Recent Comments

I salute you.

The SB city council is a bunch of hippocrates. They can enforce policy on local restaurants however not on pirate food vendors from LA making no effort to become legalized, how is this possible? They’ve also not created city policy around SB 972, to enforce these vendors. By letting this slip, it’s running rampant and is out of control. Set a policy and fine then into oblivion. The SB police are bunch of wusses because they won’t take action. They’ve specifically been told to do nothing by police management since new state laws decriminalized these food pirates so that it’s not even a misdemeanor to operate illegally. The SB county has no power and is worthless. They can write citations all day long yet they do nothing to prevent or deter these people from continuing to operate. The fire department is the only operation in town with the ability to shut them down based on an ordinance that you can’t operate a propane fire on a public sidewalk. SB 972 is the state wide ordinance that was passed that is allowing all of this. It was a consortium of illegal street vendors out of LA that worked together to get law passed to decriminalize street vending. It’s ridiculous. Based on the law, anyone can be a street vendor anywhere selling anything and not get penalized. You could literally open a mobile ice cream shop in front of every McConnells in town selling McConnells ice cream for less and out them all out of business. You could sell hamburgers in front of ever hamburger habit, pay no rent, have no permits, get fined, not pay the fines and there’s nothing anyone can do. The whole system is broken. There was a hot dog vendor selling absolutely disgusting $8 street hot dogs on the doorstep of The Cruisery the other night. They’re brazen and don’t care. This needs to be restricted, properly enforced and stopped. It is a double standard to every business in town. The city can’t be on the fence on this one. They either need to enforce all businesses to have the proper permits or they need to allow any business to operate without permits, you can’t do both.

Mixed feelings about Calle Alamo. Some pretty finishes but an unfriendly price for a family neighborhood. I know from experience that the alley behind it has trucks running through all day, and drunks peeing in your bougainvillea weekend nights. Heating and cooling are unknown? That house definitely needs AC.

Exactly. Everyone should be following the same rules. I remember the police stopping a group of very young children from selling eggs at fiesta. While allowing huge amounts of eggs to be sold through out the town by venders making tax free money while collecting all the free services they can. Free medical food kids lunches cheap rent. Yes I know this for a fact because I know some of the families that sell eggs clean homes and garden, all under the table and we allow them to continue by hiring them. We are a hard working family of immigrants also but we work legally so it’s hard to see those who abuse out system

As an architect, I disagree. Santa Barbara Airport is unique and sports decorative details befitting the quirky, charming Spanish Colonial style it was designed to be. Two thumbs up for that.

Drew Cuddy* of Satellite SB for Linden Hall

IF street vendors can’t be regulated, drop the regulations for established eateries. If the southern US border is open, drop the passport requirements at airports. If ADUs don’t require certain permits, drop the permit requirements for existing homeowners. Fairness is a regulator. Make it work.

Yep. Most days. I saw a police car stop, they seemed ok with it and left.

For sure 'ol Randall played a part in the food truck situation as it currently exists. The craziest part about it to me is that in SB, it's illegal to operate a food truck ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. My mom lives in Marin, and every weekend at the Marin Country Mart there is a food truck gathering. It's all very high end stuff, no "roach coaches" etc. It brings a lot of people to that mall, and that spills over into the brick and mortar stores there. The idea that someone looking for a food truck experience is somehow a threat to sit down dining is crazy to me - these are totally different experiences in my book. So something similar could happen at the La Cumbre Mall, which frankly from the looks of things could use the extra foot traffic, except the city says "nope, can't do that here." Bonkers. Heck, the city could use one of the downtown city parking lots to do something similar, bring people into downtown. Street food can be amazing food, yes it should be regulated, but there should be legal ways of serving food in this type of setting in this town.

I agree with you on food trucks! Ridiculous. I believe our current Mayor was in part responsible for that. ????

To each her own. I'd personally rather pay more per SF for Alamo with wood casement windows, an historic Santa Barbara pedigree, calacatta violetta, a living room that looks decently-sized and is separate from my kitchen, etc. Tranquillo is a better location (on all points but walkability) but the finishes feel very flimsy in real life. Vinyl windows, closets that feel barely finished, low-cost-looking tile, etc. Haven't seen Alamo yet in real life and keen to see how it compares to photos. But I'll bet Alamo sells before Tranquillo. My favorite part of Tranqillo was the wooden deck. I loved that, but absolutely nothing on the inside felt built to last. I don't mean to disparage Tranquillo but when you price it like that you're sort of asking for it.

The Calle Alamo listing is a real head scratcher, especially with Paseo Tranquillo on the market for only ~$300k more and offering so much more value on absolutely every level. When the most expensive house in San Roque is offering better value on every single level, you've done something wrong with your pricing.