AnonymousBy George and Annette Fleming of Solvang, Ca
Dear SB Council …please let go of your grip strangling State Street and its patrons and business. The clousure had proven to be a total failure and has been a magnet for the homeless issue in itself that has yet to be addressed.
State Street has been a long standing attraction for residents and tourist alike, but since it closure it has become nothing but a circle of derelicts and misbehaven….look at the police call records!
Open State Street and give it back to the taxpayer and residents and you’ll have a thriving business community and a vibrant down town like the old days!
PS…we moved up the the valley years ago to escape the direction the previous city councils were taking our beautiful city of yesteryear.
You didn’t listen to us then, so listen to us now! I would love to visit, shop and dine once again!
Op-Ed’s are written by community members, not representatives of edhat. The views and opinions expressed in Op-Ed articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of edhat. [Do you have an opinion on something local? Share it with us at info@edhat.com.]
At this point in City of Santa Barbara history, tourism is baked into the City budget. No tourism would require the City to slash budgets and jobs. And that is just a start. In 2017 Noozhawk reported that a study had found the the SB South Coast Tourist economy generated $1.9Billion dollars. So, No, we are not going back to the old days of Otts Hardware, Frank’s Rice Bowl and angle parking on State Street and thank goodness for that. But lets also not mistake foot traffic and families with the degree of economic vibrancy a city center requires.
Our City is spending more than it generates now and revenues are dropping.
Sales tax ($29.4 million) and transient occupancy tax ($26.7 million) are slowing down, along with cannabis tax, which is projected to drop from $1.9 million annually to $1.5 million in 2024 and 2025. The largest general fund tax revenue sources are Measure C sales tax — which is projected to bring in $31.5 million (Measure C is a 1% sales tax on everything in addition to our percent of state sales tax. Tourists disappear, so does their part of the Measure C money)
Property taxes are 45% of total revenue. Tenants will say “charge the owners more and don’t let them pass the increase onto us”, but lets be honest. When property taxes go up, the City will have to allow rents to rise correspondingly because landlords would band together and sue the City of SB, withheld by the suing landlords would put a huge kink in the City revenue stream. Eventually the landlords would win
https://www.independent.com/2023/05/01/city-of-santa-barbara-facing-1-1m-budget-deficit-in-2024/
Bro – take your globalist bullshit elsewhere.
I’d say that without tourism and high retail sales, the City would need to reassess its downtown property taxes lower, which would be a disaster. People like to say landlords are greedy, but the city is complicit because the more a commercial property is worth (via the revenue it gets) the city gets it’s 2% share of the larger pie. The city wants to get its 2% of a $10, 000,000 property, not 2% of a $5,000,000. The most expensive commercial real estate is usually in the downtown. For example. Downtown Chicago real estate is 4% of the city, but provides 29% of the revenue which is more than 7X its relative size. The rest of the city of Chicago is a negative, runs at a loss with the remaining 96% of the city only producing 71% of the revenue.
“Given their relatively small size (on
average, about three percent of all citywide land), downtowns
in this study deliver an average of 17% of the citywide property
tax revenue, 43% of hotel tax revenue, and 12% of sales tax
revenue. Downtowns contain 12% of the citywide assessed
land value, 25% of total employment, and 38% of the city’s
office space. Downtowns represent economic opportunity and
have a built environment that supports future growth. The mix
of uses, coupled with ample commercial real estate, positions
both downtown and its city for continued office, job, and
residential growth.”
“downtowns matter to cities’ fiscal health. A typical U.S. downtown such as Chicago produces more than 7 times its tax assessable value relative to land area, as shown in Figure 2. In the rest of the city, this relationship is inverted, with land area producing less than three-quarters of its share of taxable value.”
