CityofGoleta
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Source: City of Goleta
The Goleta City Council took action on a number of items at last night’s May 5, 2020 Virtual City Council meeting. The council unanimously approved a resolution requiring both employees and patrons at all essential businesses, and any other businesses that are allowed to be reopened in the City of Goleta, to wear face coverings. Face coverings include any fabric coverings, such as cloth masks, scarves and bandanas that cover the nose and mouth. This resolution is effective immediately.
City of Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte said, “Wearing a face covering is one of the key steps necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community. The relatively minor sacrifice is worth it if it saves lives and accelerates our economic recovery.”
The resolution requires essential businesses to prohibit the entry of any person not wearing a face covering and encourages businesses to sell face covers to patrons who do not have one. Workers are required to wash or sanitize their reusable face covering at least once a day and to discard any single use face coverings in a trash receptacle. All essential businesses must provide the face coverings for their workers and ensure access to clean, sanitary restrooms and the necessary cleansing products to observe hand sanitation as recommended and required by Santa Barbara County Health Orders. The City will utilize public education efforts to obtain voluntary compliance. The intent of this resolution is not to be punitive but to serve as a protective measure for workers, patrons, and the larger community. Essential businesses that do not adhere to this resolution after the City has tried to work with them may be subject to immediate business license suspension and mandatory closure for the duration of the resolution. To learn more about the resolution please go to the full staff report here: https://tinyurl.com/y7jyq6fm.
This requirement for a face cover is applicable to all essential businesses and businesses that are allowed to be open in the future. A current list can be found in Public Health Officer Order 2020-8 https://tinyurl.com/ydcjq6tn, but this is subject to change.
The City Council also ratified an emergency order implementing construction safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The order includes measures requiring handwashing facilities or hand sanitizer at entrances to construction projects, regularly sanitizing shared tools and equipment and posted signage at entrances to construction projects or common areas where work is occurring. Face coverings are required to be worn by all persons present at the construction site. Also, workers are not authorized to gather in groups larger than three during breaks and must maintain a six-foot distance. Interactions when picking up or delivering equipment or materials also must allow for social distancing requirements.
The City Council also discussed the possibility of placing a 1% sales tax increase on the November ballot. The concept was introduced and researched prior to the COVID-19 crisis. The City Council deferred making a decision on whether to move forward with a sales tax measure, and instead voted to move forward with additional public opinion polling in order to gather more information about the community’s sentiment toward such a measure.
What a squishy headline. Why not just say “all” businesses because if you’re not “essential”, you’re not allowed to be open? On a side note, I’m selling doctor’s notes for $10 stating that you a psychological reaction to face coverings…….
Will someone please post any non-essential businesses that are open in Goleta?
Thought so……..
Lucky, everyone knows this. Masks aren’t to prevent you from getting it. It’s to mInimize the amount of spread you do if you have it and are asymptomatic or symptomatic but stupid. If you don’t think a mask will minimize your spread then I don’t know what to do for you.
Another actual piece of data showing the blanket stay-at-home order was unnecessary.
STD – Except the data show that physical isolation is the way to combat the virus, so you pretty much have to ignore facts to advocate an end to our restrictions, which don’t actually go as far as the should have.
Goletans are lucky to have such an affluent city! The council majority decided last night to spend $22,250 to poll 300 people, says Noozhawk, as to whether they want to increase the sales tax by 1% to equal SB’s rate. That’s a little more than $74/pollee. Only councilmembers Aceves and Kasdin found it to be “bad timing”! The other three, especially Kyriaco, were all for it. Councilmembers are well-paid: perhaps, before opining about what feels (or feels not) Goleta, they should walk down Hollister Ave from Fairview to Kellogg and ask residents or, since most of the shops there are closed, go over to the Cathedral Oaks shopping area.
12:48 – do you have a cite for this info? I’ve been wondering this for weeks. Are we doing all this and still getting sick? If so, I think it would be very important to know, for sure, not just because someone said it on the internet.
