AnonymousSource: City of Goleta
The City of Goleta is pleased to announce that we have entered into a one year lease agreement with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County (Foodbank) for $1.00 in rent. The Foodbank will be leasing a portion of the City’s property at 27 South La Patera Lane for food storage. The City closed escrow on that property from Direct Relief in 2018 for the purpose of turning it into the Goleta Train Depot. While the City is in the initial phases of that project, the building is vacant.
“This presents a great opportunity for Goleta to support Foodbank’s mission of providing for our community’s nutrition needs during normal times and during disasters,” said Mayor Paula Perotte. “The Foodbank is a great local organization and we are fortunate to be able to respond to their short-term need for food storage.”
Erik Talkin, CEO of Foodbank, added, “We are extremely grateful to the City of Goleta for stepping forward to help the Foodbank store some of the extra food we are bringing to the community. This will be an enormous help as we continue our search for a larger warehouse that will allow us to store enough food to provide for the community in the event of a disaster that results in roads being cut off.”
Foodbank reached out to the City earlier this year when they received a surprise shipment of excess food from the Federal Government. This food will benefit more than 200,000 Santa Barbara County residents who depend on the Foodbank, of which 10,500 live in the Goleta Valley area. The food can also be used to feed all residents in a disaster, in case the south coast becomes isolated with closures to Highways 101 and 154.
The Foodbank currently leases two spaces from Santa Barbara County for $1.00 per year as well, and the City of Goleta is thrilled to be able to provide 3,700 square feet more of storage for Foodbank to use to help the community. The City was fortunate to have a building available that met the criteria Foodbank needed, including: adequate storage capacity with high ceilings; loading dock and truck access; insulation/ventilation to protect nonperishable food items from weather extremes; and ability to access the warehouse as needed during normal business hours.
The lease agreement between the City and Foodbank of Santa Barbara County is good for one year and will not affect the City’s timeframe for the Goleta Depot Train Project.
Awesome!! This is what communities should always do, make everyone stronger.
This is very cool. Now we need a shelter/hospital for the homeless and mentally ill on the streets. Also we need RENT CONTOL and affordable housing.