CountyofSantaBarbara
MEDIA AND PUBLIC INVITED TO ATTEND AT ISLA VISTA COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT COMMUNITY CENTER @ 5:00PM
On Monday, April 29th, Supervisor Capps will host a listening session to hear directly from students and tenants in Isla Vista in the wake of the recent bluff fall. The intention of the listening session is to provide a safe space to hear challenges tenants and students are facing with landlords, health, and/or safety-related concerns while living along the bluffs. Members of the public and press are encouraged to attend. Out of respect for students and tenants, we ask that all comments and concerns raised during the listening session remain anonymous.
With the tragic passing of Jake Parker, a young man and UCSB alum, who fell from a property along the bluffs in Isla Vista, the safety and well-being of students and tenants is of utmost concern.
“Student voices are often sidelined, yet they are the ones living in Isla Vista and experiencing these challenges daily,” said Supervisor Capps. “From perilous bluff-top fencing, to crammed living conditions, reports of mold in homes and other health hazards, my hope is that this listening session will give students a safe and supportive platform to make their concerns heard and known.”
What: Isla Vista Housing + Safety Listening Session
When: Monday, April 29, 2024, 5:00-6:30 PM
Where: IVCSD Community Center, 970 Embarcadero Del Mar, Isla Vista, CA 93117
Who: Supervisor Capps, Isla Vista Community Services District, UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College students, Isla Vista tenants, Santa Barbara Tenants Union
What about requiring 6 foot, unclimbable fences for all properties on the cliff? Seems most falls are happening off these balconies. Such fencing wouldn’t inhibit peoples views from the parks, just from the back of the homes. Sorry not sorry about your view kids, but go watch the sunset from the park 50 yards away or from your roof. I don’t know, but looking at the existing fencing at those homes it doesn’t seem the landlords are taking it seriously.
People climb over barriers.
I’d like to see zero tolerance for students doing this.
If you’re in school and on the bluffs you should forfeit your semester. Not asking. Telling.
Capps needs more action than window dressing
ANON – suspending students for being on the bluffs? How does that work? There are parks along those cliffs. Ban students from those?
I can see issuing tickets if students are caught climbing the fences, but that means cops have to be in the backyards of all those homes abutting the cliffs. Not sure how that would really be enforced.
By “backyard” you mean a porch deck with a short railing. Those long houses are an effective shield for anything happening on a balcony perched over a death drop.
Remove the buildings (nature will eventually) and create open space, cut back the cliff precipice to create slope (would’ve happened naturally if artificial caps and caissons weren’t there), plant native vegetative barriers like nopal cactus. No one will try to climb over prickly pear!
ANON – exactly. There’s no feasible way for cops to catch people climbing over the fences behind the porches.
Removing the houses along the cliff side of DP would help, but I don’t think that’s feasible either. Not only to they provide much needed housing for 100s of people, I don’t think the property owners are going to give up their golden eggs without some serious legal battles.
This is a tough problem with no easy fix in my mind.
True, it’s a very tough problem that would require unprecedented cooperation. Not every house needs to go at the same time, but some are very close to self destruction. The owners of those houses are in a pickle: their insurance is skyrocketing (I assume, it certainly would be magnitudes higher for a new buyer) and I can’t see them getting any easier to sell. If they were offered an exit they just might be more cooperative than they’ve ever been.