Restless Natives

[ Excerpt from Barney Brantingham's column, SB INDEPENDENT, November 21, 2007 ]


Then there’s [the]... Veronica Meadows 25-home project off Las Positas Road. Now a judge has found fault with the environmental report and is tossing the whole enchilada back to the council. Councilmembers Das Williams and Schneider oppose annexing the property to the city. “I can’t see any reason to approve building luxury housing on open space,” Williams said.

Is it a surprise that both Das and Helene kept their seats on November 6?

... The natives are restless...

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Full text available at:

Santa Barbara Independent: Big, Bad Building

Final Election Results

[ From KEYT-TV newscast November 20, 2007]

Final election results are in... Das Williams received a total of 8,415 votes, Helene Schneider a total of 7,521 and Dale Francisco received 7,058 votes... Michelle Giddens (votes at 6,520) and Brian Barnwell (6,558) were just 500 votes short of being elected.

The three elected City Councill members will be sworn into office in January.

All the totals can be found on the City's website.

Stats are at:
Santa Barbara City Certified Election Results

To view the original KEYT-TV newscast, please go to:
KEYT Final Election Results

"Bridge to Nowhere"

[ From "Serious Setback for Controversial Creekside Development - Bridge to Nowhere?" By Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT ]


... In response to a lawsuit against [Mark] Lee’s project filed by the Urban Creeks Council and Citizens Planning Association, [Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Thomas] Anderle concluded the City Council violated the California Environmental Quality Act by approving a project with “unavoidable and unmitigatable” negative environmental impacts when feasible development alternatives posed fewer environmental consequences. In this case, the EIR concluded that the entrance bridge Lee proposed building across Los Positas Creek — strategically avoiding Alan Road, where residents bemoan the hordes who already park there for Arroyo Burro Beach access — would significantly impact the creek’s wildlife. Instead, Anderle noted that the EIR identified Alan Road as an environmentally superior entrance to the project. The city council could dismiss alternatives only if they were found infeasible, he ruled. No such evidence had been provided...

... Two councilmembers — Helene Schneider and Das Williams — have stated their opposition to any proposed alternatives. The other councilmembers have wavered in their reaction to three separate Veronica Meadows plans over the past year. Mayor Marty Blum, a swing vote on the project, was subdued in her reaction to Anderle’s ruling, commenting, “If he’s saying that we have no choice but to support the Alan Road alternative, then why are we even up here?” But Williams said the ruling gave the council a chance to rectify its past vote. “This is a very clear choice,” he said. “The land isn’t even in the city, so we don’t have any property rights we need to protect. I can’t see any reason to approve building luxury housing on open space. And I intend to persuade my fellow councilmembers of this.”





Veronica Americana image courtesy of www.swcoloradowildflowers.com


For full text of this article, please go to:
SBI: Bridge to Nowhere

Different Approaches

Nick Welsh wrote of the major reasons why Brian Barnwell did not achieve re-election and will thus will end his councilman's role at the end of December. In his analysis, Nick compared Brian's approach to Das':


Because of Brian's praise of the St. Francis project, "Little wonder that on election night Barnwell tanked in the upper Eastside neighborhoods near St. Francis. Little wonder, also, that Das Williams — the only councilmember to vote against the St. Francis housing project — was the top vote-getter on the upper Eastside.

"The lesson Williams has distilled from the election results was that the candidates who worked hardest and walked precincts earliest did the best in an election where the fewest number ever bothered going to the polls. For Williams, campaigning has always been like a nervous tic. He has to knock on doors; he has to raise money. And he did — more than anyone else. Williams, who emerged out of Santa Barbara’s progressive activist camp, could always count on the eco-groovy, stop-the-war, cars-suck, granola-eating bloc. But unlike any other operator from that camp, he actively wooed — and in some instances wowed — the splintered micro tribes of Santa Barbara’s neighborhood activists who are unified in their conviction that the bums in City Hall are plotting to sell them out...

"Had Barnwell taken a page from Williams’s book and actively wooed the liberal Dems, maybe he’d have done better. But in this regard, Barnwell proved either lackadaisical, fatalistic, or both, and seemed to blow them off..."

