••• “The city of Santa Barbara on Wednesday showed the News-Press elements of the draft State Street Master Plan that will go before the City Council in April. The draft master plan includes two options.” Brace yourselves. “Option 1 includes fast e-bikes and transit in a travel lane and road bikes in a separate bike lane, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The sidewalks on both sides of the street would be 19 feet. From 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., vehicles and delivery trucks could ride on the travel lane and E-bikes and road bikes on a separate bike lane. Option 2 is similar, except it places all e-bikes, road bikes and transit vehicles in the same lane from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition, the sidewalks would be 30-feet wide on both sides of State Street. From 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., vehicles and deliveries and all bikes would share the travel lane. Both plans, from Gutierrez to Victoria streets, include retractable bollards, that allow for parades and other special events.” Both seem unnecessarily complicated, but then the reasoning behind the shift at night is unexplained. (And who is going to police e-bikes in the “travel lane”?) Moreover, the city is also investigating “the possibility of making Anacapa and Chapala streets two-way, instead of the current one-way configuration.” If that means only one lane of traffic in each direction, I’ll be upset. One needs to be able to get around the people who drive 15 miles per hour.
••• “Santa Barbara County drops plan to ask voters for a sales tax increase […] The five-year, $66 million-plus budget shortfall could potentially impact everything from health care programs to emergency services. […] A poll commissioned by the county showed the tax proposal had enough support for passage. The idea was to put the tax plan on the June ballot. But the Supervisors took no action on the proposal, in effect killing it for now. County officials now say there is still the ability to put a version of it on the ballot for the November general election.” —KCLU
••• The redo of Sandpiper Golf Club finally took a step forward. —Noozhawk
••• “Less than one year after saying goodbye, the iconic Carpinteria surf shop Rincon Designs is set to return to 659 Linden Ave. later this year, to be overseen by longtime owner Matt Moore’s son, Ryan Moore, along with his wife and three children.” —Coastal View News
••• “Naples Housing Project Approved [….] Santa Barbara County Planning Commission Votes 4-1 to Approve What Could Be First of 71 Housing Projects on Undeveloped Slice of Gaviota Coast.” The project is “a seaside estate on the Naples bluff consisting of a 6,100-square-foot home, garage, ADU, 2,000-square-foot barn, pool, spa, driveway, and an onsite wastewater treatment system.” —Independent
••• “Austrian National Soccer Team Selected to Stay in Goleta, Practice at UCSB in the run-up to the World Cup. —Noozhawk
••• From a press release on BusinessWire: “Rancho Cañada Larga, a ±6,500-acre historic ranch in Ventura County, California, [has been sold] in a landmark $27.65 million land conservation transaction.” The property “was acquired by the Trust for Public Land. The acquisition ensures the permanent preservation of Rancho Cañada Larga as a public park, protecting one of the last major undeveloped land parcels in California from future development in perpetuity. Rancho Cañada Larga spans approximately 6,500 contiguous acres of rolling hills, streams, oak woodlands, and open pastureland. Located on the eastern side of State Highway 33, the ranch encompasses the Manuel, Weldon, Fresno, and Aliso Canyon watersheds, all of which are now permanently safeguarded from development.”
••• The tree of the month: “The Evergreen Pear creates a remarkable display of blossoms in mid-winter, when many other trees are dormant and quite bare. Ushering in the first hint of spring, this lovely tree will be completely covered by its white flowers. Afterwards, it will mimic a snowy winter, as its flower petals fall—gracefully as snowflakes—to cover the ground in blowing drifts.” —Edhat (photo by David Gress, courtesy Santa Barbara Beautiful)
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Have you seen the transformation taking place at the log Mackenzie market building? Wow
These draft plans are ridiculous. At this point, just revert things to what they were.
I was a promenade proponent pre-COVID. Attended the town halls and city council meetings where the topic was broached well in advance of 2020. Even in 2020 when it was first closed, it wasn’t that bad. I am a cyclist and used it regularly until 2022, by which point e-bike traffic had taken over and after being passed on the left too many times, I no longer felt safe riding.
I had dinner on State Street twice this week. Last Saturday at Joe’s we watched two teen boys circles the block at high speed, ignore red lights, and almost run over a chihuahua on a leash. I had dinner two nights ago at Sama Sama and it was quiet. In both instances though I had my 2 year old with me and she’s a runner so I never really feel that safe having her down there.
They should drop any mention of a promenade and call a spade a spade. It’s an e-bike highway.
*Meant to write “passed on the RIGHT.”
Agreed. Not one mention from the city how they would pay for all this (they are in a budget deficit as it is) or made any comment about what the economic benefit to downtown would be. We already have wide sidewalks more the adequate to handle pedestrian traffic on all but the busiest of parade days (which we don’t have on State anymore), pre-covid we already were able to shut down portions of the street for events and markets, and like or not vehicles slow down e-bikes and are necessary for out of towners to explore our downtown. I just don’t get why SB is spending millions of dollars to develop a plan they have not idea how to fund and execute. Before noon State Street is very sleepy, no need for a closure, and if you watch who does ride their bikes downtown, it’s commuters and kids, not people going downtown looking to shop and dine – which is what we need to be encouraging in our economic core. All this money and effort would have been, and will continue to be, better spent on adding more housing units downtown.
