Tuesday, Nov 8, contacted me when made aware of my problems in getting CalPERS to release pension data covered under Govt Code 6250-6276.4–THE CA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT (2006). I’m not even a resident of Santa Barbara and she’s the only elected official who’s volunteered to help. (Wonder how she’d be as a Supervisor?. Neither Das Williams, nor Lois Capps, nor Kamala Harris, nor Governor Brown’s office has responded to my multiple requests.
The wheels are turning in two power-packed government agencies attempting to violate, then hijack a town. The damsel in distress? Montecito. If we don’t go along, we’ll be taken by force. CalTRANS, in dullard inefficiency, intends the (staggeringly expensive) implementation of frivolous, mind-bending, and supernumerary environmental crimes to extinguish the character of a semi-rural town. Once ground is broken, there is no turning back. One agency is local, SBCAG; the other is CalTRANS. SBCAG (Santa Barbra County Assn. of Governments) calls it “PROGRESS”: CalTRANS, the more blunt instrument, refers to it as The Urbanization of Montecito. Should CalTRANS bulldoze through our opposition, you can kiss Montecito goodbye.
All is part of an overarching (while little discussed) plan to mold Santa Barbara into a Los Angeles-like metropolis. A recession leaves developers no margin for error. They need surefire projects. In the “metropolization” they have planned for us, the City of Santa Barbara is conceived as its hub; Montecito, its Beverly Hills.
We are the prize. Why? Santa Barbara’s unexploited potential for growth.
I spoke with a Montecito Fireman last Sunday at the car show on Coast Village Road. He said, ”You’re selfish. You don’t want people from Oxnard to live here. You want your house to stay expensive so low-income people can’t afford to rent or buy a house here. We have the best weather in the world. We have to make it possible for people who are poor to live in Santa Barbara if they want to.” I’m sorry I didn’t get his name. But I’d recognize him if I saw him again.
The public knows little about SBCAG: what it is, what it does, letting alone who its members are. Let’s clear that up. Some you’ll recognize, others probably not. There’s overlap. I believe the structure to be intentionally arcane. The “Inner Circle” mixes state functionaries with former or current elected officials. It’s structure, characterized by overlap: Cities of different Counties; local, County, and State transportation agencies. The interplay between them is not well-understood. Nor is not obvious in any way.
Almost no one knows the truth: CALTRANS & SBCAG are attempting the COMPLETE SHUT DOWN of every 101 Highway exit, feeding or exiting Montecito (exceptions: Olive Mill, San Ysidro.) When questioned, CALTRANS & SBCAG either ‘play dumb’ or vague: “Someday we’ll replace the exits with other exits.” Someday?
I thought we were in a recession? Do public agencies have orchards where money grows on trees?
In a meeting with Gregg Hart, former City Councilman now SBCAG spokesman, I pushed for answers to when, why, where & how. He said, verbatim, “Look. We don’t know. It depends when we get funding for new exits. I can tell you this, we don’t have it now.” What? I was flabbergasted.
The following are on schedule to close: Hot Springs, Sheffield, East Cabrillo, West Cabrillo, & Hermosillo. This is a transfer of Highway 101 traffic to Coast Village Road. In this plan Coast Village Road becomes “Gateway to the Santa Barbara Beaches.”
We also have plans to triple the footprint of the YMCA (from 11,000 sq ft to 40,000.) Ony 50% of YMCA membership are residents of Montecito. Doing the math, when tripled, this amount to only 18% being residents of Montecit residents. So who are they expanding it for? I ask you to envision a new traffic nightmare, with San Ysidro one of only two 101 Highway exits complete with a behemoth tattooed new body builder’s club.
Then, there is our Montecito Fire Dept. as it plans the construction of its THIRD Fire Station on residential Mountain Drive. Estimated cost? A cool $10 mill. (Which means double that.) As only Montecito taxpayers support the Fire Dept. (it’s a Special District after all, meaning WE, and WE, ALONE pay for it. Special Districts are not supported by either County or State.
Speaking of Fire, time to assess our wonderful new $20 million “roundabout” that we had to have or we were all going to hell in a handbasket. Are you aware the firm hired to build it hails from Sun City, Idaho? Are you aware most big Fire Engines can’t drive around a “roundabout” Are you aware that most Von’s trucks can’t either? And this flash of brilliance has practically turned Hermosillo Drive into a Weigh Station?
Where there’s smoke there’s Fire. Jim Langhorne (55) our former Fire Chief, just retired with a $260,000 pension for the next 30 years. Kevin Wallace (55) our new Fire Chief is retiring in May. That means Montecito taxpayers will be paying two young men in excellent health a total of $550,000 for the next 30 years. This doesn’t include the regular firemen who all retire at almost double their salaries at about $150,000 for 30 years.
They are also trying to bulldoze the construction of a 12,000 sq. ft. Industrial Complex Monstrosity to step in a 2,000 sq. footprint left by Turk Hesselund’s charming nursery. It project includes the excavation of Coast Village Rd. for on underground parking garage. (Who’s they? Who else? CalTRANS & SBCAG. The former, our obscenely inefficient DOT; the latter, a duplicative Secret Society employed as “cover” in the extraction of 2nd & 3rd salaries for City & County elected officials…and we mustn’t forget C.O.A.S.T., whose dues-payers members include top executives from S.B. County Public Works. SBCAG apportions City, County, State, Federal and grant funding to those projects which, in SBCAG’s infinite wisdom, are deemed worthy of our tax money without asking us.
It may not say this in their Promo Package, but then nothing in this County is as it seems (or proclaims.) They will be excavating on the busiest corner in town to put in an underground parking garage. Had enough? Or have I miscalculated the Will of the People of Montecito? If so, go for it. I have other things I can do with my time.
If you don’t want these “IMPROVEMENTS,” then every resident of Montecito MUST sign a petition.
We need volunteers to canvas door-to-door, and set up tables for petition signing at Von’s, Lazy Acres, LaFond’s, CVS or anywhere else you think would work.
Let us know. Democracy is a participatory form of government. I don’t see too many participants.
You will get the community you deserve.
Columnist Lieff in Africa
where she plans to move
to get back at CALTRANS.
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