SAM – what “Actual piece of data” are you talking about? I don’t see a cite, nor do I see any response (other than 2 dvs) to my request for a cite. Do you have a cite? I’d actually love to see it!
We’ve got masks available to purchase… made right here in Goleta if anyone needs them.
http://www.goodlandmasks.com
@ Sacjon a 1/2 second google search found it :https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/ny-gov-cuomo-says-its-shocking-most-new-coronavirus-hospitalizations-are-people-staying-home.html
This resolution is invalid on its face (yes punny). It is not based on any science. As long as I/you/we wear any material over our nose an mouth it is not a violation. An old pair of nylons? Cheesecloth? Burlap? Tulle? Those are not in violation because of the subjectivity of the definition yet, none of those would do anything to stop any spread of anything. A bandana? Really? That drapes over your mouth. First cough, it’s not stopping anything. Just another feel good resolution passed by a bunch of asshats.
STD – I don’t what it means to “suites” a position, but your implication that just because a non-complete shutdown is leaky, and some people still get infected does not invalidate the validity of the policy. It’s your old argument again that because we don’t know everything, then nothing we do know is useful.
Maybe they should have written the resolution better, but thinking adults can figure out that they don’t mean “an old pair of nylons.” I’ve seen studies showing how a simple two-layer cotton mask significantly reduces the spread of mist from the mouth. Any thinking adult can understand the concept. It’s kinda like in the old days when people sneezed into handkerchiefs. Obviously that’s better for public health than an open sneeze. Don’t you have anything better to object about? Wear the mask in public to keep your mouth moisture from spreading around. It’s not a communist plot.
Ahchoo, I think that your statement just proved the posters point . “I’ve seen studies showing how a simple two-layer cotton mask significantly reduces the spread of mist from the mouth”. No where in the resolution does it state two layers. By the regulation ” Face coverings include ANY fabric coverings………”. Is one layer OK or not and what material passes YOUR test? The definition of “Any thinking adult…” does not pass the smell test. If you can not define it, it becomes subjective, and regulations can NOT be subjective but the enforcement of said regulations can.
I don’t have a problem with requirements of masks….
I work with seniors, that wear them.
Have seen a lot of older folks in Goleta, the past week being asked to leave a store…no mask.
Some live alone….just don’t get it…others defiant….
They need free masks !!!!
Goleta, should provide that….
People are making mega bucks selling masks…
The cheapest I have seen was 2 dollars, a few weeks ago at CVS.
Most are 10, to 20 dollars
Hello Direct Relief ?
I was at Smart n Final in Goleta. Huge sign as you’re walking in. Letting you know masked required or you’re not allowed entry. And no one at the door enforcing it. A couple walked in ahead of me. She had one on. He didn’t. And a lady shopping in the produce section. No mask.
I mean can we just get through this all ready. No excuses. It doesn’t even have to be an actual mask it can be a scarf. A bandanna. It’s not that hard..
If the businesses truly follow the protocol and not services those without face coverings of some sort. We might actually be done with this sooner than later. Just sayin. And don’t waist anyone’s time by posting something you aren’t willing to enforce
THEGOODGOODLAND – Thanks! It’s sad to see though that the very same people who are saying we need to work and help small business are disagreeing with your post! Go back to work, but not if that work is consistent with what we are mad about! Freakin’ snowflakes!
I consider myself fairly well traveled and experienced. Been to 17 US states and 12 countries, so it’s not like I have stayed in SB all my life. So I look at things a little differently than most, and can tell you that we have it pretty good here. Hiwever, it is no secret that Goleta is the new shining star on the Central Coast, as their management staff keeps making all the right decisions. Never thought I would say this, but I wish SB could be more like Goleta. It would make no sense for me to move there now, but if I were younger …in a split second! The funny part is that the SB gov set sail of-course many years ago, yet we keep getting captains and crew who are the worst.
I think it’s appalling that the Goleta Library is not considered an essential business. People, the homeless, the poor, regular folk, need access to wifi and information to navigate this crisis. And the library serves as a cooling center, too. The library should be opened, the full time staff are getting paid…for what? When push comes to shove, and the local government looks to save money, library workers are going to regret accepting their nonessential status. Open the library.
