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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
The Zoo statue looks more like the prepped animals and structures for zoo lights. I would guess it's an Oscar statue, there are some movie reels and popcorn buckets stacked in the staging area by the stage.
The Dart coffee garden is a really lovely spot and interesting that they have two new shops there. The green house used to be a studio for a couple of artists and a few years ago we went to a fun opening with music there.
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.
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.
Spoken like a rich old man. Or at least an old man who isn't used to pushback.
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.
History started yesterday to climate alarmists. That way, everything is "unprecedented" and they can justify their constant state of alarmism.
Wasn't that area a lagoon at one time so it literally was in the sea?
Dart garden!
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.
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!
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.
Dwight Murphy Field Park
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?
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.
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
I hope the "rich old man" gets his way
The key is transparency and disclosure.
"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.
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...
