••• The city of “Santa Barbara will explore bringing a residential and commercial vacancy tax ballot measure to voters, but not until the November 2028 election.” There must be other ways to govern besides taxation. —Noozhawk
••• “State Street Holiday Parade Gets Green Light After Six-Year Hiatus.” —Noozhawk
••• Antique Alley will close in December after 33 years at 706 State Street. —Santa Barbara News-Press
••• “Nearly three decades after Santa Barbara voters banned gasoline-powered leaf blowers, the devices remain in widespread use throughout the city—including by city employees and contractors—according to a scathing new report from the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury.” —Edhat
••• “According to South Coast activists monitoring ICE enforcement actions on the South Coast, seven ICE vehicles hit Santa Barbara’s Westside and Eastside before 7 a.m. on Sunday, detaining and arresting anywhere from nine to 11 individuals on unspecified charges related to their immigration status.” They reportedly bear-sprayed a woman through her rear car window, sent a U.S. citizen to the hospital, and “hit speeds of 80 miles an hour barreling down San Andres Street [and] allegedly then performed donuts with their vehicles under the freeway overpass for about 15 minutes.” —Independent
••• Electrify America‘s EV-charging station at Carrillo and Chapala has opened. —Santa Barbara News-Press
••• “Santa Rosa Island Will Reopen to Public Following Historic Fire [….] Day Trips to Resume July 1, but Overnight Campers Will Have to Wait” for an undetermined amount of time. —Independent
••• The Santa Barbara Unified School District “school board unanimously approved a plan to repurchase 3.65 acres of what’s known as the Tatum property, located next to El Camino Elementary School at San Marcos Road and San Simeon Drive, to build affordable housing. […] The project will include 106 units. All will be income-restricted for households at or below 80% of the area median income. Priority housing will go to school district employees, and employees at other school districts will receive housing as a secondary priority. Eight units will also be reserved for veterans.” —Noozhawk
••• “New Anthem Chapel hit a setback in its quest to establish a Goleta home for its congregation. The Goleta Planning Commission did not approve the Christian church’s proposal to build a new facility at 6595 Covington Way after a lengthy Monday meeting. The project developers are allowed to appeal the commission’s decision to the Goleta City Council.” —Noozhawk
••• An update on the proposal to build an 18-story tower near the freeway in Carpinteria. —Noozhawk
••• Santa Barbara News-Press reports on a Carpinteria couple who launched a line of dolls called Seaglimmers “with nine types of mermaid characters resembling a family.” According to the brand’s website, the doll known as Mama Glimmer “gently breastfeeds her Baby Glimmer with a safety tested embedded magnet attachment.”
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I’m supportive of immigration enforcement but if the reports of ICE agents driving on city streets at 80 mph, freeways at 100 mph, doing donuts, and bear spraying people for exercising the first amendment rights are true, there needs to be accountability. It’s beyond unacceptable.
The ICING (pun intended) on this so called WITNESSED EVENT is
“15 minutes of DONUTS” under the freeway!
Really people?
Believe that, I’ve got an oil platform to sell you.
Vacancy tax? I understand other cities have looked at this to encourage property development. Stick instead of a carrot?
In SB where we dont have that problem, would it be aimed at homes left vacant for occasional visitors? Is that really a problem here? Maybe Montecito or Hope Ranch but does that realistically help with housing shortages? Or is this just a revenue grab?
Please please please enforce the gas leaf blowers ban. In addition to the noise and air pollution from 2 stroke motors this would have to qualify as an OSHA violation for workers. The battery powered equipment is now more efficient and convenient than gas and oil mixtures polluting our neighborhoods.
I assume that’s on OSHA‘s priority list.
Gas blowers in an open field.
I‘m sure all the roofers, insulators or guys carrying concrete 8h a day are happy they don’t have to deal with that danger…
One does not exclude the other.
There is no trade off or downside in this case. I’ve talked to gardeners using electric equipment. They can run everything off a single battery pack. Much less expensive to operate and maintain. No trips for gas just plug in at home or shop.
For shift workers that need sleep during the day that alone is enough.
I’m all for affordable housing and this is a wonderful step, especially for teachers, and district employees, who are the backbone of our community. But I hope we also start asking a bigger question: when will we create more affordable pathways to ownership, not just affordable rent? Community land trusts, shared-equity models, creative financing, and even partnerships with donor-advised funds could help more residents build equity instead of simply accessing below-market housing. Affordable rentals are important, but they shouldn’t be the end goal. Long-term community resilience comes from giving people the opportunity to own a small piece of the future they’re helping build.
They’re about to really harm one of the best pathways to home ownership for first time buyers – renting an extra room, back house, garage apt, etc. to help pay for the mortgage. That’s how I could afford my first mortgage. People who need to do that are more likely to create more rental units for the market, compared to wealthier people who would rather keep a spare back house empty for family/friends
But the rent control makes it uneconomical. And with the new eviction regulations, both are regulatory liabilities that no first time home owner should take on the risk.
Also the city doesn’t want any new condos, only new rentals. But condos and townhomes are a much lower bar for first time buyers than houses and easier way to start building equity.
city council wants to control the market too much with policies that back fire