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For Nick's full column, please go to:
SBI: Yellow Dog Blues

Frank Hotchkiss

Frank Hotchkiss made some comments about this past election, but mostly about the one to follow. Full story at SantaBarbarasBlog:

SantaBarbarasBlog.com » Frank being frank

Wins & Losses 2

[ Excerpt of "Williams, Schneider, Francisco win Council seats," by ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND, November 7, 2007 ]


Standing on plush red chairs at Pascucci on State Street, Councilmembers Das Williams and Helene Schneider embraced in celebration of their one-two finish in yesterday’s Council election.

“Number one and number two, and that’s a good thing,” Schneider said, pointing first to Williams, then to herself. “…We’re really proud to be continuing our work for the next four years. There’s so much we need to do to keep Santa Barbara the amazing place it is.”

Halfway down the street at Left at Albuquerque, challenger Dale Francisco, surrounded by campaign supporters, friends and family, reveled in his third place finish, good enough to take one of the three seats up for grabs.

“I feel great, but I’ve been feeling great for days,” Francisco said. “I came into this as a complete novice. I knew that if I didn’t get elected this time, I would definitely be elected in two years.”

Williams led the semi-official tally with 7,315 votes, followed by Schneider with 6,539 and Francisco with 6,290. Challenger Michelle Giddens took fourth position in the polls, while incumbent Brian Barnwell finished with 5,725 votes.

“I don’t think the middle of the road is working,” Barnwell said, offering his explanation for the election results. “I was a middle of the road kind of guy.”

Frank Hotchkiss filled in the sixth place position, garnering 5,319 votes, while Dr. Dan Litten pulled in 1,874 votes. Bob Hansen finished with 724 votes and Dr. Michael Cooper, who dropped out of the campaign race early on, still collected 694 votes.

As the celebration party wore on at Pascucci, Williams credited Schneider for keeping him from being marginalized on the Council and in the campaign.

“I really appreciate Helene being there, backing me up on so many issues,” Williams said.

“I want to see us continue to be involved,” he continued. “In this town, when people don’t participate, bad things happen. We’re going to make good things happen in the next four years.”

Francisco, who will take his seat at the Council dais in January, said he is looking forward to the challenge.

“I hope to do all the things I said I would do,” he said. “I want to focus on real city problems.”

Although he will have to relinquish his seat come January, Barnwell said he still plans to be involved in local government.

“I’m still interested in the city of Santa Barbara,” Barnwell said. “I’m violently interested in it.”

With about 1,500 absentee and provisional ballots left to be counted, city officials estimated about 32.6 percent of registered voters came to the polls or sent in absentee ballots.

“It’s an odd-year election,” Marcelo Lopez, city administrative services director, said. “The turnout is lower in odd years.”

At the Presidio Springs Senior Center recreation room, poll workers said of the 900 potential voters in that precinct, only about 100 trickled in during the day.

“I’ve been a poll worker for the County of Santa Barbara for the last 12 years, and this is the slowest I’ve ever seen,” Kimberly Goldstein said.

When voters walked through the doors and heading toward the ballot table, the five poll workers cheered, Goldstein said, glad to see someone coming in to cast their vote.

Gordon Forbes, who filled out a ballot at the senior center, said he cast his vote for Williams, Schneider and Francisco, the three victors. When asked why he picked Francisco, Forbes said, “I don’t know too much about him, but he seemed to favor keeping the town within its limits.”

Yesterday’s proceedings marked the first city-run election in decades. The County of Santa Barbara had hosted the municipal elections in recent years, but prohibitive cost estimates had city officials looking for a less expensive method...

Wins & Losses

[ Excerpt of: "Williams and Schneider In; Francisco Triumphs Over Barnwell
Measure A Election Reform Goes Down in Flames," By Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT, November 7, 2007 ]


... In a low turn-out election where very few voters bothered going to the polls —- the vast majority of ballots were cast, absentee style, by mail —- incumbents Das Williams and Helene Schneider managed to win re-election by comfortable margins. But their fellow incumbent Brian Barnwell was knocked off, placing fifth in a field of eight candidates with only three seats up for grab. Barnwell will be replaced on the council by challenger Dale Francisco... “The middle of the road is no longer fashionable,” Barnwell concluded of his surprising loss. “You’re either one extreme or the other. That’s the way it went tonight.”

