Action Alerts
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SBCAN Roundtables Feb. 10 and 11
Please join us for our SBCAN Roundtable meetings on Thursday and Friday:
North County Roundtable
Thursday, Feb. 11
6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
via ZoomWe have several important topics to discuss at our meeting this Thursday at 6 p.m. There may be others as well, but here is a draft of our agenda:
1. The proposed annexation of the Bailey Avenue Corridor west of Lompoc is under consideration again, with a study session scheduled at the Local Agency Formation Commission on March 4.
2. The California State Parks Department has issued a Draft EIR for a project to build 300 campsites at Oso Flaco Lake near the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. Although this is in San Luis Obispo County, it is just a couple of miles from Santa Barbara County and has potential impacts that could affect our residents and our flora and fauna.
3. The Neighborhoods at Hidden Canyon and Willow Creek was before the County Planning Commission on Wednesday (see our most recent action alert for details) and we will provide an update.
4. We will provide an update on the Strauss Wind Energy Project near Lompoc.
Please let me know if there are other items you would like to discuss. And please email [email protected] if you will be able to attend so I can send you a Zoom link. Hope to see you then.
South County Roundtable
Friday, Feb. 12
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
via ZoomWe have several important topics to discuss at our meeting this Friday at Noon. There may be others as well, but here is a draft of our agenda:
1. San Marcos Foothills. We will have guest speakers on the topic of protecting this area from further development of large residential housing.
2. Public Banking. We will continue our discussion about this led by Harold (Hal) Hill.
3. The Neighborhoods at Hidden Canyon and Willow Creek is before the County Planning Commission on Wednesday (see our most recent action alert for details) and we will provide an update.
4. We will provide an update on the Strauss Wind Energy Project near Lompoc.
Please let me know if there are other items you would like to discuss. And please email [email protected] if you will be able to attend so I can send you a Zoom link. Hope to see you then.
Ken Hough
Executive Director
Santa Barbara County Action Network
[email protected]
(805) 563-0463 -
Urge denial of project with severe environmental impacts and oppose change to critical county policy
Please join Santa Barbara County Action Network in urging the County Planning Commission to protect endangered species, creeks, and wetlands by denying the housing development project known as The Neighborhoods at Willow Creek and Hidden Canyon.On Wednesday, Feb. 10, the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission will decide whether to approve The Neighborhoods project, which proposes to develop vacant land between the fairways of Rancho Maria Golf Course west of Orcutt.Within the same item, the commission will consider changing County policy to remove the requirement for a specific plan to be prepared for an entire key site prior to approval of a project within that site. This change would set a hugely consequential precedent that would allow individual projects to be considered outside of the context of the surrounding area.You can find the agenda and related materials here: https://cosantabarbara.app.box.com/s/q97rv82305oyfnbdjhcyxrrdhu3dgkqy/folder/130890352204SBCAN is opposed to this development because the revisions do not adequately address the environmental and other concerns raised by the community at previous hearings, including:- Two new access roads through wetlands
- No buffers between development and wetlands
- Direct impacts to endangered and threatened species habitat of the California Tiger Salamander, California Red-Legged Frog, and Western Spadefoot Toad
- Direct impacts to native grasses and eucalyptus trees that serve as a monarch habitat
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Leapfrog development in a high fire hazard area
- The developer did not first process a Key Site Specific Plan that would have identified developable areas, buffers from onsite resources, resulting in fewer and reduced environmental impacts.
All of the opposing comments at previous hearings, except those from staff and members of SBCAN, came from owners and patrons of the neighboring golf course or nearby property owners who were primarily concerned with increased traffic, water demand, conflicts with agriculture, and disrupted views of open space.Please call into the Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 9 a.m. to express your opposition and ask them to deny this project and to not change County planning policy.You can register for the virtual meeting at this link: https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_atqcWxCKRau2C9EYKwBRcA.You can also submit written comments to [email protected] by Monday, Feb. 8 at noon.We hope you will be able to weigh in on this environmentally damaging project and on the potentially disastrous policy change. -
SBCAN Membership Meeting is Feb. 6 with guest speaker Sen. Monique Limon
You're invited to Santa Barbara County Action Network's annual membership meeting on Saturday, Feb. 6 via Zoom. If you haven't registered yet, please do so now. Registration required. Click here to register. We hope to see you Saturday!