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/breaking-the-urban-doom-loop-the-future-of-downtowns-is-shared-prosperity/
https://downtown.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IDAVODT20_Compendium_2020_ExecSum_021921.pdf.pdf
With vehicle traffic, State Street’s retail was already dying from lack of customers before or just after the COVID epidemic. Macy’s Paseo Nuevo closed 2017, Sears Upper State closed 2019. Nordstrom’s Paseo Nuevo shut down in August 2020. So bringing back vehicle traffic on State Street now is not going to bring back customers to Big Retail. You’ve heard of death by 1,000 cuts? Try death by 100,000 cuts and you are describing the local impact Amazon home delivery is having on retail in Santa Barbara. You gonna put the Amazon “Genie” back in the bottle? I don’t think so. If we could bulldoze State Street and replace the typical California storefront/car-centric model, perhaps building open air but roofed mercados, that would be a fresh start. Successful example: La Rambla, a tree lined pedestrian street that stretches 1.2 km in Barcelona, Spain. Restaurants, bars, music, grocery stores, cafes, souvenir kiosks, street performers, cheap clothing or expensive clothing, delis, historic buildings. Vehicle traffic is confined to two narrow streets adjacent to La Rambla, with no vehicle traffic allowed to cross. La Ramble attracts locals and tourists alike. Barcelona merchants are too busy running their businesses and counting their profits to allow city beaureaucrats to make them worry about issues like “can we have a Old Spanish Days parade on La Rambla?” Or “how can vehicles drop people off in front of the theater?” Or “where can we have emergency vehicle traffic on La Rambla?” You know, the kind of nonsense stuff we Santa Barbarians like to worry about……..
Hi Sacjon
Since 5 (the majority) on the Council are Democrats, as a Democrat demand better. Have the Teachers Unions and the Public Employee Unions/ Firefighters and SBPD endorse or threaten to endorse a new Democrat candidate to oppose the incumbent Democrat candidate. Ask the Democratic Party to refuse funding for the re-election of the worst and tell the incumbent we are trying someone new out, thank you, this is not working. Elect people of your party to get the s### done, and demand they do or bye.
I can’t figure out how the “rethuglicans” bogeyman plays here. Everyone here seems intelligent, everyone empirically knows that Democrats have run everything in SB for 40 years, but people are so invested in party that they try to blame anyone else except the people who have actually been making the decisions that have failed. People like GT will come on spouting “rethuglicans, Trump. Proud boys” like an automatic insult generation bot and the conversation ends.
So lets flip it Democrats have a super majority but according to Democrats here, that is because rethuglicans, Trump etc. OK, lets say I agree. So you have these elected Democrat people locally with a supermajority who have somehow been stymied and out smarted by these damn republicans who represent 30% of the vote.
Maybe try to elect Democrats locally who are smart enough to figure out how to win their battles, work together to fix 70% of our larger issues with their 70% advantage?
I know GT likes to always turn this around to Rowse, but the Mayor position in Santa Barbara is largely facilitative. Rowse is outvoted by 5 city council members who vote their party line. The past criticism of former Mayor Murillo was based on that with one exception, Rowse, everyone was a member of her party and she still had trouble getting big things things done well even with that supermajority.
“I know GT likes to always turn this around to Rowse” People said the same things on this site about Murillo for a long time – some of us get a good chuckle at it now when it’s turned around – maybe you forget or haven’t been on the site that long. We look at the Republican deep red states that suck down federal money, have zero education, have high rates of easily avoidable communicable diseases, have power grids worse than California’s, are beholden to the uneducated religious populous that suppresses education books and the arts – that suppress minority voting and suppress voter turnout so a handful of old timer white people can hold onto power and feel they are not being replaced, where they can still where the white sheets and feel important, where the powers that be try to exert their power over people’s bedrooms, the close they where, the people they love, where it is an embarrassment the number of people below the poverty level – AND we don’t want to become one of those states as it has been proven republiturds can’t govern or only govern in the interest of the white man, the corporation, the petrol company and those that are wealthy.
GT, didn’t address the absolute unquestionable fact that Murillo had an unbeatable majority of her own party on the Council with her throughout her incumbency as Mayor.
GT also avoided the absolute unquestionable fact that Rowse has been a minority of one throughout his incumbency as Mayor.
GT is not really turning the table, because quite frankly, the two circumstances could not be more different. Yes, his simplistic logic shows both were or are Mayors. One had a 5-1 majority and the other is a 1-5 minority, which is a deep and wide divergence.
His table has a feast on one end and a teacup of tap water on the other. Countdown to the GT random rage bogeybot reply we get when he can’t argue the facts
GT, didn’t address the absolute unquestionable fact that Murillo had an unbeatable majority of her own party on the Council with her throughout her incumbency as Mayor.
GT also avoided the absolute unquestionable fact that Rowse has been a minority of one throughout his incumbency as Mayor.
