Jerry Roberts
This article is posted in partnership with “Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts”
On Friday, Mayor Randy Rowse noted two pertinent Actual Facts about Santa Barbara’s supply and demand of rental housing:
1) Fervent fulminations about a “housing crisis” in Santa Barbara first surfaced in the city at least as far back as the 1930s;
2) Furious philippics fired around City Hall these days about the issue, nearly a century later, gainsay evidence that the “crisis” is being tackled to the greatest extent in memory.
“We’re building more (rental housing) than ever,” Mayor Rowse said this week, on an “Ask the Mayor” episode of Newsmakers TV.
Randy’s comment served as essential context for a discussion of Josh Molina’s recent hiding-in-plain-sight scoop, which showed how developers seeking to build new hotels – lawfully, openly, by the book – are being villainized among the pandering politicians, housing non-profit careerists and lefty-prog activists of the build-baby-build crowd.
“We simply don’t need more hotels and resorts — and definitely not bougie ones,” one housing advocate told Josh.
All righty then, comrade.
Not to mention those stubborn Laws of Arithmetic, which in some cases simply advantage a hotel over housing.
On other issues, Mayor Randy also:
- Broke down the multiple moving parts of the endless, maddening debate over outdoor dining structures, which will be before city council yet again next week.
- Updated city government’s efforts to crack down on vacation rentals, another bugaboo of the crisis caucus, saying it represents “one little part” of the housing puzzle.
- Vented ongoing exasperation with the city council majority’s insistence on keeping in place the pandemic-era closure of nine full blocks of State Street, a sad stretch of urban tribulation laughably referred to as a “promenade.”
- Indicated that new Metrolink commuter train service could be operating in Santa Barbara as early as April.
- Expressed support for the principles behind the so-called “Our Neighborhood Voices” initiative, aimed at the 2024 state ballot, which seeks to restore local control over land use planning issues that has been usurped by state government in recent years, while adding that he has not yet studied the measure closely enough to decide whether to endorse it.
- Offered his theory of the case for a possible second term, portraying himself as a non-partisan pragmatic problem-solver in contrast to the “political” maneuvering of council colleagues who may be eyeing his job.
Plus: The genial host, a ground floor fan of state Senator Moique Limon, unburdens himself about his recent disappointment in her. Spoiler alert: We don’t need a Scott Wiener clone.
You can see our conversation with Mayor Randy Rowse via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Or listen to the podcast version here. TVSB, Cox Cable Channel 17, broadcasts our show every weeknight at 8 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. KCSB, 91.9 FM, airs the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday,.
There is an obvious defect in the Priority Housing Overlay zone. The intent was to create high density, smaller, affordable housing. What mostly got built was high density, smaller non-affordable housing. The remedy is simple. 1 – restrict every rental unit in the Priority Housing Overlay to residents of at most middle income (150% of AMI). 2 – allow double the current density if all units are at most 400 sqft. That will result in projects consisting of studios only, which will be “attainable” to a middle income resident or a pair of moderate income residents.
Good idea.
a downvote for liking an idea that would help encourage the construction of more affordable housing units….. only on EdHat…
VOICE – oh stop the feigned surprise. I was downvoted for simply offering my condolences to a commenter who’s pet passed away, likely BY that commenter.
Hey, I *thanked* you for your condolences! 🙂
Wow, what a patronizing article, Randy Rowse kicks the can down the road and acts like we need to KHA for blowing off housing needs until significantly more citizens are pushed financially to the brink and beyond?
Tell me, how did you like the taste of RR’s boots?
I just re-read the article, and I mean this seriously, because I really can’t see what your comment refers to. What are you talking about?
At the risk of legitimizing anything in this article by taking the time to write this comment, I wanted to point out how blatantly unprofessional the writing style is. Despite its conspicuous pandering, the article does little to paint Randy in a good light.
I genuinely hope his “council colleagues who may be eyeing his job” run against Randy in the upcoming election; his outdated views have no place in a city like Santa Barbara that aims to prioritize and improve the well-being of its residents. We deserve a mayor who has our best interests at heart.
[shrug] That’s who Jerry is. He has the journalistic chops to back it up. I rolled my eyes at his alliterations, but with a smile. I like him. If you don’t, don’t read him.
https://www.newsmakerswithjr.com/about
When will our mayor finally accept that a majority of people in Santa Barbara and a majority of the City Council want the State Street Promenade? Retail is not coming back the way it was; Amazon saw to that. Get over it, Randy!
While Amazon captures over 50% of online retail sales, brick and mortar retail still captures nearly 90% of ALL retail sales. Also, many retailers who started online and now opening retail locations,