••• The July 10 raids by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Guard on Glass House Farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo continue to reverberate through the area. The Independent‘s timeline of events is well worth reading, and here are some highlights (for lack of a better word) from other coverage.
“Federal agents raided a Carpinteria cannabis business Thursday, and a large crowd formed in the area to protest and call for them to leave without detaining workers,” reported Noozhawk. “At 1:10 p.m., the federal agents deployed smoke grenades near the crowd, estimated at 100-200 people. They appeared to use the projectiles, which caused people to cough, so they could leave the area.”
On Monday, KEYT reported that “federal authorities now say at least 361 people and 14 children were taken into custody,” which is many more than initially estimated. Moreover, “federal officials say the raids uncovered potential cases of child labor, human trafficking, and illegal hiring, as well as criminal activity among some of those detained.” Time will tell whether any of that bears out.
The dragnet also pulled in at least one U.S. citizen. Also from KEYT: “George Retes, a 25-year-old disabled veteran and U.S. citizen working as a security guard at the [Camarillo] farm, was also detained during the operation. He was held for three days and released without charges on Sunday.”
These are people’s lives, and the stories are heartbreaking. Take this one from the Independent: 15-year-old Juan Martinez’s “mother was among more than two dozen Glass House Farms employees arrested [….] An undocumented migrant from Guerrero, Mexico, she had been living and working in Southern California for 16 years and has no criminal record, Martinez said. Martinez has not heard from her since. Meanwhile, he is doing his best to look after his two siblings, ages 8 and 9.”
Lastly, ICE accused congressman Salud Carbajal “of trying to incite violence,” reports KCLU. “When [Carbajal] tried to reach the raid, he was denied access. Instead, he stood between the crowd and the armed agents, talking to reporters and protesters. On social media, ICE posted that the congressman was part of a ‘violent mob of protesters,’ calling them ‘rioters.’ The ICE post struck a political tone, saying that the congressman’s constituency should remember he chose violence over the rule of law.”
••• The final phase of widening Highway 101, which includes totally redoing the Cabrillo/Hot Springs interchange, should start next spring. —Noozhawk
••• Old Spanish Days Fiesta “announced a slightly altered parade route today. […] The Friday Historical Parade will stretch from Pershing Park to Calle Cesar Chavez along Cabrillo Boulevard, but stop short of the Hilton hotel. This year’s parade will feature 58 entries, 27 carriages, and at least 100 riders on horseback, who will return to the park via Yanonali and Garden streets after the parade has passed.” It’s on August 1. —Independent
••• “The City of Santa Barbara has almost completed the removal of eight [fabulous ficus] trees along Milpas Street [….] The next phase of the project, part of the city’s plans to improve safety, is to plant 25 trees.” And five more “trees will be removed when construction begins.” —Noozhawk
••• Women’s apparel brand Veronica Beard is opening a shop at 1269 Coast Village Road, formerly the site of Allora by Laura. This will be the company’s tenth store. —Montecito Journal
••• “Right before the county supervisors convened behind closed doors to discuss the pending lawsuit filed against them by Exxon and Sable Offshore Corp., Supervisor Joan Hartmann dropped a bombshell: The alleged conflict of interest that prevented her voting on all matters involving Sable oil had been reevaluated and she was now legally permitted full voting rights, albeit under relatively narrow constraints. That’s a big deal because with Hartmann recusing herself, the supervisors had been deadlocked in a perpetual 2-2 tie when voting on issues concerning Sable Offshore.” —Independent
••• Father-daughter duo Juan and Janeth Sanchez, who both worked at Patco Jewelry, have opened JJ Jewelry, which does repair, at 810 E. Gutierrez Street. —Independent
••• I’ve been a little suspicious of how many Edhat posts are by one person, Rubaiya Karim, with a lack of specificity (i.e., rewritten press releases) that made me wonder if she’s local. And then Laurie pointed out that a recent article was flat-out wrong, so I looked into it. Karim lives in Bangalore, India. Maybe that’s better than having ChatGPT do the writing?
••• “Ventura’s Main Street is set to reopen to vehicles in November, bringing an end to the pedestrian friendly area that many residents and visitors have enjoyed since the pandemic. Ventura’s effort to make the road closure permanent failed July 8, after a majority of property owners in the downtown area expressed opposition citing revenue losses. The City Council voted unanimously to terminate the initiative.” Santa Barbara should follow suit. —VC Star
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Everyone who believes reopening State St to all vehicle traffic will fix it keeps forgetting it’s had problems for almost 20 years as the big chains that displaced local stores started pulling out because of the recession and decline in big retail. Then greedy property owners were happy to leave spaces vacant until they got their absurd asking rates. Those tactics haven’t changed
“Then greedy property owners were happy to leave spaces vacant until they got their absurd asking rates.” – you know not of what you speak apzer.
I mostly agree with you, apzer. You’re especially right that reopening State Street to cars won’t solve the problems that some businesses face there; but it would be a fatal step backward for the vibrant, pedestrian-friendly atmosphere that is working for many other businesses and has the potential to become a real amenity for our community.
But re: property owners, rather than deem them ‘greedy,’ I think our energy is better spent creating incentives for the actions we want to see. We could cut red tape for new concepts, better encourage use of outdoor space, support housing conversions, and find other common-ground solutions that are consistent with a bike- and pedestrian-friendly State Street.
I don’t think they’re all greedy but there’s a financial benefit to claim a loss on a vacant property while holding out for someone to pay $5/NNN per square foot when it’s something the market won’t bear. It’ s been happing on State St for almost 20 years and it’s not just SB.
