There has to be a way to preserve the old growth greenery on Milpas and move the street forward
while upgrades are executed without ruining the beauty of the trees. Planning should work a formula
to work both ways, so it is not either/or.
I walked this block for years as a letter carrier and only tripped once. Watch where you are walking.
I am so done with the planners in this town. If it's old, get rid of it. Let's make this place look like Orange County.
I think I’ll walk down Milpas from Canon Perdido to Carpinteria and back up the other side before I decide where I stand on this issue. Normally I just drive on that street and I have no idea what it’s like as a pedestrian or bike rider. I do think the City should be making the public streets and sidewalks safer and also support ways for residents to get around without using a motor vehicle.
Many or most of the trees, bushes, flowers etc you see in SB are not native.
Nothing wrong with crows.
I seriously can't believe you cited Edhat. . . .
I couldn't agree with you more, although I have nothing against Starbuck-drinking yogis! :-)
The city of SB is addicted to tourism tax revenue. They need it in order to pay for the bloated staff and decades of overpromising and overspending. The City of SB has a pension liability in the high 9 figures. That means it has committed more $ than it has or will have... They push for cruise ships and more hotels because it fills their budget holes and buys them time to kick the can down the road to your kids and grandkids. One day the bill will come due, but it wont be on their watch or on their dime. They'll be enjoying their large pensions and their lifetime of medical care while your kids suffer through austerity.
Hilarious - for pete’s sake, let people enjoy cruising the beautiful coast of California! These same people who poopoo the ships also poopoo oil derricks yet drive cars. The logic is skewed and not at all invisible. LIVE LIFE AND SAVOR WINE- you don’t live forever!
Thank you for the info about the meeting!
I am in agreement with the folks in Monterey. The economic impact seems slight and the environmental impact while likely overstated is real. Okay I'll admit to being a snob and cruise ships and all they stand for is just not how I view our community!
Maybe you weren’t talking to me- sorry if not.
I have my spider webs up- across my front window- no birds yet and it looks BITCHEN! Love the kids walking to and from school think so too!
My own eyes Dan. I lived on the eastside of the SYV for 22 yrs- Camp Four, Brander, Happy Canyon all within 5-10 minutes of my mailbox. I’ve seen birds tangled and rolling - and the best you can do is call the winery and hope for the best
https://www.edhat.com/news/fake-spiderwebs-can-entangle-wildlife/#:~:text=Wild%20animals%2C%20especially%20small%2C%20fast,that%20could%20snag%20wild%20animals.
Edhat has covered this - and it's easy to find credible sources on the subject using google or your preferred search engine.
Do not remove those beautiful mature trees. I am thrilled the city of putting efforts into redesigning Milpas street. However removing the mature trees is just a bad plan. Invite the tree experts to trim and help come up with a plan to keep these trees healthy and pristine so this neighborhood remains beautiful. I applaud the plan to plant new trees also. You can never have too many trees. By the time the newly planted trees are mature, then let's revisit this subject. Adding bike paths, improving the walk-ability of this neighborhood should be applauded. Let's hope the city planners will observe the drivers on Milpas and try to address safety. I drive on Milpas Road often and rarely is it a good experience. Too much speeding and too little courtesy. In my humble opinion the mature trees add to the beauty of this area! Young and old trees RULE and will continue to help us manage pollution from the cars!
What's your source of birds being trapped? I've never seen a local story about birds trapped in this webbing.
you might want to avoid wineries during the times grapes are on the vine- they net the vineyards and small song birds to hawks & eagles are routinely caught and fight to their demise to get free.
They are also allowed to kill any animals eating their fruit- doe with fawn, bear, you name it- look up depredation permit. CHEERS!
Really excited to see Happy Cat open. Maybe a system of serving like Lucky Penny would work great there.
This city is so overrun with emotional nostalgia. It's why nothing ever happens. Too many people with feelings about something silly like this overriding logic and common sense. Those trees and the entire Milpas corridor are a danger to pedestrians and cyclists. It's a dangerous street to walk, ride or drive and park on. The lanes are narrow, the traffic thick and the sidewalks are small, littered with cracks and bumps that are a lawsuit waiting to happen. Add in the bike riders who use the sidewalk because riding on Milpas is a death wish, and you have an easily resolved mess. If you didnt know, the city is legally responsible to make sure the sidewalks are free of tripping hazards as well as accessible and easy to traverse, for those with mobility issues.
So cut them down, widen the sidewalks and clean up the storefronts. It's a messy part of town that is part commercial, part fast food and part check cashing western union. It's a simple thing to plant new trees that dont create problems with the concrete, the roadway and the sewer lines. Like most problems, the sewer line issue is one that you dont see but is actually a problem. Those ficus roots eat into the old clay pipes and underneath all that concrete and asphalt, is a cesspool of feces and urine leeching into the groundwater.
The city shouldn't even ask or inform, they should just cut them down and let overly emotional nostalgia crowd weep into their Starbucks lattes as they drive themselves across town for their yoga class. They'll complain about everything regardless.
The great shade the trees on Milpas offer are a respite from the harsh sun. The towering beauty is soul satisfying. I love the crows and it is hard to imagine where they will go if the trees are gone.
Whenever I go to a parking lot, I notice everyone tries to grab a space that is under trees. Parking lots off Chapala near Victoria and Anapamu have very few trees and cars get boiling hot. Whoever gets there first grabs one of the few shady parking spaces. The Smart and Final parking lot is my favorite because it is full of shady trees. That parking lot should get an award.
If the trees are removed from Milpas (some have already been) I fear many of us will have a deep sense of loss. A deep sense of loss in this world is happening for many other reasons since things are changing so quickly. Consider the economy, fires, wars, demographics, etc. Old trees are a source of comfort, consistency and stability.
Recently, when I drive on 101 and see the stumps left from cutting the giant old trees for freeway widening, I feel very sad. They cut them overnight. They were once the welcoming ones to Santa Barbara. Why is this happening when personal cars are going to be outlawed by 2030?
Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum said in a speech that streets and freeways in L.A. will be turned into parks. Meanwhile, CalTrans is removing trees and widening roads? Is there lack of foresight? Something is out of sync. Maybe because 5G works better without trees? Radical tree removal is happening in many cities of the world that have tree lined streets. Why?
I hope the glorious and shady Ficus trees on Milpas get a stay of execution.
Keep the trees please! There's nothing worse than a concrete jungle without some form of nature (trees, plants,etc). The trees are mature and beautiful, there's no reason for them to be taken down, they're not diseased. The developers need to work around them.
The Milpas trees are beautiful, and I do find it odd that the plan must involve removing the trees?? I guess I assumed that engineers and designers know how to work with / around trees?
The owner specifically said he didn’t charge for employee insurance, but he failed to explain what his extra fee on the check is for. I heard him explain to a customer in Via Maestra that he charges the fee for credit cards and did so instead of increasing menu prices. However, if you look on Yelp menu images, he clearly increased menu prices as well.