GT is not really turning the table, because quite frankly, the two circumstances could not be more different. Yes, his simplistic logic shows both were or are Mayors. One had a 5-1 majority and the other is a 1-5 minority, which is a deep and wide divergence.
His table has a feast on one end and a teacup of tap water on the other. Countdown to the GT random bogeybot generator reply we get when he can’t argue the facts
AND you will once again vote for a traitor, an insurrectionist. You are the enemy. Just sayin.
“GT, didn’t address the absolute unquestionable fact that Murillo ” There he goes. Completely proved my point. Mayor Rowse has no power from his constant Martini ribbon cuttings. “But Murillo” “But Hillary”. You go man, it’s comical. State street has been going down hill since the late 80’s and traffic on state street didn’t have ANYTHING to do with it’s demise. Lot’s of sand at the beach for one to put their head into.
That reads like satire, but I think he’s actually serious!
Dear Solvang Council …please let go of your grip strangling pride month banners and rainbow crosswalks.
1) Export the homeless off of and away from city land
2) Mandate more bike regulations in the corridor
3) Enjoy an actual promenade
1) How do you “export” human beings?
2) “Mandates” and “more regulations?” Sounds mighty “liberal”….
3) Already enjoying it
uhm….they had bike safety lanes installed and pedestrians wanted to walk on that too. we need an actual bike lane and get walkers out of it.
Agreed zero
Stay in Solvang then, we don’t want you. I’ve lived in Santa Barbara for 56 years, and never has downtown been more vibrant with families, strollers and all ages of people having fun and enjoying the lack of cars on the street. Keep the cars off State Street.
GC, i live and work downtown, right on State street. I don’t think, by your comment, that you have visited State street or spent any amount of time here for about the past 5 years. My office is on State, i am right now watching two hobos, shirtless, pants falling down, fighting each other over a bottle of booze. I watch dozens of tourists dodge the drunks and homeless addicts on state street. I have talked to many tourists visiting as well. They all say the same thing, what has happened to your city? We were here 15 years ago and there was shopping and fun. Now it’s awful.
Perhaps you should actually come down here and visit downtown. Id be happy to meet with you and take you on a tour of the current downtown.
I, as well as several other businesses downtown have had it and want the road opened up.
Zero–why do you think that opening those ten blocks to traffic would have any impact at all on the homeless, drunk and drug addicted population?
My wife and I dine and stroll on State Street at least once a week. We love Galanga, Pascucci and Tondi Gelato, among others. We love browsing the art galleries and the thrift/antique shops.
ZEROHAWK where and when are you seeing such lawless behavior? Which block and what time of day?
What is your recommendation for improvement? Is there something that Mayor Rowse has asked for that the City Council has refused to do?
ZERO, those problems all existed before the pandemic/closure, and will continue to exist if, God forbid, the road is opened. The only difference will be that then everyone will be confined to the sidewalk and in closer proximity to the events you describe.
You, and many others, are simply confounding variables. The economy and lack of social support systems is the cause of the homeless explosion, not closing State St.
We have enough of a housing crisis as it is, those who moved to Solvang should stay!
Left SB for Solvang because of politics? LOL. Yeah, State St. has ALWAYS been a high crime area due to drunks (both homeless and college kids), gangs, etc.
So sick of the “open State Street” whiners. 99% (maybe more!) of the city streets are wide open for you to drive down. It’s less than 10 blocks closed, in the entire city. People enjoy it. Keeping it closed means EVERYONE gets what they want. Anyone who wants to open State Street to cars is just plain selfish. Think about it.
and as a business owner and employee, this closer has cut our sales down by 25% we have clients that can’t even get to us because of mobility issues.
Bullshit, ZERO. There was no parking on State St prior to the closure, and the city has cracked down on parklets blocking ADA access.
Seriously? Some people who live miles away from this town feel they can expect the local people to create something for them to come in and be tourists? They then leave, maybe to return a few months later? Really this is beyond chutzpah. But maybe we can trade concessions with Solvang–perhaps a reduction in wine tourism to make their highways safer or us if we want to visit their artificial Danish Village?
Last I checked, State street is not just open but more open than when pointless vehicles were taking up 80% of the space. Can we stop with this BS. Make it better, deal with the homeless and wild kids, but stop trying to bring vehicle traffic back to a street that absolutely does not need it.
