There is a “solution” to homelessness. Enforcement of existing laws that take back public spaces is part of it. Housing and counseling is the other part. But it takes money and dedication to do this. If we want a better, healthier environment in Santa Barbara we need to start now and motivate our governments and charitable organizations to step up and commit to solve the problem.
The City of Santa Barbara is letting the heart of their town, State Street, die. Empty stores, a struggling mall, and the homeless are the symptoms. The homeless are using the street as their crash pad: intoxication, panhandling, sleeping, urinating deter shoppers from enjoying this public space. It can be fixed but the City needs to show some leadership and rethink their approaches to the problems. They seem to be unable or unwilling to do that.
Santa Barbara’s liberal City Council voted to delay the implementation of 5G wireless service in the city in the hope they could kill it. They are doing this because they fear the “dangers” of electromagnetic radiation (aka, radio waves). Yet the overwhelming scientific opinion is that 5G radiofrequency radiation is harmless. These science-denier tin-hatters fail to understand this issue. People want 5G. Why don’t they let their constituents vote with their dollars and see if they want it.
Just cause eviction ordinances have more to do with politics than “justice”. The unforeseen consequences in tight rental markets in California will be to reduce housing opportunities for poor tenants as apartment owners with less control over their property will be much more selective in choosing tenants.
An eccentric 104-year old woman left her $100 million Santa Barbara mansion to a foundation to “foster the arts”. Instead of benefiting many deserving existing arts organizations, her fortune will be tied up in a money pit property which will end up as a tourist attraction. The property should be sold and the income generated from its endowment used to foster local arts organizations.
It happened here, not somewhere else. This was the shocking thing about Montecito’s tragedy. It’s easy to watch disasters unfolding elsewhere and you think, “Oh, those poor people”. We’ve lived in Montecito for 40 years so there isn’t a lot I haven’t seen on our South Coast. There have been fires and deluges and floods and wind, but no one was expecting these twin disasters. (more…)
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