Santa Barbara County Action Network
2021 Membership Appreciation Meeting
and Board ElectionSaturday, February 6, 2021
via Zoom
Registration required. Click here to register.11:30 a.m.
Social Time
Join the meeting early for a chance to chat with other membersNoon
Welcome
Co-President Dick Flacks12:10 pm
Featured Speaker
Monique Limón, California State Senator, District 1912:30 pm
SBCAN Update
Ken Hough, SBCAN Executive Director
Jeanne Sparks, SBCAN Associate Director
Nadia Lee Abushanab, SBCAN Advocacy and Events Director12:45 pm
Election of SBCAN Board of Directors
The Board of Directors has recommended new three-year terms
for current board members whose terms are expiring.12:50 pm
Closing Remarks
Co-President Janet BlevinsMembers and nonmembers are invited. If you have not paid your 2021 dues that were due on January 1, or if you would like to become a member, please pay your dues now by clicking here.
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Meet SM Police Chief; SURJ Meeting on Racial Justice
Here are two messages about meetings from our friends at Showing Up for Racial Justice -- Santa Maria (SURJ-SM):
Thursday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m.
Meet and Greet with new Santa Maria Police Chief Mark Schneider. Santa Maria Councilmember Gloria Soto will be hosting a virtual Q&A live at www.facebook.com/smcmsoto. For people living in Santa Maria, this important event provides an opportunity to learn what issues Chief Schneider will focus on and how he plans to lead the Santa Maria Police Department into the future.
Because SURJ's General Membership meeting was scheduled for the same time, it will be cancelled. SURJ members and others interested in racial justice are encouraged to watch this event or to spend some time reading or watching something related to anti-racism, white privilege or white supremacy.
One recommendation is to watch the latest program from SURJ National, “White Backlash: Why It Happens and How To Fight Back”with Dr. Robin DG Kelley. Deepening understanding of these patterns in our country’s history is essential to building effective strategies to address racism today.
White Backlash: why it happens and how we fight back - Zoom
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Sen. Monique Limon is SBCAN Membership Meeting guest speaker Feb. 6 via Zoom
Please join us for our
Santa Barbara County Action Network
2021 Membership Appreciation Meeting
and Board ElectionSaturday, February 6, 2021
Noon-1 p.m.via Zoom
Registration required. Click here to register.PROGRAM
Noon
Welcome
Co-President Dick Flacks12:10 pm
Featured Speaker
Monique Limón, California State Senator, District 1912:30 pm
SBCAN Update
Ken Hough, SBCAN Executive Director
Jeanne Sparks, SBCAN Associate Director
Nadia Lee Abushanab, SBCAN Advocacy and Events Director12:45 pm
Election of SBCAN Board of Directors
The Board of Directors has recommended new three-year terms
for current board members whose terms are expiring.12:50 pm
Closing Remarks
Co-President Janet BlevinsMembers and nonmembers are invited. If you have not paid your 2021 dues that were due on January 1, or if you would like to become a member, please pay your dues now by clicking here.
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SURJ Community Dialogue
Showing Up for Racial Justice - Santa Maria Community Dialogue/Dialogo Comunitario is inviting the public to join an online discussion about systemic inequality and the disproportionate harm imposed on communities of color by the criminal justice system.Members of the Racial Justice Committee of the Santa Barbara County Public Defender’s Office will be special guests.
The event will be held over Zoom on Thursday, Feb. 4 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Translation services are provided.Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRWdQoj44LB4bfY3aO-LesxcVyZanwXs9vj-Lx_0g6rFi0Dw/viewform
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Únase a SURJ-SM y a los invitados especiales del Comité de Justicia Racial de la Oficina del Defensor Público del Condado de Santa Bárbara para un debate sobre la desigualdad sistémica y el daño desproporcionado impuesto a las comunidades de color por el sistema de justicia penal.
Evento celebrado en Zoom el jueves 4 de febrero de 6:30 p.m. a 8 p.m. Servicios de traducción prestados. -
Dolores Huerta keynote speaker at virtual Women’s March SMV & SB 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23
SBCAN is forwarding this message from the Women’s March executive committee:
Dolores Huerta is the keynote speaker at Women’s March Santa Maria Valley and Santa Barbara joint virtual event: "We lead. We heal. We transform."
