Tea Fire Resources

As our community continues to put the pieces back together after the Tea Fire, I wanted to provide everyone with an update and some important information. Our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy and we, as a City, are grateful to the many groups and individuals who have helped in the response and recovery efforts. 151 homes within the City of Santa Barbara were destroyed, as well as 80 more within the County.

For residents returning to your homes, these are the key phone contacts for your gas, electricity, and water connections:

Gas Company - (800) 427-2200 [note: please DO NOT attempt to turn your gas back on yourself! Call the Gas Company for assistance.]

So. Cal Edison - (800) 611-1911

Water: (805) 564-5413 for the City of Santa Barbara
(805) 969-2271 for Montecito

The City of Santa Barbara wants to help those who have lost their homes re-build as soon as possible. The City Planning department, located at 630 Garden Street, will be issuing expedited permits. For any re-building projects which are of the same Floor Area Ratio, you must comply with new safety regulations but you will not need to comply with any additional aesthetic regulations. Re-building projects which increase the size of the home will need to comply with both new safety and aesthetic regulations. Additionally, the local chapter of the American Planners Association has volunteered their time and expertise to provide guidance and help people through the permitting process. A list of qualified professionals who have offered their assistance is attached to this posting.

The City of Santa Barbara wants to be as helpful as possible to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy. A Tea Fire Local Assistance Center has been opened at the Davis Center at 1232 De La Vina Street to assist those who have lost their homes in the fire. The Center is open from 9am to 5pm. Please distribute this email to anyone who might be interested. Also, please feel free to contact my office with any questions or issues that I might be able to assist with.

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Tea Fire

Sources for information on the Tea(house) Fire, regularly updated:

• SBC Office of Emergency Services
  
• SB Independent

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RV Restrictions

[ From: "City Ordinance Committee Denies Plan to Crack Down on RV Parking" by Rob Kuznia, Noozhawk, 11/12/2008 ]

[ KEYT-TV Video on this topic also available at: KEYT-TV: RVs ]


... To the relief of advocates of a growing number of indigent people living in RVs, the Santa Barbara ordinance committee on Tuesday rejected a proposal from the Public Works Department granting it more authority to crack down on RV parking where the department considers the practice problematic.

However, committee members — all three of them Santa Barbara City Council members — said they would like to see a watered-down version of the proposal restrict the parking of RVs near schools, parks and recreational facilities.

The amended proposal could come before the committee as soon as next week and, if passed, could land shortly after on the agenda of the full seven-member City Council.

On Tuesday, city staff members from not only the Public Works Department, but also police and fire departments reported to the committee on why the RVs are considered a problem. The officials said some RV occupants have been known to illegally dump trash or even human waste on the street. They also said the RVs are oftentimes packed with an entire family’s belongings and therefore pose a fire hazard. In addition, they said some RV dwellers have a tendency to gather in large groups and engage in criminal activities such as drug dealing, assaults and prostitution.

Two of three committee members — Das Williams and Grant House — were unmoved, saying the Public Works Department seemed to be overreaching by asking for the power to unilaterally decide which streets need to be cleared.

“I do think there is a problem, and I do want to give staff a tool to deal with that problem,” Williams said. “But to have this ordinance without any criteria is a blank check, and I’m not about to give a blank check to further criminalize poverty in this city.”

... Nancy McCrady, a local advocate for the homeless, said people in RVs have been unfairly maligned.

“I see people in their RVs cleaning up their neighborhoods with bags,” said McCrady, who said she had to live in an RV for 24 years. “People are really, really trying their best. It’s really hard, because there’s a waiting list for housing. … There’s no room anywhere. The shelters are all full. … So what are you going to do with people, throw them out in the bushes again?”

Brian Gannon, an employee of a business on the 500 block of East Montecito Street, said employees have had unpleasant run-ins with some of the nearby RV dwellers.

“I myself witnessed urine and feces dumped in the bushes,” he said. “And I think in retaliation of us reporting this to the police, we’ve had fecal matter thrown at the walls of our business.”

Gannon added that a young man was once thrown through a company window. “I myself have witnessed drug use, drug dealing actually taking place right at our doorsteps,” he said.

Also in attendance was Santa Barbara schools Superintendent Brian Sarvis, who came to ask the committee to keep parked RVs away from schools.

“We would like to have you specifically ban parking for RVs within 100 feet of schools,” he said. “Many of the dangers are frankly unknown, but no parent should be needlessly worried because of the cluster of RVs around the playground of a school.”

Another speaker was Gary Linker, executive director of the nonprofit group New Beginnings, which attracted national media attention for its successful “Safe Parking” program allowing people to sleep in their vehicles in certain parking lots around town.

Linker said his lots serve about 70 people and are full, but he is working to expand.

“We do have a 20- to 25-person waiting list, and we have had to turn people away,” he said. “There are people in the streets who do want to be in our program, but we can’t find a place to put them.”

He added that the organization is in the process of looking to open an RV park.

“We’re trying to find a location that could have an eight- to 10-trailer park that people could stay in before they’re going into housing,” he said. “It would be another enticement for people to be on the list to go into housing.”

On Tuesday, House criticized the proposed ordinance for its vagueness, noting, for example, its failure to define what constitutes an excessive number of RVs on a city block.

“What’s the number? Is it two, three, five RVs in a neighborhood?” he said. “What if they are not causing a problem?”

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For full text as well as a good number of comments, please go to:

"City Ordinance Committee Denies Plan to Crack Down on RV Parking"

Homeless Issues

[ From "Plight of the Poor Hits Close to Home in Santa Barbara," by Rob Kuznia, NOOZEHAWK, 11/10/2008 ]


... With the economy headed south, homeless issues are back on the front burner in the city of Santa Barbara.