State Street is open now for anyone who wants to use it. It is just closed to private motor vehicles.
This graphic and article explains why the street looks “empty” now:
https://swt.org/share/bguard.html
That’s an excellent link! Thanks.
SBROBERT – Yes, very informative and eye opening! Absolutely NO reason for cars to be on lower State. I’ve said it for 49 years, will say it for as many more as I get!
Agreed 100
“derelicts and misbehaven” were a problem long before State Street was closed to vehicle traffic.
Ok boomer
I’m with babycakes on this one and I was born and raise here
Me too.
Everyone of the people on this topic are the problem.
Not dealing with the real issues and wasting $$$$$$ on a population that doesn’t want help.
So SB sends them to north county so now we have what happened recently, a houseless person was brought to the ER and refused help and died on the property.
That is NO ONES FAULT BUT THE ADDICT.
Now the hospital staff are taking all kinds of shit from social media morons.
Chip is right it will never improve until we can fire all the lame academics that believe they know better.
Don’t get me started on the people in the “Healthcare” charade.
All the “BIG 5 whiners” here are all a part of those “trades” and have done nothing but harm with what they consider”The correct treatment”
I have watched my city go down the shitter for 45 years and the answer is always “More Money and we will do it right this time because the houseless deserve respect and dignity.”
You have to show that trait to be treated as such.
Trust us one more time is all we get, and State has turned inwards on itself.
If you moved here in the 80’s and left thank you, but for the rest of you my town could lose 50% of population and operate just fine.
Just a shell of its former self.
R.I.P. S.B.
CHICO – wow….. that’s a whole lot of um…. stuff LOL.
“Everyone of the people on this topic are the problem.” – Not even sure what you’re trying to say there….
“Not dealing with the real issues” – OK, what are the “real issues?” What’s your suggestion?
“All the “BIG 5 whiners” here are all a part of those “trades” and have done nothing but harm with what they consider “The correct treatment”” – What “trades” are they part of?
Hey, barf up nonsense all you want, but answer me this…. when the City tries to house the homeless and your kind cry about your tax dollars and then in the next sentence demand the City gets the homeless off the streets, does it physically hurt to be so hypocritical? Just curious. You guys must be in a lot of pain, constantly.
People who have lived here all their lives are not whining, but people who lived elsewhere first think this town should be like where they are from.
I say YOU can move back and re-open State Street.
F-ing transplants go away.
Many, if not the vast majority, of us who grew up in Santa Barbara recognize that the trajectory of State Street from Sola to Gutierrez has and is on a downward trajectory. It’s okay to disagree with the authors of this article, but saying they are not welcome here is a different story. If closed storefronts is an indication of “thriving,” as one commenter suggests, then it super-duper thriving…..with empty buildings. Simply because someone has an observation that things could be better is no reason to say that they are not welcome here, “stay home.” and/or comments about their home town. I wouldn’t be welcome in Florence if I told the truth that the Statue of David is not that special. Paris and many others would disagree with me that the place is a filthy graffiti-covered mess and that the Mona Lisa is simply a “meh” dud. Get with the program folks and realize that SB needs to pick up the pieces of its shattered self, but it’s going to take all of us (including outside observers) to make SB a great place to visit, live, and thrive. That’s not going to happen if we stick our heads in the sand and deny the truth. I hope some of you are with me and willing to pitch in as much as you are able to pitch in.
BABY – YOU said those words, I’m asking for clarification. Nice deflection though.
“I hope some of you are with me and willing to pitch in as much as you are able to pitch in.” – OK, how can we help?
SacJon: Thank you and glad you asked how you can help out, and it’s really/really easy. Anyone can do this, so here goes…..
= Open an internet browser..
– In the Search field or Address bar type or copy/paste: “volunteer opportunities” “santa barbara”
– A whole selection of sites/links provided by government and organizations will appear.
– Click on one of the links that may be of interest to you. For example, you can see what’s available in the City of Santa Barbara or County of Santa Barbara.
You can also go to Craigslist / Community / Volunteers. Fortunately, it’s super easy to find volunteer work. There are any number of things that a person or group can select that are specifically targeted to the downtown SB area. You can do the same thing for nearly every community, just substitute the search term “santa barbara” with Goleta, Carpinteria, Solvang, King City and so on.