While Francisco’s election will not alter the fundamental tilt of City Hall, it will change the council’s composition. He will be the only Republican on an elected body that for the past two years was composed exclusively of Democrats. On the campaign trial, Francisco proved prickly with his throw-the-bums-out rhetoric—often getting under Williams’ skin —- but he pledged to work hard, learn the ropes, and try to be constructive. His perspective will be more openly skeptical of the council’s clear tilt in favor of alternative transportation...

Williams and Schneider both expressed satisfaction in their own victories, and disappointment for their colleague Barnwell... Williams and Schneider have been the progressive wing of the council, advocating for the living wage, arguing against many developments and pushing for affordable housing. Both enjoyed strong support from the social activist core constituencies. And both were willing to do the grunt work required to raise campaign funds and walk precincts.

By contrast, Barnwell proved to be a man without a country. The environmental community always tended to regard Barnwell as too pro-growth, and were not won over by his born-again support for city-wide sustainability policies. And the business community —- which supported Barnwell during his first campaign —- found him too unpredictable for their comfort the second time around. Barnwell lead the charge to impose more stringent height restrictions for new development in Santa Barbara, something bitterly opposed by many in the development community. Nor did it help Barnwell any that he was regularly reviled in the editorial pages of the Santa Barbara News-Press, often for reasons more personal than political. Compounding matters, Barnwell never embraced the money-raising-door-knocking rigors of the campaign trail the way Williams and Schneider did...

Santa Barbara voters also overwhelmingly rejected Measure A, which would have changed the timing of Santa Barbara’s elections from odd-number years to even numbered years, to coincide with state and federal elections. City Hall pushed for the change because it would save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in election costs, and a coalition of progressive-minded activists argued the change would almost double the number of people who turned out to vote... “We were naïve," [Cathy] Murillo said. "We didn’t think anyone would oppose this. Who in their right mind could be against something that increased voter turn-out and saved lots of money? I still don’t get it.”

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For full text of the original article, please go to:

SBI: , November 7, 2007

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Election Stats as of 2:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 7th:

-- Voter turnout: 31 percent

-- Das Williams: 7,315

-- Helene Schneider: 6,539

-- Dale Francisco: 6,290

-- Michelle Giddens: 5,802

-- Brian Barnwell: 5,725

-- Frank Hotchkiss: 5,319

-- Bob Hansen: 724

-- Dan Litten: 1,874


Measure A:

-- No: 7,554

-- Yes: 5,804

Candidates Review

[ Excerpt of: "No Open Seats Make for Tight Squeeze in Santa Barbara City Race," By Nick Welsh, SB INDEPENDENT, November 1, 2007 ]


Many political handicappers regard the upcoming November 6 Santa Barbara City Council election as mere foreplay for the main event: the anticipated showdown between councilmembers Iya Falcone and Helene Schneider over who will replace Marty Blum as Santa Barbara’s next mayor. Add to the mix that three incumbents will be forced from office two years hence because of term limits, and you have the makings of a very wide-open election. By contrast, this is the first year in which there will not be at least one open seat. Instead, we have three incumbents running to retain their office. This situation — and the obvious advantage enjoyed by the incumbents — has chased all but the very determined, or foolhardy, from the field.

The current City Council is a weird anomaly, a group of relatively like-minded people who often can’t get along. For the first time in history, the council is made up entirely of registered Democrats. Yet personal acrimony and political jealousies have made this among the prickliest of councils in many years. Despite this, though, much has been accomplished on this group’s watch. The past four years have seen the council’s approval of a living wage ordinance, unanimous support of the Cottage Hospital expansion and remodel, and a vote embracing plans to convert the former St. Francis Hospital into an affordable housing project for Cottage employees. After bitter negotiations, the council crafted a new contract with its police officers union. (Efforts by the firefighters union have fallen short so far.) And the council’s free-floating environmental good intentions have been channeled into an unusually focused and far-reaching policy to promote environmental sustainability in many forms.

