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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
As we walk down the almost completed walkway along San Ysidro Road, we are saddened to see what is happening to this community and worried about more of this kind of change happening in the future along the beautiful the treelined streets of Montecito. We fought hard to stop this project and learned much about the lies, deceit and political corruption in our town and County, because in the end that’s what this was really about.
To quote Salud Carbajal: “This was never about the safety of children.” Mr. Carbajal made that statement to us, with a smile on his face after we had confronted him with all the facts as to why this project did not make children safer.
Backroom rumors, we didn’t want to believe, about this being political turned out to be true.
Murdock, with two children at Montecito Union, got the ball rolling on the sidewalk project. He is a member of the organization COAST (Coalition for Sustainable Transportation). He held a fundraiser for District Supervisor, Salud Carbajal. Mr. Murdock has since moved to England, so will not be walking on this $500,000 (ccl: closer to a $1 million) Federally funded pathway. The truth is neither those liveng along San Ysidro Road, nor other members of the community, were notified until long after the federal grant was in the hands of Mr. Carbajal. We have a signed document signed residents stating that they never notified any of us. We only found out when we were notified of the surveying work that was in progress in preparation along our street. This came months after the grant had been received by Mr. Carbajal.
Then there was the infamous map (reprinted in MJ’s “Letters“ Nov. 14.) A map was needed to show the number of children who lived in this area. The map shows homes that are notthere having children that don’t exist. A fake map created by whom? County Public Works? or Montecito Union School?
The organization COAST at the center of all.
Matt Dobberteen writes Federal Grants for County Public Works. Dobberteen is also a member of COAST. (ccl note:Murdoch contributes vast sums to COAST under cover of his Green Parks Foundation.) If COAST has its way, there will be sidewalks with concrete ramps lined with drought-resistant cactus from the corner of East Beach to, and throughout, Montecito…
There goes our beautiful community forever! We must keep COAST out of Montecito. COAST’s entire purpose is to spend government (our) money on unnecessary projects just because they can (ccl note: and to keep their salaries coming). This wasteful government spending and political corruption has reached its lowest level. No wonder our country is broke and such a mess.
We can thank politicians like Carbajal and organizations like COAST for that. It is upsetting to know this political corruption has penetrated the Montecito Association. The week before the Montecito Association voted in favor of this sidewalk project, the Montecito Planning Commission had voted against it and was supposed to recommend the Montecito Association do the same at its next meeting. We attended that meeting, and in listening to the board members it was clear that the board members (except Dick Thielscher and Dave Kent) were in Carbajal’s pocket.
When we first attended Montecito Association meetings concerning this project, we were surprised at how little the Association knew about what was happening; its directors seemed surprised that a Federally funded grant had already been attained. Mr. Murdock, Salud Carbajal, COAST, Matt Dobberteen of County Public Works, and the Montecito Association are all a part of the politically tinged scheme called the San Ysidro Pathway Project. Shame on all of you! And shame on Montecito Union School for pitting itself against this community instead of working with us. Where would Montecito Union School be without the decades of sup-port from this community? An incredible amount of time and money has been donated to this school, most of which has been given by those of us who live in and love this uniquely beautiful place called Montecito. We are proud of our fight because we did make a difference. Only three trees were cut down instead of seven. The original plan was a concrete, hard surface sidewalk that would have run straight along the curb. Without our fight there would have been unsightly railroad ties lining the walk way. The ugly, bulky cement ramps do not belong along the residential streets of Montecito but because we fought against it, at least the warning surfaces were not painted a bright red or yel-low. Because of us, far less foliage has been removed. It became very clear from day one that the supporters of this sidewalk did not care about what it would look like or what impact it would have on our environment. We would like to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, the one thou-sand local people who signed our petition against this project. All of our signatures were legitimate. We did not ask people to sign their children’s names or their pets’ names. Why did both the Montecito Association and Salud Carbajal completely ignore those one thousand signatures? We would also like to thank all the people who attended meetings and stood up and spoke bravely against this project. This is never easy to do. Thank you also to the many supporters who wrote letters to newspapers and to Salud Carbajal to let them know they were against this project. There are always a select few in these situations that do so much more, that spend endless hours and donate money to make this fight possible. So we would like to give a very special heartfelt thank you to… The Boehr Family (Jurgen, Pam, Craig and Todd) Maryanne Brillhart, Leslie Hovey
And Heather Maher. Montecito is blessed that you care so much. What the total and final cost of this project is we do not know, we do know that more money had to be obtained from the government, in addition to the $500,000, to finish the “pathway.”
The original half million was not enough. How much did we pay the expensive landscape architect? And for what? The ugly and boring drought-resistant plants that now line San Ysidro Road from North Jameson to Montecito Union School? These plants have been stuck into the ground with no rhyme or reason. It is something you would see in front of a strip mall or business area. They do not belong along these residential streets. What was this landscape architect thinking? Did she not notice that the streets of our community are lined with foliage, every property unique and special? This is what we must protect.
As we walk along this pathway and step aside to avoid children racing along on their bicycles, being careful not to step on the new drought-resistant plants, we have to ask safe? Or have we created a whole new safety issue? Wasn’t the bicycle lane put in for bike riding and isn’t it illegal to ride your bike on a sidewalk?
The real issue concerning safety has always been the speeding traffic and cell phone use use while driving. You might find it interesting to know that at one of the meetings of the Montecito Association, a patrol officer reported to the board that, by far, the majority of traffic stops for speeding and cell-phone use were to parents of children at Montecito Union School. We live in a beautiful community. Visitors come and remark at how lucky we are to live here. There is nowhere else quite like it… and until recently the residents of Montecito have worked together to cherish and protect what we have. beautiful trees and many different kinds of ourselves: is this really keeping children Let’s not let what happened along San Ysidro Road happen again.
Sincerely,
The Mahers Montecito