Hearing babycakes with lots of complaining – but no suggestions on how to enhance anything – suggests others pitch in but doesn’t state what she has done to pitch in – but then doesn’t remember writing that everyone should pitch in. Word salads don’t help. Randy Rowse has done nothing to help the problem as he promised.
GT- yep! “I hope some of you are with me…..” – Yep, Baby, we’re with you, but what are we doing? Lead the way, Baby!
I can’t remember a time when State street was great. When I worked downtown in the 90’s for several years there were myriads of homeless – I saw guns brandished several times, I saw someone get jumped by a gang, people going to the bathroom on themselves. The sidewalk was really dirty, lots of cigarette smoke and cigarette butts. This MAGA crowd wants to return to a time that never existed – or maybe the old folks here wishing it was still the 1950’s?
Sac- bet Baby hasn’t volunteered for anything in the community – hence the snarky remarks about how to use the Internet.
Babycakes “- Click on one of the links that may be of interest to you” Which link did you click on?
BABY – if your “truth” is that David “is not that special,” well…… it explains a lot. Anyway, what have you been doing lately to “pitch in?” The problem with downtown is not limited to one thing. Drunken brawls, puke and urine outside the many bars. Mentally ill homeless and addicts causing problems. Occasional gang fights. High rents. Etc etc etc……
What have you been doing to fix this? Not being snarky at all, just curious so I can try to help as well.
The article is clearly about the current condition of State Street. The article has nothing at all to do with me or what I’m doing to improve things in that area or how I think that the Statue of David in Florence is quite pedestrian. How that would “explain a lot” to anyone is kind of, well, kind of what we’ve come to expect from the inexperienced (like a child saying wine/scotch/bourbon taste awful). It would be like not allowing tourists who visit Goleta to comment on the vast numbers of 60s/70s track housing and new multi-story “Habitrail” units, or 5-minute-wait intersections at Storke/Hollister and Fairview/101. Along with the degredation of d/t SB is a lifestyle that is simply going into the wastebin of history. Go ahead….enjoy walking in the middle of the street…enjoy the empty storefronts….enjoy visiting with your elderly friends/family who cannot sit on the “camping” benches that were removed. We need outside tourists to come here….no getting around it. Speaking of tourists….holy moly Solvang gets a dump load of ’em each and every day, which is unusual for such a small, pseudo Euro town….but people LOVE to visit Solvang, which is why it is going to continue to do quite well.
if you READ BC’s post and not just DV it, she states a lot of solid facts. sadly we know ‘facts’ and ‘reality’ in edhat are two hated words.
GT, it is what you make of it. I have lived, worked, and hung out downtown since 1982. I was a fixture on State in the 80s in the punk scene, spending days on end hanging out at the corner of State and A at the steps of the musuem and the State Street arcade, then again down at Espresso Roma cafe and DLG Plaza, Golden Eagle Pool Hall too. It was busy. It was full of shops, bars, diners, cafes, cars, people, bikes and homeless drunks and adicts. It was great. The 90s ushered in changes and things shifted around. By the late 90s, a lot of shops started to close their doors. By mid 2000s the last few decent retail shops began to shutter and by 2010s the final nail in the coffin was placed and our downtown died. One crappy City Council after another with seriously stupid agendas and votes that have plunged our city into this crap storm that it is today. I can say that currently, I spend around 60 hours a week downtown. In the heart of it, on State Street. A lot of you have opinions about downtown based on what you want or like. How many of you can honestly say you spend this much time down here each week? Because if you do, I would REALLY like to discuss what you think about downtown. If not, i really don’t care to hear your opinion based on a few short hourly visits to downtown when you don’t spend enough time down here to actually see, and understand what is happening. The city council and land owners have destroyed our downtown. Those of you living in a fantasy world thinking we have some awesome Promenade, yall are delusional. We have a shell of a former bustling downtown retail district. A sad former shell, with very little retail left, a dozen pizza and beer and coffee places. Lets see if I can get a million DV for this. Why? Because most of you can’t handle reality and facts. I just laid down both for you.
BABY – yeah, I know about the internet, smartass. No, YOU implied YOU were doing something and said we should all get “with [you].” OK, so what are YOU doing so we can get “with [you]?” I’m really curious. Also, I’m not letting you off the hook now.
ZERO – were you the guy with the massive mohawk that was always perched outside the arcade? I was a little kid then, but I remember that dude.