Whoever gets elected to the council will confront the issue of gang violence, which has once again reasserted itself with lethal consequences. They’ll also grapple with traffic congestion, economic growth in the face of Santa Barbara’s “small-town spirit,” and the revamping of the city’s general plan in an effort to determine what kind of growth can occur, where it can happen, and in what densities.


Brian Barnwell

Passionate, impulsive, and unpredictable, incumbent Brian Barnwell has emerged as one of the key swing votes in council deliberations... Barnwell... [once said] “I don’t know whom I appeal to. I really don’t.”


Das Williams

Das Williams understands some people don’t know what to make of him. He figures it starts with his multiethnic identity, evangelical faith, economic populism, and support for neighborhood activists dismissed by many affordable housing activists as “not-in-my-backyard” environmentalists. Superimposed on top of all this is an environmental agenda that combines the sensibilities of a homegrown Santa Barbara surfer with a degree from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

But there’s something else, too. People sense Williams’s ambition in the brash energy he’s injected into City Hall’s traditional genteel ways. He’s been publicly willing to challenge city staff and he’s lobbied members of the Planning Commission, typically not done by councilmembers. He raised more than a few eyebrows when he campaigned — unsuccessfully — to defeat fellow councilmember Iya Falcone. And a year ago, Williams announced he was running for 2nd District Supervisor, resisting serious efforts by many within the Democratic Party establishment to talk him out of it. Janet Wolf won; Williams came in last. In the aftermath, Williams didn’t just lick his wounds; he went to work.

It’s all about getting results, Williams said. Early on, for example, he secured funding to stop sewage from flowing onto Eastside streets by holding up a sewer bond in the city’s finance committee until the extra money had been secured. Williams also led the charge to reduce pesticide use in parks.

Williams has banged the drum for more city-sponsored solar projects, and has supported both commuter rail and more funding for MTD to increase bus service. On affordable housing, Williams has worked consistently to hinder rental property owners from demolishing apartments and building new condos. He’s opposed height restrictions for buildings, which could deter affordable housing construction, and has supported the most intense development scenario for the proposed mixed-use transit village at MTD’s transit center. But Williams was also the only councilmember to vote against Cottage Hospital’s plans to provide affordable housing for its employees at the St. Francis site, arguing that a City Hall independent study should look into the feasibility of the scaled-back alternative supported by Cottage’s neighborhood critics. “A lot of people find it hard to say no to Cottage,” Williams said, “but in this case, I had to because the neighborhood was not given what it deserved.”


Helene Schneider

From the day she was sworn in four years ago, Helene Schneider has received almost uniformly high marks from council colleagues, city staff, and lobbyists of all stripes for the diligence, intelligence, and quiet determination of her approach...


Frank Hotchkiss

Frank Hotchkiss never paid much attention to city politics until the City Council approved spending $12,000 on the Light Blue Line. Had he been on the council at the time, Hotchkiss is confident he could have changed the outcome. “I would have said it’s not good art, it’s not temporary, and it’s only one view and an extreme view at that,” he said. A man with the deep, imposing voice reflecting his former career as a professional actor, Hotchkiss has been selling real estate since moving to Santa Barbara nearly 10 years ago...

“My message to gang members is simple,” he said. “Get out of gangs or get out of Santa Barbara.” The solution, he said, is not more gang intervention programs so much as better utilization of existing ones.


Dale Francisco

... “The one thing I know,” said Dale Francisco, a 54-year-old software engineer, “is I can do a better job than any of the three incumbents running” ...


Michelle Giddens

... “The city shouldn’t be trying to get us out of our cars,” she said. “That’s our choice. The reality is that people drive. We need to solve today’s problems, not the problems of tomorrow” ...


Bob Hansen

“Lots of kids never graduate from high school,” he said. “What happens to them? If they had some hope of making $40 an hour, maybe gangs wouldn’t seem as appealing to them as they do.”