Chip nails it!
Ms. Mayor we are still waiting for a full accounting of the gift of public funds you received for your health insurance? I remember it was somewhere north of $30,000… That money belongs to each Goleta Resident and no one should vote to give you a sales tax increase to waste until you pay residents back. This should be agendized at the next city council meeting so an update can be heard by all. Give us the transparency we deserve on this issue.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8293417/66-New-York-coronavirus-hospitalizations-people-staying-HOME.html
I just completed some WHO Covid-19 training modules, just for the certificates to put up on my studio walls when they allow me to re-open. I was interested to note the official line: “There is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.” https://www.who.int/publications-detail/advice-on-the-use-of-masks-the-community-during-home-care-and-in-health-care-settings-in-the-context-of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak
LUCKY 777 – I’ve been saying this for days. Masks are pretty much useless, but we wear them out of respect.
The masks are mostly for show and making people feel good. The authoritarians love it, as it gives them a good excuse to boss people around. When people are forced to wear them, face coverings are a symbol of submission and oppression.
Who’s saying the masks are to protect the wearer? Given how many asymptomatics there are, statistically, it’s peace of mind knowing that the considerate citizen next to you is keeping his/her germs to him/herself.
how hard is it to wear a piece of cloth over your face hole? not hard. why fight it? people accessorize fashion all the time, just think of this as the same thing. On another note, I really enjoy all the experts and their “advice”….. please tell us again, how you know so much about a pandemic we have never seen before and what the best course of action is…….
Oh grow up, if you want the right to spread your germs/viruses wherever you go you should expect folks to use their right to refuse to serve you or to adamantly and forcefully keep you away from them.
Ugh, people like you CHIP are making this site (and this recovery process) so incredibly unenjoyable these days. You are plain wrong, you refute FACTS, and flaunt idiotic, dangerous theories. No COVID comment thread on this site is worth reading anymore. Would be cool if we had COVID-specific thread rules, how about “provide scientific evidence from major universities and institutions if you have a difference of opinion” – you’d never be able to make a post again.
CHIP – do you cry and moan this much every time the government forces you to stop at a stop sign? Drive your car on the street, as opposed to the sidewalk? Wear pants in public? Refrain from shooting heroin at playgrounds? Yeah, we are so oppressed. All these crying, gun carrying snowflakes afraid to look “submissive” by wearing masks…. you people crack me up.
Developed countries are beyond pissed at the WHO’s handling of this virus, they are directly responsible for not sounding the alarm sooner and louder. I would not trust a word they say at this point. Wearing a mask certainly isn’t going to increase your chances of getting it, and it’s such a simple thing to do. Wild that people are this adamant against a piece of freaking cloth that could save lives. So basic.
Most new Covid-19 hospitalizations in New York state are from people who were staying home and not venturing much outside, a “shocking” finding, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
The preliminary data was from 100 New York hospitals involving about 1,000 patients, Cuomo said at his daily briefing.
It shows that 66% of new admissions were from people who had largely been sheltering at home. The next highest source of admissions was from nursing homes, 18% .
What people are adamant against is the continued governmental restrictions and regulations based on feelings and assumptions rather than facts and data.
The best explanation I’ve heard for why wear masks is this: “If we are both naked and you ‘pea’ on me, I get wet; if I’m wearing pants & you’re naked, I get less wet; if we’re both wearing pants, your ‘pea’ doesn’t affect me.” Mispelling intentional to avoid upsetting the emotionally fragile.
Why do you want to punish those poor librarians? They weren’t trained to be social workers, but that is mostly what they do for the homeless population. Hard to enforce social distancing with that population. My sister is a children’s librarian and is doing remote storytelling. She’s 65 and shouldn’t be in a library around at-risk people.
Hard to enforce laws against stupidity.
Overdevelopment and traffic don’t attract me. I try to avoid Goleta as much as I can.