Recent Comments

Make a Village. Only Wise Growth, Make it Useful: Cheap Rents Turn the big retail behemoths like Macy Nordstrom’s into villages with small, very affordable spaces for rent. Fill it with fix it places that are useful to Santa Barbara’s citizens. Fix it places, artisans, craftspeople. Places for the old and the young. Places for the rich and the poor. An area for learning to do things like sewing and mending, tinkering (think adult Ed but multigenerational). Some food too but Not All Food and Drink. (We have enough) Make a Village.

Nice to hear that Santa Cruz is on the upswing. I lived there for 10 years, and while it'll always have a special place in my heart, the intravenous drug problem was so out of hand, it was depressing. Literally people in public, nodding off with needles in their arms.

I will be opening an ode to my parent's favorite "Mousse Odile" restaurant with a French / Latin inspired food truck nearby called Mousse Orale Vato. We will feature tacos de escargot with garlic butter and cilantro salsa, and Birria Bourguignon - a take on the classic French dish popularized by our beloved Julia Child but with a Oaxacan twist. We are still in the process of creating our menu. Stay tuned.

Is Pascucci Country Vinaigrette only sold at Tri-County Produce?

Well said! I agree.

Totally agree, Laurie. In addition to affordable housing, if SB could focus on affordable business leases and small business incentives to open more interesting, eclectic, compelling shops and restaurants, no one would want cars back in the State. I'd like to see more chairs and benches and plants in the center of the street to make it a place people actually enjoy hanging out. Don't call it a "mall" if that word is displeasing. But call it "a community gathering place."

So many interesting comments here, starting with "Old Walter's" and ending with the observations of other vibrant communities in the state, country and world as noted by Laurie. SLO appears to be in excellent shape and, on a recent visit to Santa Cruz, which has sometimes been kind of seedy, it too felt better than State St. Nice to see smart and civil discourse (unlike some of the insult-laden comments on other publications.

Normally the park-and-pay app works really well for me but I have occasionally been stuck behind an out-of-towner who hasn't downloaded the app and can't get their card to work at the exit and need to be walked through it. The kids at the kiosks have a lot of time to scroll on their phones, but I'm not sure what would be a better alternative.

Thanks for posting the options on Fransceschi Park. I agree, the only one that makes sense is the first one. Preserving the memory of an old house doesn’t make any sense. Having said that, all the designs are pretty workmanlike. They’ll do, but aren’t exciting. Your comment on looking for opinions from people in the neighborhood and following comments about spending money on it while all the action is on the beach and around the Mission made me wonder, what is the objective here? Who is the park for? The neighborhood? Tourists? People who live in Santa Barbara but don’t have houses with that spectacular view? Understanding that might drive a better design.

I truly do not understand the argument to bring cars back on State. I know Randy's on that bandwagon, but it makes ZERO sense to me. We really need more CO with all of the idling vehicles? The Parklets and sidewalk dining are wonderful. They should be permanent. Sure, make 'em look a bit nicer. But being able to stroll down the middle of the road is so much more classy and makes State St. a lot more appealing. I agree completely with those here who cite data matching my memory that the vacant stores and abandoned leases were happening long before COVID and the parklets appeared. They're a function of extremely high rents, which nearly ensure a very high failure rate. The only thing I'd take issue with is that I don't believe that all of our kids are leaving town because of the cost of housing. At least not initially. They're leaving because this is a small town, and many of them want challenging, exciting jobs and to experience a big city somewhere else. They may very well return one day, but while they're here, they can live with us, save money, get educated, and prepare to fly the coop and find their own way in the world before they one day return to the nest. I love the idea of creating more interesting jobs than those that serve tourism, but we're still a small town and should never aspire to be an SF, LA, or SD. I don't think anyone wants that. Yes, we can go on and on about affordable housing and I wish we had more of that too. Perhaps building up will aid and abet that cause? Beyond affordable housing, we need affordable business spaces! Otherwise we'll just be looking at wealthy chain stores lining State and other shopping locales. The Funk Zone took off initially because it was cheaper, there was space, and that gave local shop owners more time to figure out their wares. Unique, funky, fun stores, pubs, breweries, and eateries sprung up. I just don't think that's ever going to happen on State until the corporations that own the buildings decide to opt for local, long-term tenants with unique ideas for stores. Strolling downtown SLO, one remembers what SB town used to look like in the olden days when there were stop lights on 101 and all sorts of unique and interesting shops and restaurants downtown. Affordable housing is a good goal, but affordable business leases are even better. Otherwise, all those folks in affordable housing will be working for Starbux and McDonald's.

I have been thinking this same thing for years, thanks for articulating so well Sam. Giving in to tourism destroys local culture and quality of life.