Balanced Budget

[ Excerpt of "City Leaders Move Past Budget 'Doom'" by Melissa Evans, SB NEWSROOM, June 27 2007 ]


After nearly three months of deliberations and hours of community meetings, city leaders cheerily approved a spending plan for the next two years that will include a balanced budget for the first time in several years.

“We come to the table today with a balanced budget, which seemed like an impossibility to us four or five years ago,” said Councilman Roger Horton, chair of the city’s finance committee.

The $105 million budget includes more money for police services, youth programs, sustainability efforts and savings for future affordable housing projects -- all of which speak to the moral values of the city, Councilman Das Williams said.

“I think this document says a lot about our priorities,” he said.

The bulk of the budget for the next two years will go toward city salaries: About $32 million for police, $19 million will be spent on the finance department, $15 million on parks and recreation and $11 million on community development.

In the 2008 fiscal year, which begins July 1, the city plans to take in about $105 million from property tax, sales tax, hotel tax and other sources of income.

If projections hold true, the following year looks equally good: In 2009-10, the city would spend $107.6 million and take in $109.3 million. City leaders commended staff and other planners for creating a budget that would prevent having to dip into reserve accounts to pay for even long-range capital projects beyond 2008.

As part of this year’s budget, Santa Barbara leaders restored police bike patrol officers in the Westside and Eastside neighborhoods in hopes of stemming further gang violence after the stabbing death of 15-year-old Luis Angel Linares in March.

The officers will be paid for, in part, through a hike in the cost of parking tickets, which will increase by $6 to $41. The remainder of the revenue generated from that increase will go toward youth programs coordinated by the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

The city also restored drop-in hours for community members and their children at the Franklin Center, Harding and McKinley, and will commit more money toward after school programs for young people.

The city also doled out $1 million in grants through its redevelopment agency, including $500,000 to the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts and $201,588 to the Lobero Theater Foundation.

The city appears to have made it through years of budgetary “doom and gloom,” said Councilwoman Iya Falcone.

It took Santa Barbara several years to recover from the financial hit of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because the city relies heavily on revenue from tourists, officials said...



(Roger Horton, Finance Committee Chairman, image courtesy of SB City & SBNR)


For full text of this article, please go to:

SBNR: Moving Past Budget 'Doom'

Youth Violence

Das recently wrote to SantaBarbarasBlog about city funding of programs to help reduce youth violence:

“I wanted to detail briefly what we are adding in this year’s budget. $100,000 for a Neighborhood Bike Patrol in the Eastside and Westside. A $25,000 increase to double the current 20 kids involved in our youth apprenticeship program in Parks & Rec. We will have summer drop-off centers for grade school children at Ortega Park and three schools. We’ve eliminated the fees for Sports league programs with the City (which is alot of money because of the increase of participation we will have), increased staffing of the neighborhood center on the Lower Westside, starting a handball program, and we’ve increased by $35,000 the money allocated for Junior High After school Sports. I’m forgetting something, but it adds up to $174,000 in Recreation and 7 new or expanded programs in all.” - Das Williams

To read comments about what Das wrote, what the city is doing, and the problem of youth violence in our community, please go to:

SBB: Youth Violence

Announcement 2007

The following is Das'Re-Election Campaign Announcement, recently given at Arroyo Burro:



( Image courtesy of David Pritchett )


Thank you, my friends, for being here today.

I chose Arroyo Burro to begin my campaign for re-election to the City Council of Santa Barbara not just because it is emblematic of the kind of progress and work we are doing in the City, but also to illustrate how far we have to go to solve some of our worst problems. This is a revolutionary project, one that takes a damaged wetlands system and enlarges it and restores a creek that no one has seen in decades. This, with further restoration upsteam, has the potential to bring this system back into balance, both for wildlife and the people that get sick swimming in the ocean from the resulting pollution.

Unfortunately, it is still considered one of the most polluted beaches in Southern California. So we need to continue our efforts, and focus on results.


Here are my results during my first term in office:

-- Four years ago, when it rained, sewers on the Eastside would overflow onto the street several times a year. Now we have just completed construction on a nearly $3 million project to reduce that frequency, perhaps to zero.

-- Four years ago we had no real Living Wage ordinance, now we have one of the most generous in the nation.

-- Four years ago, despite rising congestion problems, we were looking at higher bus fares and less service. Now we have increased the frequency of buses to make it possible for commuters to switch to mass transit and the transit-dependent to get a seat on our most popular lines.

-- I promised solar power on City rooftops and we now have one on a fire station and two more on the way.

-- One of the things I am most proud of is standing up for our neighborhoods against uncontrolled development without abandoning my commitment to affordable housing. We passed the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance (NPO) in the same year we massively expanded the percentage of RDA funds going toward affordable housing. We defeated proposals like the State Street Lofts while financing the building of five or six new affordable projects.


And it's not like I got all of this done alone. We have built a strong team on the council and one committed to environmental sustainability.

But there is more to be done. Our City is still stuck in traffic. Our beaches and creeks are still in need of help. Working people are still being squeezed out of town by condo conversions and a high cost of living. Some of our children are still caught in a life on the streets. And that beautiful green belt that I biked down to get here today is still threatened with development.

