SBCAN editorials

It’s time to get on the bus, Gus

Submitted by ouribe on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 14:18
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By Deborah Brasket/Looking Forward

 

Recently, the Santa Maria Community Coalition sponsored a Ride the Bus Day to encourage those who do not normally use our public bus system to try it out.

 

Participants discovered that while the Santa Maria Area Transit (SMAT) ran a smooth operation with friendly drivers, the routes often did not meet their needs, and the long wait between buses — as much as an hour in the Orcutt area — made transit an inefficient use of their time.

 

The fact is, SMAT simply doesn’t have enough buses and routes to make using the bus system attractive to those who have other means of travel. A poll conducted on a local Web site confirms this.

 

When asked, “What is the biggest reason why you don’t use public transportation,” 52 percent replied inconvenient routes, 44 percent said it takes too long, and only 4 percent said now that gas is affordable, they’d rather use their own vehicles to get around.

 

The poll results imply that if the routes were more convenient and the wait between stops shorter, more drivers would use the bus system.

 

Date: 
30 Jan 2009 - 9:18pm

Holding Greka accountable for spills

Submitted by ouribe on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 10:35
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By Deborah Brasket/Looking Forward

 

Deja vu” is how one reporter referred to the series of oil spills by Greka oil facilities last month, totaling 14,000 gallons, and the frustrated laments of Santa Barbara County supervisors responding to the new spills. This series of spills so clearly echoes similar happenings a year ago.

 

Read printed editorial: 
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2009/01/16/opinion/011609c.txt
Date: 
16 Jan 2009 - 5:35pm

Balancing needs to create affordable housing

Submitted by ouribe on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 10:30
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By Deborah Brasket/Looking Forward

 

Santa Barbara County has been facing a serious shortage of affordable housing for its middle- and low-income residents for quite some time now.

 

The collapse of the national housing market has been especially hard on families living in the northern part of our county. Families seeking the American dream of home ownership have outreached their financial means because so little housing here is truly affordable for them.

 

State law requires that each county conduct a regional housing needs assessment every five years to ensure that enough land is zoned for all income levels. SB CAN advocates creating sustainable communities by building housing in urban areas within walking distance of basic needs and services, while also preserving open space and recreational areas.

 

The county largely mismanaged its obligation to rezone for high-density housing during the 2003-08 process, by not balancing the real needs of the community.

 

The county went from trying to put all the affordable housing rezones in the semi-rural Orcutt area, to putting all of them in Isla Vista, a tiny densely-populated community that serves a large university — hardly what you’d call fair-share housing that would meet the real needs of low-income families across the county.

 

Read printed editorial: 
Balancing needs to create affordable housing
Date: 
26 Dec 2008 - 5:30pm

Sustainable development plan at UCSB

Submitted by ouribe on Tue, 12/02/2008 - 11:29
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By Olivia Uribe/Looking Forward

 

UCSB, the county’s largest employer, has announced a new long-range development plan (LRDP) that by 2025 would add 5,000 new students, 350 faculty positions, hundreds of new staff positions and other employees to provide services to the new students, faculty and staff.

 

 

This proposed development could have far-reaching impacts on nearby communities and across the county. To explore these issues, SB CAN convened a series of meetings, leading to the formation of a new coalition called Sustainable University Now (SUN).

 

 

SUN, which includes an impressive array of community and environmental organizations such as the Community Environmental Council and the Santa Barbara League of Women Voters, seeks to encourage wide community participation in reviewing and responding to the plans for UCSB’s expansion.

 

 

SUN members emphasize they do not seek to oppose the university’s future development, but rather to improve it. They urge careful scrutiny of the LDRP draft environmental impact report (EIR), which is expected to be recirculated soon.

 

 

Read printed editorial: 
Sustainable development plan at UCSB
Date: 
28 Nov 2008 - 6:29pm

Election results bring hope and renewal.

Submitted by ouribe on Thu, 01/08/2009 - 12:51
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 Public celebrations all across the world and tears of joy marked the culmination of a truly amazing presidential campaign on Nov. 4.


In significant measure, the historic election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States was an unprecedented grassroots effort, the kind we at SB CAN believe in and celebrate.

Read printed editorial: 
Election results bring hope and renewal.
Date: 
14 Nov 2008 - 7:51pm

Commentary: Celebrating Local Sustainability

Submitted by ouribe on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 09:36
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SB CAN invites the community to join it in a Fall Harvest Picnic at Gaviota to honor a few H.O.T. Heroes.

