AnonymousBy Jim Carbone
Last night at the City Council Meeting, Santa Barbara City Councilman Oscar Gutierrez asked if they could enact an ordinance to prevent old, sick and disabled people from living in the SB foothills to develop more housing in high fire areas. When did it become ok to discriminate against protected classes? If this is how he conducts himself in a public meeting, what is happening behind the scenes that we don’t see? This behavior should not be allowed to happen without ramifications. The fact that the City Attorney advised him that this was not legal and the rest of the Council did not support it is not sufficient; it does not change the fact that Councilman Oscar Gutierrez was advocating for discrimination.
To provide further context, his comments came up in a discussion related to an ordinance to allow lot splits (item number 17 on the agenda). The City Council and Mayor were cautioned by many that allowing lot splits in high fire areas would pose a significant risk to residents and there are no plans to mitigate this risk. This was Councilman Gutierrez’s solution. So I guess it also means it’s ok if people not in these protected classes can’t get out in an emergency and die?
For the record, I am a strong proponent of the need to develop housing, especially targeted to low income individuals. Discrimination is never the answer.
I for one would like to know what actions our City is taking to respond to this behavior and our community needs to know what our elected officials are doing.
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I don’t believe he was be discriminatory…. Just stupid.
Seems to me Gutierrez was referencing the practical problem of how to evacuate people with mobility issues in high fire areas.
Really I think the insurance companies are doing the work for us because fire insurance is now unaffordable for many people in those areas. And the rich who can afford the insurance won’t have trouble evacuating themselves, will they?
Because Democrats simply can’t be discriminatory; there must be another reason. Kinda like how if a Republican president bans travel from certain countries to prevent the spread of a highly contagious virus because of racism and xenophobia, but if a Democrat president does it it’s because they’re trying to prevent the spread of a highly contagious virus. So simple I wish more people would understand.
Oscar is very young, but his heart is in the right place. He’s literally the only CC member who reaches out to his constituents. While Kathy is hiding in a bunker, he’s posting on social media, meeting people in the neighborhoods, etc. Sometimes people just riff on an idea to see what others say. This is hardly discrimination.
Signed, old white guy who lives in the foothills.
“When did it become ok to discriminate against protected classes?” – It’s not, that’s why it was shot down by the City Attorney.
It was just a dumb suggestion, not a discriminatory policy. If acted upon by the Council, we’d be having another conversation.
2:04 – VOICE, a Democrat prez did it over a year later after we’d learned a lot more about the NOVEL virus. With Trump’s track record, no wonder most peoples’ knee jerk reaction was that he was just, once again (see Muslim ban), being a racist. It IS simple, but you don’t understand that.
DEAR JIM, Instead of complaining about (somebody) trying to work on a solution to a problem, you should “Make The Headlines” by calling out what is NOT being done by local leadership; easy on crime (by homeless or otherwise), and we know that it start’s at the “top”,; it’s disgraceful what the President is doing to our nation.
1. THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS! (Yes I’m shouting, sorry.)
2. The birth rate in California is below replacement. (Google it, it’s true.) The 2020 US Census showed that California lost so much population over the last 10 years, that it will have one less seat in the House of Representatives.
3. With an effective vacancy rate of 0%, by definition, every dwelling in Santa Barbara is affordable to those living there.
4. When our elected officials use the term ‘Affordable Housing’, they are speaking in code. What they mean is that in every community in California there should be an equal distribution of income levels living there. This is a ridiculous and ultimately destructive concept. (See 5.)
5. Each one of us is competing with the other 8 billion people for resources including housing (Now more than ever because of the internet). We may not like it, but that’s like saying you don’t like the tides or the sun coming up. It’s just the way it is.
6. Santa Barbara is a desirable place to live. Many of those 8 billion people would like to live here. There is effectively infinite demand for housing in Santa Barbara. High demand creates high prices as those people compete for available housing. (Econ101).
7. In a market with infinite demand, increasing supply (Building more housing) has absolutely no effect on pricing. I’ve lived here for 45 years and have yet to see increasing housing supply lowering prices.
8. Our elected officials are bought and paid for by the real estate and development industry.
9. Most of the government intervention in the the housing market has the opposite effect of the stated purpose. When the government mandates affordable units be built, a lucky few win the lottery for under market prices, but by removing those units from the open market you lower supply and increase prices. When the state interferes with local zoning ordinances and mandates ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) in all zones, the market now prices in the potential income from the ADU. The more services we provide for the homeless, the more homeless we have.
10. The one sure way to lower housing prices in Santa Barbara is to make it less desirable and our elected officials are doing all they can to make that happen.
This is pretty obvious discrimination. Oscar has only one perspective as he has expressed it to me, he represents the people of his own ethnicity and he sees the housing issue through a distorted lens of bias against these folks. He is a wanna be demagogue but his personality is so obnoxious one has to hope he will get no further than this job.
OAITW, you got the first 8 1/2 items right. But 7 is questionable (especially given your claim that the state population is falling.)