Babycakes–
You note a one problem, vacant storefronts and otherwise a lot of blabbing.
Not a single suggestion or solution. Do you have any?
You say you are pitching in and ask others to do so.
How are you pitching in? How can others pitch in?
I see a lot of complaining and I don’t see a single idea.
ZERO – As you mentioned, retail has been suffering down there since the late 90s and has gotten worse since then. If 20 years of cars on State couldn’t fix it then, why would they now? I’ve cruised State by foot and by car from the late 80s to early 90s and always wondered why on Earth we need cars on lower State. I can see the objection to having as many blocks as we do now as ped only, but how bad would it be to keep the lower 3 or 4 blocks closed and then spruce that area up as a full on promenade?
Granted, I don’t have your perspective, but curious what you think about a shorter ped only area?
Zero – not arguing with you but you’ve kind of stated my point – State has been going down hill for 30 years now. Do we want to return it to 40 years ago in the 80’s, or build anew? I think the promenade itself has less to do with it – I do think extremely high rents, the rise of Amazon killing small brick and mortars, and post-Covid fall out have a greater amount to do with it (and lack of parking). I did like State street back in the 90’s, it had an edge to it, off-beat stores and restaurants. I was just pointing out there was danger, homeless, drunks, drugs, gangs back then as there is now.
2:56, didn’t the rise of online retail have anything to do with State Street’s problems?
The liberals pretty much own Santa Barbara at this point. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better, if it ever gets better. We’re moving ahead with all the policies necessary to turn our town into a mini San Francisco. The liberals absolutely will not reverse course and take steps to improve state street. Instead, they will attack Solvang and try to drag it down with them.
Chip you live in such a weird fantasy world.
Wait….. is Baby Randy? It doesn’t seem that far off….. Mayor Cakes?
Chip – this is from Randy Rowse’s campaign website. You voted for him – now explain his failures.
“State Street is our main thoroughfare and invites visitors to venture up from the beach to experience one of the most renowned walking boulevards in the world with interesting shops, vibrant restaurants, cultural attractions and entertainment, all surrounded by the majestic Santa Ynez mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Our blend of architectural heritage and dramatic natural surroundings is one of the true wonders of the New World.
The current disarray caused by the pandemic, a global slump in retail sales and persistent lawless activity challenge our central business district like never before. Our new “Promenade” configuration must consider all uses while maintaining a fun and vibrant atmosphere. What is desperately called for is a cogent strategy, and that will take leadership, not yet another outside consultant contract.”
CHIP – what has Mayor Rowse done to help? What do you suggest?
Yes, though, very astute analysis. The liberals are trying to make Solvang as bad as State St. instead of trying to fix homelessness, by pushing for affordable housing, drug rehab programs, etc….. You know, all the stuff you complain about while at the same time saying they’re doing nothing. You’re truly brilliant.
Chip, as is so often the case, you have lots of complaints and no suggestions.
First, identify the problems on state street.
Second, propose solutions.
Waiting…
ALEXBLUE – funny, I was just about to make the same comment as to most people here on most topics!
State Street may be attractive for some, but for shoppers it has become unattractive. So many closed stores and streets. We go to the Granada, the Library and the Art Museum these days, and an occasional restaurant, but generally avoid the area. The folks from Solvang have their perspective and I respect their opinion, if not agreeing with everything they say. This is a hot topic for sure, and important to the everyone who loves Santa Barbara.
Yes, the library, art museum, and La Arcada are very pleasant (will be better when construction is finished at the library). Some of State Street’s problems are due to mismanagement, but others, not so much. Retail has changed worldwide, or certainly nationwide. Young people are not as interested in buying stuff and things as older generations were, or so all the articles say. And we have a bigger population, therefore we have more scary and unhinged people hanging out amongst the rest of us. We certainly had “winos” back in the day. Seems like the current iteration of hangabouts is less mellow. If you haven’t looked yet, look at that link SBRobert provided above. Cars give an impression of activity, but they don’t actually fill the stores and restaurants. We do need to get the shuttle back in service. That thing was always full of tourists and locals alike and helped the street feel more festive and accessible.
