••• This is why it’s good to have your state senator be president pro tempore: “The city of Carpinteria will receive $4.4 million in one-time state funds for the city’s pool and library. […] $3.3 million will be used for repairs to the city’s Community Pool, which is four decades old.” —Noozhawk
••• Jim Knell of SIMA, “by far the biggest commercial landlord in town,” has hired signature gatherers to collect the signatures of 5,400 registered city voters in an effort to put overturning the State Street Master Plan—and reintroducing cars to the street—on the ballot. —Independent
••• “The Santa Barbara City Council’s four-vote majority came together to pass the long-awaited and much-debated citywide rent stabilization ordinance.” —Independent
••• The city council chose Limuw Street—”the Chumash name for Santa Cruz Island and translates to ‘in the sea'”—as the new name for Calle Cesar Chavez. I’m with mayor Randy Rowse, who was in favor of reverting to Salsipuedes Street. —Noozhawk
••• “A look into where city council and mayoral candidates campaign money is coming from.” —Santa Barbara News-Press
••• “The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara is resurrecting its Día de los Muertos downtown procession after cancelling it last year due to fears of federal immigration enforcement activity. […] It is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 25, from 3:30 to 8 p.m.” —Noozhawk
••• “Wear & Roam, a travel apparel and lifestyle brand, has been announced as the newest retail tenant at 337 State Street” in the Hotel Santa Barbara. The brand’s first shop is in Scottsdale. —Edhat
••• “Deal would shift State Water rights from Montecito to proposed Solomon Hills development in Santa Barbara’s North County [….] The $40 million sale would put 4,000 homes and related commercial development proposed between Orcutt and Los Alamos a key step closer to possible approval.” —Santa Barbara News-Press
••• The tree of the month is the crape myrtle: “The flower petals resemble crinkled crepe paper– the basis of this tree’s common names of crape myrtle and crepe flower. Individual flowers are only about one inch across, but the great masses of them that appear on all the boughs provide a dramatic show.” —Edhat (photo by David Gress, courtesy Santa Barbara Beautiful)
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Good job the Jim Knell of SIMA for trying to overturn the State Street Master Plan. I don’t know if reintroducing cars again or not is the answer but clearly the State Street Master Plan is nothing more than a plan to waste more taxpayer funds. How many times have we seen State Street change in over 6 years and it’s still a mess. The current cooks clearly can’t cook.
I’m so sick of rich old men like Knell refusing to accept that they aren’t going to get their way for once in their miserable lives. 80% of residents want State Street to stay car-free. If the surveys really were bad, why was the public comment right in line with the results? If these miserable old farts really wanted what was best for State Street and the city, they would let progress happen instead of forcing things into limbo YET AGAIN.
100%! And for all the feigned concern over lack of action and cost, this is a tactic to override a decisive 6-1 vote that represents the will of the majority residents and would require a costly special election.
I suggest Mr. Knell put his energy behind something actually controversial and counter-productive to the future of Santa Barbara being implemented by city council… rent control. (The answer to providing affordable housing for residents is to build housing).
Let’s also remember that the majority of the cost for the State Street Master Plan is utility upgrades needed to support additional housing downtown.
“Let’s also remember that the majority of the cost for the State Street Master Plan is utility upgrades needed to support additional housing downtown.” That is simply not true. There are storm water issues facing the 4/500 blocks and below that want to improve, but they will not be installing any major utility upgrades (i.e. electrical/water/sewer) to support housing with this project. Housing is actually what we need downtown – as the State Street Master Plan consultants stated. Build the housing first, then come back with the pedestrian promenade plans. They’re putting a $100M+ cart in front of the horse.
The stormwater improvements are included in the street reconstruction and landscaping for all blocks
And $17.5m of the project cost is for “utility replacement and relocation”. See table 3 for the list of utilities
https://docs.santabarbaraca.gov/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Documents/DownloadFileBytes/Attachment%205%20-%20GENERAL.pdf?documentType=1&meetingId=1187&itemId=37940&publishId=27076&isSection=False&isAttachment=True
When you dig up the street there is a lot of “utility replacement and relocation” to do as you are…. digging up the street where all the utilities are run. None of that is related to housing as Sean incorrectly stated “Let’s also remember that the majority of the cost for the State Street Master Plan is utility upgrades needed to support additional housing downtown.” – zero dollars of the $100M State Street Master plan goes to new housing development, affordable housing, or even facilitates new housing development.
If you really believe 80% of residents support this than it should win at the ballot box no problem. I think you’re number is way as off, but we shall see…
I hope the “rich old man” gets his way
That’s a little rude, Liz. Be civil! I think that particular rich old man has a point and if you’re correct and 80% of the city feels as you do, then going to a citizen vote would make sense.
I have seen many town centers and cities die when central roads are closed to traffic and when they are reopened, recover. Open State Street to traffic.
Great news to hear about the towns that instantly recover. I’m so curious how they deal with Amazon, ride shares and food delivery service vehicles. Which towns are you referring to? I’d love to see what they put into place to deal with all the commercial vehicles that pull over ‘just for a minute’ with their flashing lights on. Thank you for sharing your list.
Spoken like a rich old man. Or at least an old man who isn’t used to pushback.
I agree. Nobody thinks of property owners and non-restaurant businesses on State St. One of the key metrics in determining how much rent a retailer will pay is the number of cars that drive by that business each day. Because there is a direct correlation between the number of cars that drive by and the business that a retailer my generate. Eliminating cars from driving by a business, that’s not a restaurant, is restricting those properties ability to make money. And then it comes to spaces like Restoration hardware, the delivery trucks couldn’t get to Restoration hardware to deliver furniture so they decided to move to Montecito. Anybody who thinks that closing the road to traffic doesn’t have consequences for non restaurant businesses, has a myopic view.