... responding to what some officials say is a growing problem, Santa Barbara’s ordinance committee will consider proposing a new law making it more difficult to park RVs on city streets.

[And]... the city’s five-month-old Subcommittee of Homelessness and Community Relations will address issues such as panhandling. City leaders are bandying about several ideas, such as a public-awareness campaign to discourage people from giving money to panhandlers, many of whom use the cash for purchasing booze and drugs. There has been some talk of allowing residents and tourists to purchase vouchers at stores for food and other staples that could be given to panhandlers in lieu of money. But area merchants are skeptical of the idea, saying the program was tried years before and failed.

Matters on homelessness have become increasing concerns for local leaders, as harsher economic conditions seem to be pushing more and more people into the streets.

City officials say the RVs are a problem in part because they are unsanitary. A recently released city report says some RV occupants have a tendency to illegally dump trash, gather in large groups and occasionally even engage in criminal activities such as drug dealing, assaults and prostitution.

“These concentrations of semi-permanent RVs … create an environment of fear and anxiety for the public and a public nuisance in general,” according to the report.

Specifically, the city’s Public Works Department is proposing that it be allowed to post “No RV Parking” signs in neighborhoods it considers problematic. The signs would prohibit RV parking at all times.

A current ordinance does prohibit some RV parking, but only south of Highway 101, and only overnight.

If approved by the ordinance committee Tuesday, the proposed law still would need to be passed by the City Council before becoming an official ordinance. The City Council could take the matter up as soon as next Tuesday, Nov. 18...

City Councilman Das Williams, one of three council members on the ordinance committee, said it is addressing the issue prematurely. Williams said he would like to see the matter discussed by the city’s homeless subcommittee before any policies are crafted by the ordinance committee.

“It’s kind of out of the blue to send this straight to the ordinance committee,” he said.

In terms of the RV issue itself, Williams said he believes that the city doesn’t do a good enough job distinguishing the lawbreakers from the law-abiders.

“There are people out there who live in their vehicles who are very respectful,” he said, “and then some people who are really irresponsible.”

Williams added it would be somewhat hypocritical of him to approve of the ordinance as proposed, since he himself once had to live in his car during a rough time at age 17.

City Councilman Dale Francisco, who also sits on the ordinance committee, said he is in favor of the proposal.

“We get a lot of complaints about this,” he said, adding that he’s been told that Santa Barbara is home to about 450 RV dwellings. “It’s a nightmare situation for people who live near those areas. … It’s definitely out of control when you’ve got 15 or 20 RVs all parked essentially together.”

Meanwhile, on the topic of panhandling, officials from the city government and nonprofit agencies say the practice is a $600,000 industry in Santa Barbara, meaning that all local panhandlers combined pocket about that much money in a typical year.

“When a town gives $600,000 to people who ask for it, you’re going to have people ask for it,” Mike Foley, executive director of the Casa Esperanza homeless shelter, said last week at a city planning commission meeting. “It’s against the law to tell people not to panhandle. But it’s not against the law to tell people it’s assisted suicide to give people money when you know those people are going to use that money to go buy drugs and alcohol.”

On Thursday, the Subcommittee of Homelessness and Community Relations is expected to discuss the idea of producing vouchers for people to purchase for panhandlers. But City Councilwoman Helene Schneider, who sits on the subcommittee, said such a program would need buy-in from local businesses.

Schneider said the subcommittee will discuss other matters besides the voucher program, which is sometimes referred to as “Compassion Not Cash.”

For instance, some merchants want to see a bigger police presence downtown. Others are less concerned about the older panhandlers, who tend to beg quietly, and more concerned about the in-your-face younger panhandlers.

“We don’t know if they are homeless or not,” Schneider said of the more youthful street people. “But they are more aggressive.”

As for “Compassion Not Cash,” Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steve Cushman said he is skeptical. Cushman said the chamber tried to implement the same plan during the recession of the early 1990s, and it never caught on.

“The public didn’t accept it,” he said. “That’s the big thing: You gotta have people who go buy them, and give them out.”

Cushman said he remembers State Street being considerably worse for panhandling during that recession. But he added: “Now, we’ve got a pretty serious recession going on, so we’ll see what happens.”

...

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Full text, with photographs and personal stories of some current Santa Barbara homelss at:

Noozhawk.com Your News and Information Source

Gay Rights Support

[ Excerpt from: "Gay Rights Supporters Rally Against Prop 8 - Cite Ballot Measure as Potentially Denying Californians Basic Rights," By Lindsey Cornish, SB INDEPENDENT, October 29, 2008 ]

The Prop 8 Stop Marriage Discrimination Press Conference drew about 70 people on Monday afternoon in the Sunken Gardens of the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Many elected officials, educators, faith leaders and leaders of the community spoke out against Proposition 8, which would restrict the right to marry to heterosexual couples.

The rally opened with Congresswoman Lois Capps, who spoke very strongly of her opposition of Proposition 8...

Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum also spoke out against Proposition at the rally...

As the crowd grew, Linda Phillips of the Legal Woman Voters spoke of opposition of Prop 8 and the Prop 22, the California Defense of Marriage Act, which California voters approved in 2000...

Santa Barbara City Councilmember Das Williams spoke of the work to be done in gaining support of Proposition 8, explaining the many Vote Yes on Prop 8 rallies going on in Ventura, claiming their right to “religious freedom.” Williams opposed these claims. “Civil marriage has nothing to do with religious freedom” ...

Yes on Prop 7