That said, yes, there should be more incentive to change zoning downtown, mix retail/office/residential concepts, and streamline the approval and permit process. Again, SB isn’t alone here but it will have to deal with constant turnover and vacancies in prime areas if it doesn’t adapt with current consumer and real estate trends.
Apzer, that is totally false on landlords receiving a financial benefit for vacant properties. Please don’t spread misinformation.
Apzer, can you please direct me to the IRS rule where i can deduct rental losses? i have never heard of such a thing, and our CPA have never informed me of such. I know that for insurance purposes you can be compensated, i.e. if there is a flood and the tenant can’t pay do business/rent for X months you can be compensated. As far as taxes go, you can deduct insurance/property tax/etc but don’t think you can just say you should be receiving $10sqft rent and keep it vacant in perpetuity.
Depreciation.
Rich – No. They get the depreciation regardless of whether it’s leased or vacant.
You are correct. It’s a myth. Other than depreciation on a vacant building that is available for lease there are no write-offs. And if you take depreciation for many years your cost basis is reduced, which means potentially higher capital gains.
The bigger factor is that if an owner accepted lower (aka “market”) rent, it would reduce the overall value of the property on paper. Which, if they are using as collateral, reduces their borrowing power. By keeping asking rents high, the paper value of the property stays high, and, in their calculation, is worth the tradeoff of a vacant property.
You are spot on!!
Sean-Which banks are lending on empty property? I have had a few commercial property loans over the years and it is a pretty rigorous process even with 75%+ occupancy. I cant see anyone loaning against an empty building.
And no way would any bank accept an owners “asking rent” as what the potential market rent would be, they hire their own appraisers to determine that.
The “pedestrian mall” along state street is more like an e-bike tournament venue
I feel terrible for Ventura.
State Street promenade is by far the most vibrant and busy downtown has been in the past 15 years. The parklets especially added to a feeling of community and vitality that’s been missed on the blocks between Sola and Anapamu.
Everyone who gripes that they don’t go downtown because of lack of vehicular traffic is just going to find something else to complain about (homelessness, inflation, etc.) and still won’t contribute to the area.
Parking counts, pedestrian counts, and sales tax revenue disagree with your assumption that State is the most vibrant and busy it’s been in 15 years. The most vibrant and busy I’ve seen State was always during the Solstice and Fiesta parades – and people actually stuck around after when it was on State.
From the article, it seems like it’s not a done deal, but yes, it would be a terrible loss for Ventura. A good reminder for those of us who support a car-free State St. to continue rallying our neighbors and work with city officials to see the promenade made permanent and improved upon.
Thank you for the reporting on the ICE / DHS raids last week in Carpinteria.
I was there in person. And happy to provide a first hand account of what happened from a witnesses perspective. I hope this can set some of the record straight.
https://www.facebook.com/1383941912/videos/1399971087896529/
Thank you.
Amidst all the fake news out there, thanks, Erik, for reporting the real stuff. It takes people like you out there with real eyes and ears, keen editorial judgment, copy-editing and fact-checking skills, and hard work pounding the pavement to keep us informed. It’s not an easy task, and you do it so well.
361 people were arrested by LICE? 10 in Carp leaving the balance in Camarillo. Hard to imagine how many actual workers were on site to generate those numbers. Its also hard to imagine that Glass House would be that dumb if so. They cant possibly be doing their own HR. I would think they would use some sort of agency. Facts are going to be elusive.
ICE is pretty good at their investgative job- love the web page subpage about global trade- about investigating and preventing intellectual property rights violations, digital piracy, illicit trade and customs fraud. Nothing like a good read about Korean purse counterfitting! The statistics are jaw dropping
PS I googled frontwards and backwards, no arrest breakdowns from the 361 arrests at Glass House businesses, so we don’t know that only 10 were at Carpinteria….in fact 14 minors were located there, not arrested as far as I know
“Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the action taken by the City Council and its next steps”
The VC Star Article was wrong – they’ve since updated it. Ventura City Council is no longer pursuing making it legally a ‘pedestrian mall’, they aren’t reopening to cars.
Also curious why you think Santa Barbara should ‘follow suit’? State Street has lower vacancy rates than prepandemic and is more vibrant than ever.
“More vibrant than ever”? We can debate the causes but it is a far cry from the most vibrant it’s ever been…
Carbajal doxing law enforcement is disgusting.
When you have ‘law makers’ running to break the law to secure future votes it has a negative impact on the community. You can see it in the degradation of our city. This is the problem in SB.
Trust me, the people throwing rocks at the immigration vans were not migrant working Mexicans.
The same people that complain about over development in their neighborhoods are the same people that support people like Carbajal. It is unsustainable to have a lawmakers side with the people breaking the law. I am not talking about the people working at the nursery, I’m talking about the people on the street disrupting and being aggressive to law-enforcement. That’s not OK.
The only reason I talk on this because these policies ultimately negatively affect the Mexican community. Having no law DOES NOT protect Mexicans. It negatively affects us and puts our lives in more danger. You would only know this living in the neighborhood where we live
The fact that people don’t understand this is crazy, but living it and loving my Mexican people, I’m so tired of hearing other people decide what the best is for Mexicans that are not from Mexico.
Just keep on paying your cleaning lady and your gardener.
oh jus pick up the dog poo before your gardener comes:)
AMEN!
Open State St to traffic. The 500 block with all the retaurants/bars is great but go to the 800/900 block around the mall and you feel like you’re in a ghost town. If Ventura property owners voted to open Main St why do you think State St owners would be any different???