REALLY!? read EASTBEACH 6:01pm comment == perhaps you should have researched yourself before siding with the OP.
It’s too bad the city council won’t consider taking action to reduce the fire risk in high fire areas or to reduce the risk of post-fire flooding and debris flows. If we know there are high fire hazard areas, why isn’t the city working to mitigate the hazard. The city could improve roads to make it easier for residents to evacuate and for firefighters to get to the fire. The city could implement fuel reduction programs and maintain fire breaks to reduce the severity fire when it occurs. The city could improve the debris basins that are not adequate to protect it from a post-fire debris flow.
Blue Onion…Please !!! You are absolutely ridiculous.
Only reason “developers” are given a free hand is because city employee unions think growth is necessary to keep raising their own salaries and benefits. That is the sinister hand in glove cramming down more housing in this town – more tax payers to pay city compensation packages and their endless raises. Don’t just rag on “developers” – they are only doing the lord’s work as far as city employee unions go. Bring in more money, but the greed starts inside the city – developers only carry out the city staff marching orders.
We need better rental ordinances that protect tenants. Many landlords are renting properties they plan to tear down eventually and are renting “as it”. The problem is that these properties have asbestos, mold, bad electrical and many features that do not meet code. The landlords are doing this through loop holes. Unsuspecting tenants invest in their move and then find out that the property is a lemon and the landlord doesn’t want to fix anything. The attitude with the landlords is “don’t like it, than move” and they flip the problems to another unsuspecting renter. So, yes, we do need to get a handle on the rentals because many landlords don’t respect tenants and don’t care if they are subjected to poor conditions. There are few if any attorney’s in town that will represent tenants because they don’t make money on it. We need a better tenant education-empowerment program that provides proactive education and exposes the loopholes. We need to even the playing field and expose the landlord subterfuge. I recently looked at a house rental that had a guest house in the back yard that the owners occupy and the the property manager wouldn’t disclose how often the owners show up and for how long. And, the house was extremely dirty and had an old mattress in the garage along with other “garbage”. The property manager said the landlords want to keep all that in the garage. I was like “wait, you want me to rent a dirty, not updated house, no garden service, broken blinds and the owners get to store their garbage in the garage I am supposed to park my car. And, you want me to pay excessive rent. WTF”. It was rude, disrespectful and full of entitlement. Literally, in their eyes I was a piece of shit. There were no smoke detectors to code, there was one meter feeding both the house and guest house and the property would be considered exempt. Under these and other conditions, a tenant would need to know what the law really is. Also, there are a lot of homes in SB built in the 50’s which means asbestos in duct work, walls, ceiling tiles. It costs about $2K to remediate asbestos duct work, its not expensive. But, rentals should not have old asbestos ductwork. It’s just not safe. And, we need better mold disclosure laws. Here is a tip – hire a house inspector to do mold tests, never ask the landlord or property manager as they will never do it because they would then have liability. So, if you smell a “musty smell”, if you see discolored walls, if there have been leaks you most likely have mold. Spend the money and do the test, then they have to address it. The SB Tenant Union is excellent as a resource and legal aid. We need more of this type of empowering info in the hands of tenants.
Just another case of snowflake Republicans grasping at straws to be offended by something.
SACJON I used the word suggest. I think a reasonable person hearing this would agree that he is suggesting just that.
“How do we regulate that? Do you think it’s fair that someone is living in a four bedroom house and there is just one person living there?”
OAITW – Not at all. For one, you said he suggested they “be forced by the city” to house people. He never said anything of the kind. In no way could a reasonable person infer that from his statement. Second, he was cut off mid sentence so you have no idea what he was about to say. Third, it was a response to a question about how many people should be here, not how do we house others.
You’re trying to hear what you want to hear, not what is being said.
VOICE at 3:42 – Every racist person I know is a republican. Also, stop blaming the media for the very words that come out of peoples mouths. Take a look at any of the republicans in the spotlight these days – what words are they saying? Further, “backwards thinking” is actually the foundation of conservativism – they’re generally against progress. See also “Make America Great Again.” Therefore, they could be called “backwards thinkers.” Can’t really deny that. Finally, as for “misogynists,” which party is the party associated with archaic and fanatic religious beliefs?
We’ve ALL had firsthand experience with these traits being more heavily displayed by republicans than democrats, and so have you. Stop pretending the very foundation of conservatism is just a made up lie by the media.
VOICE – 4:28 (you’re not fooling anyone) – I never said I hang out with them, nor did I say there’s a lot. Just that every racists I know (could be 1, could be 1000) is a republican. “Racism the very foundation of conservatism?” Never said that at all, I said backwards thinking was the foundation, due to their whole platform being about reverting to how things used to be (MAGA) and generally being against progress, at least social and environmental progress.
You really didn’t read (or understand) a word I wrote. Maybe you republicans should spend focus a little more on education too.