There are so many ways for each and every one of us who live in Santa Barbara to help out. If you live in Goleta, maybe consider improvements in your local area and not worry so much about the next town over. Most of us SB locals think that more closed storefronts is not a good thing. We consider more bum fights on State Street to not be in our best interest. Removing seating benches….not good. Filth and stench, a staple of State Street these days….not good. So, if you strongly believe that more bum fights, closed storefronts, filth, stench, and so on are a good thing, then you have every right to believe that and I will defend you to the end. My recent house guests from Australia walked from Anapamu to Haley on a weekday and they where aghast when they returned (“We were here in 2009 and it was so nice….why does the downtown area look like a third-world country?”). They had just visited Cuba and said from their viewpoint that SB had really slid backwards. Hey, that’s their opinion. This sort of reminds me of the time I was looking to buy a used car and noticed that their was a strong odor of cigarettes and some sort of ‘Floral Boquet’ air spray. I asked the seller about the smell and he said, “What smell?” Same thing as d/t SB for those of you who refuse to face reality….what bums? what smell? what closed storefronts?
BABY – someone who calls cancer patients “sheep” for getting boosters while in chemo should be fired from being “a doctor.” And yeah, don’t share that personal info and make those kinds of comments if you don’t want to be shamed and ridiculed.
Now, YOU said you want us “with you.” How are we supposed to be with you if we don’t know what you do to help? It’s not personal information, so that excuse is out.
Aw forget it, we all know you’ve never lifted a finger to help anyone.
And seriously…. I would never call to have someone fired. I just absolutely love messing with the good Doctor. Shaming cruel people is kinda fun!
What I specifically do to help out has nothing to do with this article. IF you are able to provide assistance in any way, please feel free to do so. If not, then I respect your decision (for whatever reason) to join in or not. Completely up to you.
I also think it’s important on this website to not provide too much personal information, especially if not part of the those here who deride, bully, tear down, make fun of, and so on. Look at what happened in the past week where one open-minded person here who has or is planning to go to the place of employment where another commenter works and get them fired. How nice….agree with me or I’ll get you fired. Let’s coexist…but only if you follow my rules. Let’s agree….with me. Let’s get along….or else. Enough of the extremism….be kind and help your fellow human beings….even if they disagree with you.
Babycakes–your answer is that you do nothing:
“What I specifically do to help out has nothing to do with this article.”
So you’re saying you do nothing on this issue which you love to complain and opine about, and you tell people that they should “join you” on this issue–which you do nothing about.
Not only do you do nothing to help on this issue but you don’t even take the issue seriously enough to try and come up with some sort of, hell, any sort of, solution.
So literally all you are doing is contributing words and noise.
If you want to make State Street better then do something about it. Otherwise you’re all talk.
State Street is dying in front of our eyes and that is the topic of the article. I’m agreeing with the assessment put forth. Changing the focus to me (Randy Cakes, Fake Cakes, Cakes, Doofus Cakes, etc.) won’t change the fact that the only way to improve our downtown area is to put it back the way it was for over 150 years or so. Now there’s a solution that most of us can agree on….put it back the way it was when it was working. The fantasy of turning it into some sort of European-style pedestrian and cycling heaven is just that….fantasy. I remember the same folks screaming NOT to put in the third lane through Montecito and to put money into public transportation…..the same public transportation that nearly no one takes (except you Robert Bernstein…..seen you on the MTD a few time w/bicycle). You can get from d/t SB to UCSB in about 20 minutes on the 24x for no more than $1.75 or $1.10 with a pass or $0.65 with a senior pass for those of you who are in that category. So get with it and stop the insanity!
Baby – YOU made some big statements and didn’t back them up. It’s obvious from the replies that the c community here doesn’t give a squat about your antiquated “feelings”. You made down right hateful bigoted comments about Goleta, but have a melt down when your part of town gets criticized. Sad.
Babycakes, come on, LOL, and yet again, you write a novella with zero suggestions, zero constructive ideas.
Come on, just give ONE! One suggestion! You can do it!
Baby – Word salad with croutons. You, just a few days ago were bashing on Goleta on a different article – but now you say “maybe consider improvements in your local area and not worry so much about the next town over”. Perhaps if you are always going to appear with your didactic sentiments, maybe take some of your own advice?
OK BABY, so, again, now what should we doing, again? Again. Come on, Champ, you want us to be “with you,” so what are you doing? Your words! We’re all getting bloated with all these nothingburgers you keep serving us.