 

Enormous global challenges — including climate change, the energy crisis, and now economic meltdown — demand that we look beyond short-term fixes to long-term viability. We must be aware of how current practices will affect future generations, how local economies relate to global stability, and how individual decisions affect whole communities. Taking a comprehensive, holistic approach to community planning is essential.

 

The importance of creating sustainable communities is the highly pertinent theme of a “Fall Harvest Picnic” sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Action Network, or SB CAN, and the Santa Barbara Council on Research and Education, or SB CORE. Keynote speaker James C. Murphy will explain why sustainability today is no longer merely an option, but an obligation. Murphy is a highly regarded expert who has worked globally on the front-end of this evolving field, most recently with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the world’s leading think tank for international affairs, where he was responsible for a new initiative in climate change and energy security.

 

Read printed editorial: 
Commentary: Celebrating Local Sustainability
Date: 
20 Oct 2008 - 4:36pm

Finding local stability in a global economy

Submitted by ouribe on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 12:58
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by Deborah Brasket, SB CAN Executive Director

Enormous global challenges - including climate change, the energy crisis, and now economic meltdown - demand that we look beyond short-term fixes, to long-term viability. We need to be aware of how current practices will affect future generations, how local economies relate to global stability, and how individual decisions affect whole communities. Taking a comprehensive, holistic approach to community planning is essential.

 

The importance of creating sustainable communities is the highly-pertinent theme of a “Fall Harvest Picnic” sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Action Network (SB CAN) and the Santa Barbara Council on Research and Education (SB CORE). Keynote speaker James C. Murphy will explain why sustainability today is no longer merely an option, but an obligation. Murphy is a highly-regarded expert who has worked globally on the front end of this evolving field, most recently with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the world's leading think tank for international affairs, where he was responsible for a new initiative in climate change and energy security.

 

Read printed editorial: 
Finding local stability in a global economy
Date: 
15 Oct 2008 - 1:00pm

Project is poster child for urban sprawl

Submitted by ouribe on Fri, 09/26/2008 - 15:20

Last week, the Santa Maria City Council approved a plan for development at Mahoney Ranch South, next to Tanglewood, in a remote rural area on

Black Road


 At a hearing on Sept. 16, SB CAN and the Santa Maria Community Coalition pointed out that the final environmental impact report (EIR) was grossly inadequate, and inconsistent with several city General Plan goals. A summary of our concerns follows:

 

This plan is a prime example of leapfrog development and urban sprawl. It locates a residential development of 1,430 residential units, for potentially 5,000 people, in a rural, isolated area on prime agricultural land at the furthermost boundary of the city, miles away from the nearest public services and facilities.

 

Read printed editorial: 
Project is poster child for urban sprawl
Date: 
26 Sep 2008 - 9:09am

Coming together on behalf of Measure A

Submitted by ouribe on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 13:29
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Coming together on behalf of Measure A

By Deborah Brasket/Looking Forward

 

During an election year, when partisan politics are all the rage, it’s refreshing to have community leaders and organizations from vastly different viewpoints and political affiliations coming together to create and support an important ballot proposal: Measure A.

 

Without raising taxes, this measure will provide critical local funding for transportation projects, including improving and maintaining roads and highways, reducing traffic congestion, making streets safer for walking and bicycling, improving safety along rural highways, enhancing public transit and making it more affordable.

 

Measure A is a 30-year renewal of the current half-cent sales tax that was approved by voters in 1989 and set to expire in 2009.

 

Measure A is supported by all five county supervisors and every city council in the county. It is endorsed by organizations as diverse as SB CAN and COLAB, the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association and the League of Women Voters.

 

Read printed editorial: 
Coming together on behalf of Measure A
Date: 
19 Sep 2008 - 1:16pm

The full scoop on those oil seeps

Submitted by ouribe on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 12:27
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The full scoop on those oil seeps

By Deborah Brasket

Oil and gas have been seeping from the ocean floor into the sea for thousands of years, and the Santa Barbara Channel is home to one of the largest seep fields in the world.

 

This fact has been misused by some powerful interests, who would like to lift the offshore oil drilling ban. An industry-funded group called Stop Oil Seeps (SOS) is advocating for increased drilling off Santa Barbara’s coast, claiming this will reduce natural oil seeps harmful to the environment.

 

Read printed editorial: 
The full scoop on those oil seeps
Date: 
22 Aug 2008 - 12:22pm