This year’s event features speakers and artists from throughout Santa Barbara County, including
• Former California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson
• Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann
• Santa Barbara Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso
• Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto and
• Former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Sojourner Kincaid Rolle
Dolores Huerta, President and Founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez, a labor leader and community organizer, has worked for civil rights and social justice for over 50 years.
In 1962 she and Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers union, serving as Vice-President and playing a critical role in many of the union’s accomplishments over four decades.
In 2002, she established the Dolores Huerta Foundation, connecting groundbreaking community-based organizing to state and national movements to register and educate voters, advocate for education reform, bring about infrastructure improvements in low-income communities, advocate for greater equality for the LGBT community, and create strong leadership development.
This year, for the first time, Women’s March Santa Maria Valley and Women’s March Santa Barbara will join together in presenting a virtual recognition of women’s leadership in response to a year of crisis. As 2020 brought multiple challenges, women took the lead in helping local communities heal and transform.
The event will be livestreamed on Facebook (@WOMENSMARCHSMV), Saturday, January 23, beginning at 3 p.m. Spanish, Mixteco, and American Sign Language interpretation will be available at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84662093487
For more information, email [email protected], or followFacebook.com/WomensMarchSMV, Facebook.com/WomensMarchSantaBarbara, and Instagram @WomensMarchSMV.
Media Contacts: Santa Maria: For English, Pam Gates, 805-268-4400, [email protected]; For Spanish, Ivette Peralta, 805-448-9429, [email protected]
Santa Barbara: Michal Lynch, 805-895-4885, [email protected]
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"At the Table with Dr. King" Jan. 17, 2021 at 3 p.m.
SBCAN Board Member Lawanda Lyons Pruitt is inviting you to the free virtual event "At the Table with Dr. King" today, Jan. 17, 2021, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Click on this link: https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/ATTNAACP. This will take you to a page for your name, email address and password "MMNAACP21."After you fill in the information, click "Enter Room" and then sit back, relax and enjoy the program!Donations are welcome.Please share widely and call or email if you all have questions.Yours In The Fight,
Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt
President, Santa Maria-Lompoc NAACP
Phone: (805)-448-7869
Email: [email protected]
WEBSITE: https://www.santamarialompocnaacp.org
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/SMLONAACP
Email: [email protected] or [email protected] -
Salud Carbajal is guest speaker at SBCAN Roundtable Friday
SBCAN South County RoundtableFriday, Jan. 15Noon to 1:30 p.m.via Zoom
The South County Roundtable will begin with our Congressman Salud Carbajal, live from Washington, DC, giving us his report on the Capitol ordeal, expectations for the inaugural week—and a sense of what to expect in the first days of the Biden administration and the new congress.
Congressman Carbajal is only available for the first 15 minutes, so try to join between 11:40 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. so we can all settle in before he starts his remarks.
The remainder of our session will focus on State Street and downtown Santa Barbara. We've invited Alex Pujo, one of the leaders of the group of architects that initiated the participatory design charrette project for State St. He'll provide an overview to help us figure out possibilities and priorities for the State Street development. And council member Meagan Harmon, who chairs the council subcommittee on State Street, will be on hand to report on that committee's immediate purpose and plans, helping us to see how citizen engagement can be directed.
If time allows we will also hear updates on the upcoming eviction cliff in February and California Assembly Bill 15 which would extend COVID tenant protections.
Hopefully there will be time for some short announcements and reports.
If you haven't already, please let me know if you will attend so I can send you the Zoom link.
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Support fossil-free buildings in Santa Barbara
Please join SBCAN, Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, and 30 other organizations in asking Santa Barbara City Council to support fossil-free new buildings by passing the proposed building electrification reach code at their Jan. 12 meeting.Forty cities and counties in California have already implemented electrification reach codes, but this will be the first one in Santa Barbara County.The code will require new buildings in the city to be all-electric -- improving indoor air quality, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and saving money on construction costs and utility bills.A gas industry front group has sent mass texts to Santa Barbara residents with misinformation urging them to speak against this proposal at the meeting, so support on this item from our members is needed!You can support our efforts by sending a public comment through this form, or providing a verbal public comment at the virtual meeting on Jan. 12. The meeting starts at 2 p.m. but it is item #18 on the agenda so it will likely not come up until the evening.For more information, read this article written by UCSB professor Leah C. Stokes on the issue.