Wendy McCaw
By WENDY MCCAW
NEWS-PRESS CO-PUBLISHER
Santa Barbara, once the gem of the Central Coast, is deteriorating into a city that is crime-ridden, graffiti-covered, with inebriated indigents and a disgusting downtown mess. Visitors who come to our “fair city” complain about how much downtown has changed and how they don’t feel safe walking there with their families. Maybe therein lie some of the reasons why there are so many vacant storefronts.
Walk along State Street in the so-called pedestrian walkway, and you take your life in your hands as bicycles, skateboarders and other wheeled individuals whiz by, often within inches of hitting the unsuspecting pedestrian. What happened to the restrictions about skateboarders and other wheeled devices on pedestrian walkways? The city should have come up with enforceable laws on this dangerous situation many months ago. Why are they dragging their feet?
At Ralph’s downtown recently someone had stolen some items and was told to return them by the grocery security guard. The thief ignored him and left the store with his ill-gotten goods. The security guard lamented that there was nothing he could do, that the police will not prosecute shoplifting if under a certain dollar amount. Another witness to the confrontation said that he works at Home Depot and that blatant shoplifting is so out of control that they have had to put products like house cleaning supplies in locked cages. Santa Barbara and Goleta appear to have similar enforcement challenges.
Earlier this week we reported on a woman who witnessed a rock being thrown into a window at Rudy’s on State Street. The witness took photos of the crime with her cell phone and was then attacked by the perpetrator. Suffering from an assault and the theft of her phone, remarkably she was able to get the police there in time. Fortunately, she was able to get her phone back; however, the police seem to want to ignore the fact that there was an assault, having declined to put that in their report. Have we reached a point where vigilante action is what citizens must consider?
When corruption and hooligans were out of control in the 1850s in San Francisco, the residents formed the Committee of Vigilance. This was the birth of the term, vigilante. It was a community’s solution because law and order had collapsed. Today, the citizens of Santa Barbara may have to be the first-responders. This isn’t the fault of the police — there is simply not enough police presence downtown. We need more police patrolling the streets on foot and on bicycle. And we need laws that have serious consequences for the crimes being committed and the wherewithal of the authorities to enforce them.
In 2017, the city introduced the Santa Barbara Downtown Ambassadors, a program which seemingly does little to help clean up State Street. They don’t deal with vagrants, crimes or provide visitors with any type of safety or comfort. They need to be replaced by active police officers with a clear set of priorities to clean up the streets and stop street crimes.
Other communities along the coast have laws that are enforced and are thriving. We should follow their example. In Carmel, there is no graffiti, there are no vagrants, and it’s a clean, prosperous, thriving town. Closer to home, Solvang has no vagrants, no graffiti, lots of visitors and successful stores, hotels and restaurants. What are the differences between Solvang and Santa Barbara? Could it be the political difference between the two city councils?
My wish for Santa Barbara as we enter this new year is to take a strong stand against crime of all kinds. Laws need to be enforced and made to protect the residents and businesses. It would be nice in the coming year if the city would prioritize for a change, the people and businesses that make a city successful.
