Recent Comments

Any day of the week you can pass through the 800 block of Cacique Street—where the shelter is located, and experience excessive obscenities, shouting, physical threats, heaps of rubbish obstructing public ways, human feces on the streets & sidewalks, and a stench so potent you physically recoil. Look beyond this stretch and you will find an ever growing “Public Health Risk”. In which the Code Enforcement Staff and Police refer to as “Highly Impacted Zones”. Which I quote, “From our Code Enforcement angle, we are working to abate the trash and odor complaints with power washing of the sidewalks, paired with a litter pickup. Homeless outreach services are working to contact individuals on the sidewalk and address the homelessness that is largely responsible for the trash and odor issues. The Police continue regular patrols of the area. (Yet our City with a population of approx. 90,000, only has 6 police on patrol at any given time). These areas are a continuing challenge for the City to address, but we hope to make positive impacts with the resources noted above. We appreciate your assistance in reporting issues as you see them.” If they speak the truth, and use the words “Public Health Risk” the City is liable for allowing this risk to the public to perpetuate over the past decade. So they speak in code. Using deceptive phrases like “Highly Impacted Zones”. If human feces is on our street, if a homeless person throws feces at you, or leaves infected needles in the park where your child plays, THIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH RISK. The allowance of this behavior to fester has created a daily interference with the public’s health, safety, peace of mind, and overall sense of freedom to walk down the street in their own City and their own neighborhood. These conditions have created a situation so substantial, that it has caused an unreasonable interference with the public's health, safety, peace, and convenience, affecting an entire community, not just a single neighborhood or individual. More specifically, the 800 block of Cacique Street—where the shelter is located—has experienced an uptick in homeless-related 911 calls. Residents have reported increased incidents of loitering, public defecation, theft, disruptive behaviors, sexual assault crimes, drug issues, trespassing, theft, burglary, breaking & entering, car jacking, bike theft, and violent behavior that spills over into surrounding areas. The Police classify a majority of these calls as “Nuisance Crimes”. No report is filed - which artificially alter crime stats. Creating lower crime statistics than the reality we all live in. Gaslighting the public. Did you know that when you call 911 for emergency help, you must request “Police Contact”? If you do not specifically request “Police Contact” and the responding officer drives by without witnessing anything, the officer automatically reports the incident as “Cleared”! The officer does not even get out of their vehicle. Police responses fall short of resolving crime in Santa Barbara. Leaving the taxpaying, law abiding citizens to bear the consequences. Acquiring the PATH building will entrench these issues rather than alleviate them. The financial implications of this purchase are inconceivable. The building carries a $3,200,000 MILLION DEBT and is encumbered with a covenant restricting its use to homeless services until 2049. Acquiring it would saddle the City with significant liabilities for the next 24 YEARS! PATH itself has cited inadequate public funding as a key reason for ceasing operations by December 31, 2025, after operating at a deficit. If the City proceeds with this purchase, they will be irresponsibly taking on more debt, for the next 24 YEARS. In addition to this year’s FISCAL BUDGET DEFICIT of $8,052,695 MILLION. Is the City’s estimated annual lease payment for the Series 2024 lease revenue bonds. Which is approximately $9,200,000 MILLION per year for the next 20-30 years. (Exact data not published) Not to mention the UNFUNDED PENSION LIABILITIES totaling approximately $344,500,000 MILLION. Santa Barbara is in a state of financial distress. The City Council is mismanaging our tax payer money. Year after year, piling up more debt. And burdening tax paying citizens. Costs keep rising. And the benefits to those paying taxes are simultaneously degrading. Our community deserves solutions that enhance safety and fiscal responsibility, without exacerbating existing problems at an additional expense to tax paying, law abiding citizens. We have had enough! We deserve better. This acquisition would impose an undue financial burden on taxpayers, perpetuate ongoing community disruptions, and fail to deliver effective solutions based on the shelter’s track record.