I agree completely. This was never a “Promenade”. I was for it as well during Covid, but now it is time to try anything to revive State Street. In the current configuration it is not working. We don’t need wider sidewalks because no one is coming to State Street anymore.
The drafts were a bit confusing but once I figured them all out block by block and studied the renderings I think this is the best proposal and design I have seen so far. I think it would be quite beautiful & suit the downtowns needs and accommodate bikes, cars, pedestrians, diners, the “theatre district”, the center of downtown connecting with De La Guerra Plaza. They are planning for lots of trees and a traditional SB Spanish design. Let’s get it passed and get something done & stop talking about it! Downtown deserves it! I♥️SB
For crying out loud—no new taxes! Trim the programs, trim the services.
It doesn’t seem that complicated? The opening at night is for deliveries, maintenance, and service, similar to how it’s opened for that at night today.
Serious suggestion … if State Street isn’t working as a “street,” change it into something else. Add a water feature? Make it a High Line-esque park? How exciting is blacktop? (Answer: not very. I for one never thought Covid “parklets” on blacktop were that appealing. Why would I want to eat a meal on blacktop? But I digress.) Get creative. No one is going there to shop, nor will they. Get rid of the “street” aspect all together and you may be onto something. And … don’t knock it till you try it!
I agree with you that it isn’t terribly inviting. It just looks like a street. Numerous case studies show people won’t use pedestrian thoroughfares that look like streets. NYC spent money in Times Square leveling the street to curb height and then people naturally gravitated toward using the open space. Also agree parklets were frankly gross and had shanty vibes.
All of that said, this feels like an exceptional instance of putting the cart before the horse. State Street is not struggling because of the street. It is a combination of the macro economy, high rents, consumers shopping online, storefronts that are too large so as to be appealing to many retailers, low population density downtown, and realistically a size of city that can only support so much retail and that retail having shifted to other locations.
The best fix for State Street is to increase population density downtown. We can always turn the street into a pedestrian thoroughfare later if we want. But this is an inane obsession with something that ultimately is just a random distraction at this point.
I agree with most except that bicycle traffic is not good for business on State street.
We spend more on State when riding as its so easy to stop for a drink or lunch. Driving is a commitment to finding parking and time limits. We used to ride on Bath and Castillo to avoid State st traffic but now enjoy cruising State to get to the beach.
I am in my 60’s and enjoy the energy of the bikes and kids down there. If only we had electric bikes back in tge day. The freedom these kids have is fantastic.
Bingo, this is typical cart before the horse. We simply don’t have the population to support such a long promenade. Build another 1-2,000 housing units downtown, then it starts to become feasible.
Everybody has an idea of how State street should work. But nothing is going to be changed because there is no money. From the city.
I’ll use the Saturday Farmers Market for an example. I like to get lunch at West Coast Deli on East Carrillo. I have a truck so I feel okay parking in the yellow commercial zones. So does everyone else. In fact people parking in the red zones for a few minutes is also common, I don’t have a problem with it. There is a need for a lot of parking from 11am to 1pm, Monday thru Friday. Quick in and out.
Then on Saturday the street is blocked for most of the day and it’s a great Farmers Market.
That’s how State street could be. Open most of the time to bikes, busses, cars, trucks, bike commuters, tourists on bikes,. . . and those awful e-bikes. Then, a few times a week, or less, it’s closed for events.
As pretty as they are-
Asian Pear Trees SMELL REAL BAD!!! Look it up.
It’s funny they forgot to mention, ask any nurseryman,
they stinky!
Let’s label any proposal to make Chapala and Anacapa two way streets what it would be – a really dumb idea. The current setup allows the traffic lights to be timed to facilitate traffic flow. Eliminating that will increase the time necessary to traverse those streets, thereby increasing congestion and pollution downtow, without an equivalent benefit.
the users, (abusers) of State Street are often marauders.
Those descending often go at excessive speed. Pre closure, there were traffic signals that did help. Separating e-bikes from human powered vehicles is probably reasonable. Making the Street one way only going up probably would work with that.
Wide pedestrian sidewalks help too. N
When will we finally admit that you can’t have your cake and eat it too on State Street? A pedestrian-friendly paseo does not mix with bikes—whether e-bikes or traditional bicycles.
Back when State Street was open to cars, I rode my beach cruiser up and down the street all the time. The difference? Pedestrians weren’t walking in the roadway.
In today’s mixed-use experiment—where pedestrians and bikes are forced to share the same space—pedestrians will never truly feel safe. And now city officials are tying themselves in knots trying to accommodate both uses in one corridor. It’s well-intentioned, but it’s not realistic.
This simply won’t work long term. The city needs to make a clear choice: either ban all bikes on State Street, or move pedestrians back onto the sidewalks. Trying to do both in the same space satisfies no one—and compromises safety for everyone.
Yes I agree. These things work in Europe for some reason. People are used to cars, bikes and pedestrians all on the street. Maybe we are in too much of a hurry or self-centered. Or just not used to it and time is not helping. Also, one thing people don’t bring up is that State street has a fairly steep grade! When going southward toward the pier, it is very easy and natural to pick up speed. Bicycles are not want to hit the brakes, but use the downhill speed when it comes. Who can blame them. Maybe we put up speed bumps. Ha, then we get a no-speed bump lobby…