Dan Litten

An intriguing combination of libertarian and environmentalist, Dan Litten... decided to run for the council to highlight his concern that City Hall is failing the environment. “They’re doing a lot, but they could do more,” he said...

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To view the original full text article, with images, please go to:
SBI: No Open Seats...

Our Water Supply

[ Excerpt of: "Council discusses water supply issues," by ERIC LINDBERG, DAILY SOUND, October 31, 2007 ]


Questions about Santa Barbara’s water supply and drought preparations cropped up as city leaders discussed moving forward with reconstructing the Ortega Groundwater Treatment Plant at the City Council meeting...

“People shouldn’t be panicked that we’re running out of water tomorrow,” Councilmember Das Williams said, “but I do like people to be a little bit panicked, because we are always in a precarious water supply situation as a community.”

Drought predictions, based on conservative estimates of available water, show the city’s supply dipping below demand in 2011, the same year construction of the new Ortega treatment plant is slated to be finished.

With an estimated six percent shortage that year, city water resources supervisor Bill Ferguson said having the treatment plant online will be crucial.

“We would not be able to meet our target of meeting at least 90 percent of demand without that facility,” he said.

Built in the 1970s, the current facility limped through the last drought in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ferguson said, adding that it can no longer produce drinkable water.

“It’s pretty much dysfunctional now,” he said. “...Luckily we got a string of wet weather to end the last drought. As we move further away from that time, it is apparent that it is time to get that back online.”

The Council unanimously approved a $291,500 contract for supplemental pilot testing and engineering analysis to narrow down and select the final treatment technology to be used, bringing the total spent on the project so far to about $1 million.

Construction costs for the plant are estimated at $8.5 million, including rehabilitation work on the four groundwater wells that are plumbed into the facility, located at Ortega and Garden streets. Funds for the testing and design stages are budgeted in the Water Fund and an anticipated bond or loan is expected to cover construction costs.

During normal and rainy periods, surface water from Lake Cachuma and Gibraltar Reservoir, along with state deliveries, provide most of the local supply. In the event of strained water supplies, the Ortega plant is capable of producing nearly four million gallons of water every day, about 30 percent of the city’s demand.

However, groundwater removed from the four Ortega wells requires treatment for hydrogen sulfide, iron, manganese, radon and contamination from a dry cleaning solvent. After investigating and examining treatment options in 2003 and conducting pilot testing and preliminary design in 2006, staff determined that demolition of the existing plant is the best approach.

“We would have to replace significant parts of it just to make that facility run again,” Ferguson said.

In the final round of pilot testing and analysis, engineers will examine several new treatment technologies that may improve the taste and odor of the water, and mitigate noise and aesthetic impacts.

With environmental review and the permit process slated for February 2009 and final design approval in September 2009, city leaders hope to have the treatment plant up and running by June 2011, in time for a dry summer, should one occur.

As the conversation turned to drought preparations, several members of the Council brought up the desalination plant, asking how it fits into the city’s long-term water planning scheme.

“Our desal plant should not be used unless the 10 percent shortage is exceeded,” Williams said, calling the price tag too exorbitant. “I think that’s something we need to address from a policy standpoint.”

After Councilmember Iya Falcone chimed in, agreeing that the desalination plant should only be used as a last resort, Ferguson said the Council will be updating the long-term supply plan soon and can address that issue in greater detail.

“It’s in our plan to meet the target demand,” Ferguson said. “We don’t expect to need the desal plant. It’s there if things get really bad.”

Despite experiencing the driest year in more than a century, Ferguson said Santa Barbara residents should not be worried, explaining that sufficient rain fell in previous years to fill Lake Cachuma.

“It takes a few years before we start to get nervous,” he said. “We’ll watch what happens this coming winter.”

However, both Ferguson and members of the Council urged the public to continue water conservation efforts, with Williams suggesting that if local residents want to improve the situation, converting lawns to native, drought-tolerant landscaping is one path to take.





To read the original posting, please go to:
Santa Barbara Daily Sound: Council discusses water supply issues