Thanks for sharing the link OAITW, I appreciate you looking it up for me. I would respectfully dissagree that I “suggested in an interview that homeowners with empty bedrooms be forced by the city to house some in those empty bedrooms.” But I agree that I didn’t elaborate enough. Please continue to keep me honest.
What’s the dishonest part of the comment?
OAITW – he didn’t say that either. He said “Do you think it’s fair that if somebody lives in a four bedroom house and there’s just one person living there, that that’s….. ” Who knows what the rest of the sentence would be, but he did NOT say “it’s not fair for a single person to live in a four bedroom house.”
Words matter. He didn’t say what you’re trying to make him say. Take his advice yourself and keep yourself honest.
According to the Noozhawk article, the Riviera and Foothills area neighborhoods thinks that they can avoid having the new State Law about Lot Splits Apply to them by exempting themselves as high fire risk. As we all saw this year a homeless man set the Mesa on fire, I think that areas of the Mesa and the Westside are equally at risk of high fire and should also be exempt from the new State Law on lot splits.
Not much info here, lots of speculation.
“ Gutierrez asked if they could enact an ordinance to prevent old, sick and disabled people from living in the SB foothills to develop more housing in high fire areas.”
Shocked Gutierrez didn’t know you can’t prevent people from living where they choose.
Where did he get the idea?
Perhaps he is trying to create ocean view housing for low income people?
Perhaps he’s trying to put low income people into dangerous fire areas with outrageously high home insurance?
Perhaps he has no idea what he’s talking about?
Perhaps he selfishly would like to move up to the hills with an ocean view but can’t afford it unless it’s low income dense housing?
Similar to Murillo and her 2% max rent increase. She’s protecting herself as a renter or so she thinks.
Have you seen them do things in the best interest of ALL of SB?
It is not a right to live in SB.
Demand/Supply controls pricing. Demand has exceeded supply for over 4 decades. And here we are still discussing the need for more housing.
Who wants to live in downtown LA, Oahu, Manhattan?
Supply never keeps up with demand. Look at our 50 year old two lane highway system to Carp. And when that’s done in twenty years, there will still be too many people going to & from SB.
Has anyone driven through LA or San Diego lately? 6 lanes all full of stopped cars at 8pm on a Sat eve.
All ocean front cities are expensive. High demand. You all have good taste.
Go to Los Alamos, Santa Maria, Bakersfield, Inland Empire if you want less expensive housing.
As long your affiliated with the DNC, correct, it isn’t discrimination. Put the shoe on a Republican’s foot, it’s discrimination.
Pitmix nails it and gets a DV. proves my point, most of you just want drama and a circus so if it’s not there, you attempt to create and take things out of context. i urge you to speak to Oscar.
831 thats because most in that party base are racist backwards thinking misogynists. hey, if you can lump the entire other party into a category, why can’t i do the same?
I’m offended that our CC members pledge to uphold the Constitution, but leave our education systems without knowing much about what is in it. The 5th Amendment gives people the right to use property. If I am old, infirm etc. and choose to live in my home in a high fire danger area, there is nothing the state can do.
In agreement that some areas of the Mesa have had fires, but the easiest way to check risk is to look at fire insurance rates. There are reasons why fire insurance is so much higher on the Riviera, Mission Canyon and Cielito areas and a good deal of those reasons revolve around historical fire maps and historical home losses.
Hundreds of homes have never burned on the Mesa. Hundreds of homes have never burned on the lower eastside or san roque or the westside. When the sundowners are blowing 50MPH at 100 degrees over the crest of the Riviera, it might be 20 MPH and 80 degrees on the Mesa.
That’s what the media and liberal politicians want you to think, so you keep voting for them and not those evil republicans. Other than what you’ve seen on the TV or social media, have you ever even met and spoken with a Republican in real life? There are also a ton of female Republicans who would be shocked to find out they’re misogynists.
More housing? What is wrong with these people? There are TOO MANY people here already. I thought we were supposed to be protecting and preserving the environment, but the mindset of the council, and their planners is to hell with the environment, pack in the people and build over every square inch of land.
RHS. Demand is is not distributed equally across California. Santa Barbara will always have higher demand than Trona.
This is the same city council member who suggested in an interview that homeowners with empty bedrooms be forced by the city to house some in those empty bedrooms. He obviously has no concept of private property rights and is willing to use the his position in government to trample those rights. I think there is a word for people like him and examples through history of how that worked out.
The OP is a liar.
Why did VOR hid his identity here? Is it because his comment is even more dishonest then usual and it reveals that his pretense of being politically neutral is such a lie?
Santa Barbara City Councilman Oscar Gutierrez actually just got played by the other council members who were gas lighting him about fire danger in the Foothills when he should have been pushing back on their claims of narrow streets and high fire hazard designations when we just had a fire on the Mesa a few months ago. How quickly he forgets. Now the wealthy side of town’s properties don’t have to worry about lot splits on their neighbor’s properties. The Westside and Mesa will become overcrowded and dangerous with 4-plexes on tiny lots with and narrow crowded streets.