At my request, the City has initiated discussions with the School District on how to preserve the Hidden Valley parcel from development, but some of our last open spaces may disappear if we do not remain vigilant.

I am optimistic that we can deliver on these issues that are left undone because WE are a community that understands the interconnection of life, that cherishes the natural beauty of our environment, and that respects the limits of our natural resources. I am optimistic because we are a community where even our tough police force is integrally involved in turning around children’s lives.

I am optimistic that we will go beyond my promises, because we are a community that is not afraid to face the tough issues that other levels of government may shy from. Because of this our city is a leader in helping to curb greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the use of pesticides, and youth programs.

So I am very honored that you have joined with me today, and that you stand by me as I ask the voters to renew my term of service and embark on meeting these challenges.

-- DAS WILLIAMS

"Westside Stories"

[ Excerpt of "Westside Stories," by Zac Estrada, SB INDEPENDENT, 14 June 2007 ]


Concerned parents, residents, and elected officials gathered on Saturday, June 9, to create possible solutions to youth gang activity on the Westside and throughout Santa Barbara. Attendees heard a litany of problems — attributed to youths, parents, the city, and police, depending on who was speaking — and some possible solutions, including the idea of installing security cameras to monitor neighborhood gang activity. In the parking lot of a Cota Street apartment building, about 45 residents and concerned community members — some pushing strollers or holding the hands of their children — sat in the sun while they described their problems to local leaders.

Herminia Guerrero coordinated the meeting after contacting 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal to voice concerns she shared with other residents unhappy with what government agencies are doing to prevent gang activity. Carbajal headlined the panel of officials — which included Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum, city councilmembers Das Williams and Iya Falcone, and others...

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For full text of this article and comments, please go to:

SBI: Westside Stories

District Elections or Hybrid

[ SantaBarbaraBlog asked council members for their opinions on district elections. So far, only Das has responded. The following is an excerpt of "Commentary" at SantaBarbarasBlog, 12 June 2007 ]


Local events dominating the first half of 2007 have opened many eyes to the fact that Santa Barbara needs greater diversity on the City Council. One proposed solution is the implementation of… single-district elections.

With the Mayor elected via an at-large vote, the remaining Council candidates would be chosen from smaller constituent pools of around 15,000 residents. Single-district elections could significantly lower the cost of campaigning and would inevitably open the doors to a more diverse pool of candidates.

“The advantage of district elections is greater accountability to constituents and harder work on neighborhood issues like potholes & streetlamps,” Councilmember Williams told the Blog. “It also promotes ethnic and ideological diversity. District elections prevent one group from wielding disproportionate power, like a set of developers or downtown interests or even an environmental group.” (full quote below...)

With less than five months left before the next election… no new candidates have expressed interest in running for City Council. The current system is broke and it is time to put single-district elections back up for vote. Santa Barbara needs to find an immediate way to advance diversity and the goal of proportional representation.

“The advantage of district elections is greater accountability to constituents and harder work on neighborhood issues like potholes & streetlamps. It also promotes ethnic and ideological diversity. District elections prevent one group from weilding disproportionate power, like a set of developers or downtown interests or even an environmental group. The upside of at-large elections is the ability to take the interests of the whole city into account. Because each has distinct advantage, I support either district elections or the hybrid system mentioned in the Grand Jury Report, but originally brought forward by a citizen’s study group headed by Dr. John Kay, Poli Sci Prof at SBCC.” - Councilmember Das Williams

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To view the original posting and comments, please go to:
SBB: District Elections

Religion & Leadership

[ Excerpt from "Democrats Court Religious Leaders," By Melissa Evans, SB NEWS ROOM, June 01 2007 ]

Hoping to dispel the myth that Democrats aren’t religious -- and that the religious only care about abortion and gay marriage -- clergy and liberal politicians will come together for an unprecedented summit this weekend in Goleta.

The event, coordinated at the request of the California Democratic Party, is the result of more than a year of informal conversations and roundtable discussions with local clergy.

Democrats, in part, want to learn lessons from the 2004 presidential election -- in which the Religious Right successfully captured the language of the religious and lobbied conservative voters using polarizing social issues, said Karin Quimby, a Democratic activist who helped organize the summit...

Santa Barbara City Councilman Das Williams, an evangelical Christian, is also participating in a panel discussion on poverty. The other workshops will look at issues such as the environment, foreign policy, healthcare, immigration and “politics from the pulpit.”

The issues to be discussed were selected by clergy members through a poll conducted by Quimby over the last several months. She asked religious leaders to identify their top concerns...

“Our No. 1 goal is to create a space inside the Democratic party where religious leaders feel they have a place to speak out,” said Jonathon Saur, a Westmont College graduate who is helping organize Sunday’s event at the Goleta Valley Community Center.

“The Religious Right has been much more vocal when it comes to faith language, but it’s a myth that there’s no faithful Democrats out there,” Saur added.

As Democrats head into the 2008 Presidential Election, the religious moderates and progressives will be a crucial voice, Quimby said. She stressed that they don’t want to “use” religious leaders to create a front for social issues -- but rather incorporate their voices into the public dialogue...

The participants also include members of the Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Native American communities. In a letter penned to media, a dozen religious leaders said they look forward to speaking on “critical moral issues facing our communities, our nation and our world.”

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For full text of this article, please go to:

SBNR: Religious Summit