April 7, 2010 Information & Action Alert

Submitted by sbcan_exec on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 16:49

 

Santa Barbara County Action Network
INFORMATION & ACTION ALERT
April 7, 2010
 
Greetings SB CAN members and friends! Please take a few moments to review our news. And feel free to forward to your friends and others who are interested in creating sustainable communities through sound planning that integrates housing, open space and transportation—our HOT principles.
 
News in brief:
 
1. Tenants Rights Town Hall Meeting, April 8, Isla Vista
2. EmPowerSBC Program BOS Hearing, April 13, Santa Maria
3. Ag Futures Alliance Drafts Ordinance for Land Buffers
4. Selma’s Birthday Celebration Pictures & Video
5. Community Events: Candidate Forum
League of Women Voters Santa Maria Valley Hosts Candidate Forum for
District Attorney and 5th District Supervisor, April 29, Santa Maria
6. SB CAN Column: The Erosion of Civility in an Age of Fear
 
Now the Details:
1.Rental Housing Roundtable (RHR) Organizes a Tenants Rights Town Hall with Elected Officials
 
Thursday, April 8, 6 PM (Program will start at 6:30pm)
Isla Vista Elementary Multi-Purpose Room, 6875 El Colegio Road, Isla Vista
 
Childcare, translation and refreshments will be provided.
 
As a member of the Rental Housing Roundtable, SB CAN invites you to join us at a town hall forum to address the crisis of tenants’ rights in the County of Santa Barbara. The goal of the evening is to gain elected officials’ support for RHR’s tenant rights’ platform and create an opportunity for tenants to voice their needs and concerns to the decision makers. Invited elected officials include: County Supervisors Doreen Farr and Janet Wolf, Goleta City Council members Margaret Connell and Ed Heron.
 
With Supervisor Doreen Farr in attendance, the town hall will focus on the mass evictions occurring in the County and the tenant advocacy work surrounding them. Coinciding with the ten year anniversary of the Isla Vista Tenants Union, the forum addresses the ongoing struggle to achieve legal protections for tenants since the Colonial, Balboa, and Cortez apartment evictions of 1998. The timing of this town hall is crucial, as the County Board of Supervisors will soon be considering an amendment to Ordinance 4444 that will strengthen protections for renters. Community members are encouraged to learn more about tenants’ rights by attending the forum.
 
The Rental Housing Roundtable is a group of community organizations and concerned individuals working to address the lack of legal protections for Santa Barbara County renters. RHR’s goal is to end unjust evictions and unfair treatment of tenants, increase the number of rental units available, and develop cooperative ownership.
For more information, call (805) 882-2484.
 
2. SB County Launches emPowerSBC Program on Smart Energy Financing
 
Board of Supervisors Hearing, April 13
Betteravia Government Center, Santa Maria
 
Some of the biggest barriers that people face when exploring whether to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient (such as adding insulation, improved furnaces and air conditioners, or adding a solar hot water system) are the high costs. While all these home investments pay back over time, the up-front costs can be intimidating for many.
 
Last December through AB 811, California paved the way for individual cities and counties to help their residents get over those hurdles by enacting a new “enabling” law. This law allows local governments to voluntarily develop programs that essentially loan money to property owners to make energy efficiency improvements to their homes.
 
Santa Barbara County is ready to do just that. On April 13 at a hearing in Santa Maria the Board of Supervisors will be voting to consider adoption of a new program called emPowerSBC (Elective Municipal Program to Optimize Water, Energy and Renewables). This program is expected to create as many as 900 local jobs, representing 40% of those lost in construction trades during the recession. In addition, the program will induce $131 million in local investment and $346 in economic output over the next ten years. All eight cities in the county unanimously approved formal participation in the program. Eligible projects include basic energy and water efficiency retrofits, such as the installation of low-flow toilets and faucets or attic insulation, as well as more high-tech installations, such as solar photovoltaic panels, solar hot water systems, and smart irrigation systems.
 
Email your county Supervisors to let them know you support smart energy financing.
1st District: Salud Carbajal SupervisorCarbajal@sbcbos1.org
2nd District: Janet Wolf, Chair jwolf@sbcbos2.org
3rd District: Doreen Farr dfarr@countyofsb.org
4th District: Joni Gray, Vice-Chair jgray@co.santa-barbara.ca.us
5th District: Joseph Centeno jcenteno@co.santa-barbara.ca.us
 
3. SBC Ag Futures Alliance (AFA) Drafts Ag Buffer Ordinance
 
Members of the Ag Futures Alliance have drafted a proposal for a County ordinance to provide for land buffers adjacent to agricultural operations. This document represents a historic balancing of needs between the County’s agricultural and environmental interests.
After many months of work involving research, field studies, and hours of deliberation, it is the hope of the AFA that by developing and distributing this Draft, there will be momentum started which will result in the successful implementation of an Ag Buffer Policy in Santa Barbara.
 
An Ag Buffer Policy is intended to benefit agriculturalists that have operations adjacent to a proposed development project, such as a residential neighborhood or commercial center. The Ag Buffer will help ensure growers and ranchers that future conflicts are avoided with their future urban neighbors by requiring developers to create protective areas in their projects that will provide buffers from noise, dust, light, and odor that are generated from ordinary agricultural operations. The buffers will also provide the agricultural operations further protection from trespass, litter, pets, and pests generated by the urban uses.
 
Founded jointly in 2007 by the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau and the Environmental Defense Center, Santa Barbara County AFA is an alliance consisting of agricultural, environmental, and community leaders that have the common goal to promote and preserve agriculture in Santa Barbara County, while maintaining a healthy environment. We believe that through collaboration versus confrontation, the difficult issues facing local agriculture can be more productively resolved.
 
As a member of the Ag Futures Alliance, SB CAN welcomes your comments on the proposal which can be found at http://agfuturesalliance.org/santabarbara/
 
 
4. Pictures & Video of Selma’s Birthday Celebration
Many thanks to everyone who helped to make our fundraiser a huge success. If you weren’t able to join us, or you want to relive favorite moments, pictures of the event can be found at the following links:
 
 
 
For a copy of the video where community leaders paid tribute to Selma’s long history of community activism, please call Joyce at 805-563-0463.
 
5. Candidates Forum: Santa Barbara County District Attorney and 5th District Supervisor
 
Thursday, April 29, 6:30 - 8:30 P.M.
Betteravia Government Center, 511 East Lakeside Parkway, Santa Maria
 
Hosted and moderated by the League of Women Voters Santa Maria Valley
 
You are invited to a free public forum to hear what the candidate have to say about why they are running for office and why we should support them. Participants will have the opportunity to write out their questions on cards, which will be given to the candidates to answer after their presentation. The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization and does not support or oppose candidates.
Date: 
7 Apr 2010 - 1:00pm