Nathan Vonk of Sullivan Goss has a great piece in The Independent from the week of October 1. He outlines how the 101 construction and its traffic possibly/probably had a lot of impact on State Street commerce.
In 2009, a cover article in the Independent had asked if State Street was dead and there were cars on it back then.
And if State Street is reopen, what is the plan for rideshares pulling over wherever they want and the food delivery services stopping, putting their flashers on to pick up food while blocking and holding up Traffic?
As a Californio, I’m sure my Chumash ancestors would agree Limuw (in the sea) is a ridiculous name for a street that has the potential to be underwater when a large storms hits and lies within the tsunami zone of Santa Barbara. Are these the same people making the decisions for State Street? Wake up SB!
Wasn’t that area a lagoon at one time so it literally was in the sea?
History started yesterday to climate alarmists. That way, everything is “unprecedented” and they can justify their constant state of alarmism.
Jim Knell is not helping his cause by hiring deceptive, aggressive signature gatherers. I had one cuss me out after I declined to sign and stated that I knew they were being paid per signature. Informed the store they were outside of and got a shoulder shrug.
I do think keeping State Street closed to cars would win on the ballot, but as I understand it, if this push is successful, State Street would have to reopen on Jan 1 until the special election. What a headache and waste of money. I’m so exhausted by this debate.
I’m very concerned about the way signatures are being gathered for this measure. My daughter and I were approached by signature gatherers who told us we were signing simply to put the future of State Street before voters—so the community could finally decide whether it should remain closed to cars or reopen. That representation mattered to me, because I would support allowing voters to weigh in on the issue.
I later learned that the petition was specifically intended to advance reopening State Street to vehicle traffic, which is not something I support. Had that been clearly explained to us, neither of us would have signed.
I’m on State Street at least once a week, and my experience is that it is vibrant, active, and full of people. There are certainly legitimate conversations to be had about how to support downtown businesses and improve State Street, but those conversations should begin with transparency.
Regardless of where someone stands on reopening the street, voters deserve to understand exactly what they are signing. If signature gatherers are presenting this measure as neutral when it is not, that is deeply troubling and undermines public trust.
It’s awful to hear that the petition was misrepresented to you.
If you’re interested in withdrawing your signature, you can email the city clerk ([email protected]) for instructions on how to do so.
I’ve also seen posts on Nextdoor and the Santa Barbara subreddit that share the instructions, too!
From the LA Times today:
The report found that more than 11% of Santa Monica’s retail space is currently empty, and that about 45% of those empty spaces are in Third Street Promenade and Santa Monica Place. By comparison, West Hollywood’s retail vacancy rate is 9.2%, and Beverly Hills’ is 6%. In Culver City, 5.2% of retail space is empty.
For those interested in learning more about where the “80% of residents want the street car free” number comes from. This survey is from 2024, had about 5,000 participants, and, crucially, didn’t have a price tag of $96 million attached.
The $96MM price tag has nothing to do with whether the street is car free or not, something that is very obvious to anyone who has actually read it.
I actually did read it, but thanks for checking with me before assuming ;)
There would be no reason the majority of the city council has fought to keep the street closed to car traffic, or aligned itself with pro-closure orgs such as Friends of State Street, Strongtown, or MOVE SB, for the past six years if the intention wasn’t ultimately to, at best, sharply reduce car traffic.
Whoops, I hit submit too soon.
On pages 106-107 the plan specifically lists that only nighttime operations will include vehicular traffic. The timeframe of vehicular traffic at night isn’t given, but in the draft version of the plan, it was from 10pm-10am. On the following page, 108, it overtly states that pedestrians and cyclists will be the priority. On 109 we’re told that “Overnight and morning vehicle access supports deliveries, maintenance, and service without disrupting peak pedestrian activity. Allowing vehicles during off-peak hours provides businesses with the access they need.” You know, for all that middle-of-the-night delivery work stores depend on.
This type of language, coupled with zero private vehicles depicted in any of the renderings the plan is full of, is enough to allow me to assume that the $96 million price tag is one geared toward de-prioritizing the most common transit in the State. This is particularly unfortunate for those with access issues since, while the plan discusses a need for increased public transit, the $96 million price tag does not include any transit programs.
Curious to hear if there is an update on the restaurant opening in the former Stella Mare location on Los Pastos Way. As residents on East Beach we enjoyed walking to Stella’s which is located in such a fun location near The Reserve. It would also be wonderful to see an “extension” of The Post with unique dining, shopping and of course, some magic! Los Patos Way is such an under utilized sweet little hidden gem.
I actually posted an update on Monday (which means it’ll show up in tomorrow’s email newsletter): https://www.sitelinesb.com/update-on-the-restaurant-taking-the-stella-mares-bistro-space/.
I agree. Nobody thinks of property owners and non-restaurant businesses on State St. One of the key metrics in determining how much rent a retailer will pay is the number of cars that drive by that business each day. Because there is a direct correlation between the number of cars that drive by and the business that a retailer my generate. Eliminating cars from driving by a business, that’s not a restaurant, is restricting those properties ability to make money. And then it comes to spaces like Restoration hardware, the delivery trucks couldn’t get to Restoration hardware to deliver furniture so they decided to move to Montecito. Anybody who thinks that closing the road to traffic doesn’t have consequences for non restaurant businesses, has a myopic view.