Did You Know? Bonnie Donovan
After another three-week vacation, Mayor Cathy Murillo finally addressed the citizens of Santa Barbara at last Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
The recent gang murders certainly did not top the list. Instead she chose to focus on the terrible event at our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6.
She claimed that people of Santa Barbara have fear and concern about their safety after what happened at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. However, it appears that the people of Santa Barbara are more concerned about the gang killings she dismissed as simply “an outbreak of youth violence.”
The citizens of Santa Barbara are concerned about what happened in D.C. as much as anyone else in the country. However, the real threat of violence is happening right here, and that is a real and present concern.
She went on to say (changed the subject?), “As we begin 2021 and (face) significant challenges with COVID, be assured the city is doing everything they can do to stop the virus.”
As California is rated now third to the last of all states to administer the vaccine, how are our local elected officials doing everything they can do to stop the virus? How does the mayor make that assertion during the City Council meeting?
Why not concentrate on inoculating the public instead of testing for COVID? Could the same professionals who are testing for COVID, be giving vaccine injections?
The mayor and City Council have made it perfectly clear of their intention to continue conducting their meetings, not by their agenda, but by the demands of special interests groups.
Again the mayor conducted four and half hours of interviews for the Community Formation Commission. This panel exists only to choose who will be on the Civilian Police Review Board.
This formation commission will consist of 13 board members with two alternatives for a total of 15.
After discussing the panel, Mayor Murillo opened the meeting for public comment.
Tuesday’s meeting ran for nine hours. The interview process is not over, but will continue at 6 p.m. Jan. 26 and the final choice will be on Feb. 2.
Again this is the commission that picks the review board. This four and a half-hour delay is a tactic designed to wear down the constituents by delaying the topics of most concern, in this case, the transient issues and the all-electric ordinance.
Speaking of public comments, the first speaker said they were desperate for help from the City. The transients are now camped next to their home in District 4 (Riviera and the edge of Montecito).
Due to the accumulation of garbage, the homeless now have caused an infestation of rats, mice and roaches.
In fact, this long-time resident woke to a rat on his pillow, although the property has always been maintained with an exterminator. We find it hard to believe that the City Council’s constituent’s concerns voiced during public comment took a back seat to interviews for a Formation Commission, and that this constituent was not allowed to speak until four and a half hours later.
Six hours later, the most important agenda item, “The Electric-Only For New Construction,” was up for presentation by the city staff.
Next, Public Outreach will be conducted before final approval. Kudos to the true environmentalist, Hillary Hauser with Heal the Ocean, who circumvented the governmental red tape and got an abandoned homeless camp on the beach cleaned up before high tide carried it to the ocean.
We also hear of people canceling their business relationships, with media entities, subscriptions and banks.
For instance, Facebook, Paypal, Twitter, What’s App, and some have even forewarned their banks they will move their money if the bank follows the cancel culture. Cancel culture works both ways.
Just as Facebook, Twitter and other media platforms are censoring the public’s opinion if it does not agree with their message, we hear that people are losing their jobs, their insurance (AIG) and of advertisements of Pro-America products banned from Facebook, etc. Counter-Cancel is also a viable response.
An update on Did You Know?’s PRA request regarding voting problems from November 2019: Remember City Council members Jordan, Friedman and Harmon directed the City Attorney’s office to fulfill the Public Records Request of July 2020.
On Nov. 2, 2020, the City Attorney’s Office noticed us the documents would be supplied within six to eight weeks.
Jan. 2 is eight weeks, and there are still no documents from the city. DYK also contacted Santa Barbara County election official Joe Holland regarding discrepancies in voter’s addresses with no return communication.
Be aware of the crime in your neighborhood by signing up for communitycrimemaps@lexisnexisrisk.com. The site provides a Daily Neighborhood Watch Report, some of it is not reported on television.
Be alert, as our COVID-19 numbers rise, so does our emotional tension. However, be also aware of the dialogue from an unnamed infectious disease specialist at Cottage Hospital who said that though she was relieved the vaccines had arrived that “this changes nothing.” She explained that, “though the vaccine may keep some people from getting infected, it would not guarantee that a vaccinated person can’t still carry and transmit the virus to others!”
We agree with columnist Andy Caldwell who recently said that our government’s claims of being able to make us safe and secure must not come at the expense of our liberties, livelihoods or common sense.
