It's curious to me that you all think Coast Village Road is thriving. Is it because the goods on the street are more expensive? I would say CVR is moderately healthy, but not great as a retail corridor — and certainly never say it's "thriving". Is it easier to pop in and grab something? Yes. Is there a strong desire to eat at Local, repeatedly shop Wunderkind or Faherty or buy a knick knack at Heritage Goods? Absolutely not.
Truth is — people thinking CVR is the example of success that State Street should follow is woefully short-sighted.
The only one upset here is you.
You seem to have severe comprehension issues and are insistent on relying on straw man arguments, and arguing in bad faith.
Have a great day!
Amazing. You get upset at someone using the word immigrant to describe a portion of the population, then get upset that the data that shows that 20% of the pop are in fact, immigrants.
Life must make you very upset. All those words being used by random people constantly hurting your feelings. You poor thing.
/
Nobody disputed the data. Poverty is real, housing costs are crushing, and median incomes are a joke relative to what it costs to live here. But look at what you did: you listed "20% foreign-born" alongside poverty and unemployment figures as if it belongs there. That's the tell. Being foreign-born isn't a socioeconomic indicator, and dropping it into that list reveals exactly the assumption that got called out in the first place. As for "stop worrying about labels" — that's not what's happening here. Bad framing produces bad diagnoses, and bad diagnoses produce bad solutions. If you misidentify who's causing the problem, you'll never fix it. And the Trump point is genuinely ironic: the rhetorical move in your original post, treating demographic composition as the explanation for community decline rather than policy failures, is the exact playbook that got him elected. You're illustrating the problem while complaining about people who point it out.
https://datausa.io/profile/geo/santa-barbara-ca/
According to the 2020 census, the city of SB has a poverty level of 14%. 20% of the population were foreign born. Median incomes are at least 1/3 of that needed to purchase a median home ($107k for $1.57mm mortgage) . 42k people out of 89k are employed. etc. etc. etc.
The data is not very pretty.
We'd all be better served if people spent less time worrying about the use of a particular word and more time trying to reconcile the facts and figures. Being more offended at a label than a cause, is a big reason why our society is failing and the main reason aholes like Trump are in office.
Ugh. This comment sounds like it was prompted by a boomer and written by AI. I agree with some parts of it, and disagree with other parts, but the tone and approach is selfish and entitled.
There's a legitimate grievance about Santa Barbara's economic policy buried in here, but it's fatally undermined by bigotry. Calling the city's problems a result of "low income immigrants" and "multigenerational mediocrity" isn't market analysis, it's scapegoating: blaming residents for conditions created by policy failures and capital flight, while framing national origin and working-class status as civic liabilities. The cruel irony is that the author's own preferred solution, a rising tide that lifts all boats, would benefit precisely the people he just dismissed. You can't argue for inclusive economic growth in one breath and dehumanize the majority of your neighbors in the next. The real problems here are zoning, over-reliance on tourism, and lack of pathways for young professionals to stay, and those deserve serious conversation, not a demographic witch hunt.
Thanks VinceGPT
Woah. “Santa Barbara is a city full of low income immigrants, low income students and multi generational mediocrity” That’s not just a sentence that’s some sentimentality.
Dude, don’t bite the hands that feed you.
Not just support workers. Where are the future DDS's, MD's and nurses going to live? Some may take over Mom or Dad's practices, but the the medical personnel Santa Barbara needs?
There’s no shortage of thoughtful perspectives on what State Street should become—and that’s a good thing. We’re clearly still in a period of recovery and reinvention, and none of us can say with certainty what downtown will look like in a year, let alone five. But that’s exactly why moments like this matter.
A Royal Suite Home Furnishings isn’t just another storefront—it’s a family-owned California business choosing to invest in State Street right now. That kind of decision doesn’t happen by accident. It reflects real confidence in the market, in the community, and in the direction things are heading.
So yes, we can debate the bigger picture—and we should. But we can also acknowledge progress when we see it. This is a win. Let’s welcome them, support them if it resonates, and keep building momentum one step at a time.
Local businesses depend on workers that commute from Lompoc or Oxnard or even further. This results in exhausted commuters working in support positions that often go unfilled. The services that Santa Barbarans depend on are not getting optimized as a result. Prioritizing affordable housing for these support workers benefits everyone in Santa Barbara.
Why weren't those businesses snapping up properties in 2017, 2018 and 2019 when there was article after article about the retail apocalypse and record low vacancies on State?
Well something is killing lots of retail-I would assume that those numbers are much higher depending on age demographics. My 30 something kids buy everything online. I don’t know if my grandkids in the Bay Area have ever sat in a shopping cart in a grocery store…
Just saw on nextdoor a post about how busy state st (maybe 600 block) was on Sunday night which was good to see. We still eat at Arigato and Bibi Ji and public market and it’s always bustling with people.
So the board of supervisors is trying to say that people who live locally and are looking for a home are not already in contact with realtors and/or have the ability to seek out homes on their own, as they have been doing for eons….doesn’t the early bird get the worm? They really do believe people can’t manage without their guidance don’t they #pathetic
Andrew and Helen Waters sound like they inspired the characters of Josh and Lindsay Martin on Beef Season 2
E-commerce killing in person retail is a myth. Is it evolving, yes, but 80-90% of shopping still occurs in a physical store. Beyond that, 40% of online shopping also involves a physical store (item pickups, returns, etc.).
Always has been, even before the closure/covid.
How are your going to make it attractive for retailers to want to buy or rent locations
when their customers cannot drive by and see their stores. People want convenient shopping and parking out front of the stores and restaurants. There are plenty of areas to bike already in this town and plenty of room to include bikes of the street. State Street is a ghost town now, have you not looked??
Please open the street to vehicles like it was before.
This logic ignores the reality that the 400 block is open to cars, yet it is unquestionably the worst block of state street.
"Santa Barbara is a city full of low income immigrants, low income students and multi generational mediocrity. "
This is unkind, inaccurate, and makes you sound incredibly elitist. It undercuts the entire point of your argument. Do you just cast your eyes in judgement every time you're too lazy to make your own meal or go out and have any form of entertainment?
Also, who do you think is working all those restaurants and retail stores on your precious CVR? (Hint: immigrants, college kids, and locals)
Go touch grass.
While I have said for years that the council should stop wasting money and hire Caruso to design this “plaza”, this is the most elegant and meaningful plan we have seen so far after many hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted before. Of course many locals (and tourists) want this promenade - it is a safe and beautiful place to meander, appreciating gorgeous historic architecture and mature landscaping and it leads you by the windows of retailers and restaurants to shop or have a drink/meal. Many major cities around the world have very similar walking boulevards and they are charming and successful.
This problem isn’t unique to Santa Barbara, storefront retail is changing and evolving everywhere. We moved back to SB in 2010 and stores were closing down pretty rapidly even before Covid. We also spend time in the Bay Area and stuff is closing there. Coffee shops and restaurants still thriving, everything else not so much. Younger demographic has been shopping online for awhile and Covid taught everyone else how to buy online. You can hate Bezos, but Amazon has taken over in many parts of the country. You can get clothing, groceries, pharmacy items etc and have it all delivered to your door. CVR is thriving because of many restaurants and a few high end shops. State street especially lower state lost some of their party people to the funk zone which has been a pretty big success. And SB has always been a tourist town, I would argue there’s more good jobs now than in the past. When I graduated UCSB long long ago most of my friends left to get jobs in Bay Area, LA or back east. Lots more companies and opportunities now and availability of remote work in some companies has also helped bring more people (and pump up housing prices).
Ditto the spot on!
