Anonymous
By Ernest Salomon, Santa Barbara
Open Letter To The City Council-
Read the piece in the Wall Street Journal today about what an ever growing list of seaport cities, including cities in the USA, are doing to curtail cruise ship visits to their ports.
Anti-cruise ship protests in port cities are growing! Even residents of cities that depend heavily on tourism are concerned about the hazards that cruise ships bring with them.
Here are some of them: Bar Harbor, Maine; Juneau, Alaska; Amsterdam, Barcelona, Italy, France and Norway.
These cities and countries, along with scientists, realize that cruise ships bring environmental pollution and and an increase in health hazards to the cities that they visit. Cruise ships burn bunker oil, the most polluting fossil fuel of all and the most dangerous to lungs and hearts, increasing the risks of asthma, lung disease and cancer.
Here in Santa Barbara, you people on the city council have taken an opposite direction. You have gone against the science that proves the increase in environmental and health hazards that they bring. You seem to believe that you are smarter than scientists. YOU HAVE INCREASED THE NUMBER OF CRUISE SHIPS THAT VISIT HERE AND ANCHOR OFF OF OUR SHORE.
They continue to spew poison while their engines idle during their visits.
Are the local environment and the health of the people that you are sworn to protect and serve of no concern to you?
Cruise ships burn the most lethal fuel of any other fossil fuel: Bunker Oil. It is the dirtiest fuel of them all!
Council: Read and learn. If you people researched the subject as I have done over decades, you would not need enlightening on how you are all responsible for adding health hazards to our environment. The good news is that you and your families breath the same air as the rest of us!
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What Ernie ignores is the predilection of the city manager and city council and mayor to do whatever they are told is good for the “tourism” industry. The negative impact of bars up and down State Street, the trashy “parklets,” the pretense that we need more hotel rooms instead of more affordable housing, and so on, is ample demonstration that the mercantile people still control our city. One had hoped that district elections would slow the traditional Downtown Organization agenda but it does seem to have done much. Maybe because the district candidates, especially Friedman and Gutierrez, seem to want the approval of these folks badly (probably for future political ambitions). The filth produced by the steamships is never overcome by the puny contribution they make to our sales tax and retail sales.
Thank you, Mr. Salomon. **And shame on all those involved in allowing cruise ships to come to Santa Barbara.** Santa Barbara doesn’t need these hyper-polluting monstrosities pumping their foul particulate matter into our air. Not to mention the disgusting waste the ships are dumping into our ocean. Apparently, despite having internet access, there is a faction of people who choose pigheadedly to remain ignorant of the vastly negative effects cruise ships have on our local environs and on our planet.
As a former Mesa dweller I HATED the ugly presence of a massive ship outside the harbor as well as the shuttles, cone zone and pedestrian traffic involved.
Does anyone know what officials in Santa Barbara or otherwise have a say in whether or not they can stop here?
A lot of complaints lodged in the right place and some votes in the right direction can change the unpleasantness many of us feel about this.
A story by anonymous. A reply from anonymous.
The irony is that cruise ships pollute, but so do airliners, so do cars, so do trains, so does electricity production. Everything in one way or another pollutes.
At this rate we will not be able to visit the world, we will have to sit in our dark homes and read. That is if anonymous gets there way.
Cruise ships are very good for the city economically. It is a huge win for businesses in Santa Barbara, which last time I checked, derives significant revenue from tourism.
The old everything pollutes so let’s just add more, is why we are where we are. We instead need to reduce not add more.
As for science that cruise ships heavily pollute and cause disease are not disputable unless that is if you do not believe in science.
Finally, it violates City Ethics to continue to do business with a company with felonies
https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2022/01/articles/pollution/carnival-corporation-violates-criminal-probation-again-fined-only-1000000-this-time/
There are many other clean, sustainable economic producing solutions…the continued use of cruise ships (curse ships) demonstrate the members inability to recognize science, health, economics and beauty. Was sad to see the eye sore curse ship in harbor and left the city.
Thank you Sun.
Thank you