Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
In a special “Ask the Mayor” edition of Newsmakers TV, Randy Rowse on Friday said there is no “trend” of gang violence in Santa Barbara and defended the city’s response to the murder of a tourist in an alleged gang shoot-out at the Wharf.
“We got the guys,” the mayor said.
Responding to criticism that he and the SB Police Department were not transparent enough in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Rob Gutierrez, an innocent bystander from Camarillo visiting the city with his wife, who was caught in an alleged shootout between rival gangs.
Praising the investigation that led to the arrest as, “careful, precise and sensitive to the victim’s family.” Rowse shrugged off the suggestion that he should have taken a high-profile public stance in the case. “You’ve got to follow the lead of your law enforcement officials.”
Addressing online and social media broadsides aimed at Police Chief Kelly Gordon for stating, in an interview with Newsmakers, that “we do not have a gang problem” in Santa Barbara, the mayor said critics were quarreling over semantics:
“I don’t see it as a trend,” he said of a series of recent incidents linked to alleged gang members. Casting back to his decade at City Hall, he said there is “an ebb and flow” to gang activity, and praised the city and the SBPD for doing “a good job of being vigilant and staying on top of it.”
Fielding questions from Josh Molina and the genial host on a range of key issues facing the city, the mayor also expressed annoyance at the lack of support for his preference of “an interim plan” for State Street, as long-range planning proceeds; offered a hint of a possible breakthrough in the stalled process of revamping Paseo Nuevo; and chided Supervisor Das Williams for conniving, on behalf of a private developer, to block the city from obtaining a $1.2 million grant to design and adopt a comprehensive plan for housing at La Cumbre Plaza.
Plus: an update on homelessness, an early assessment of the new city Administrator and the future of De La Guerra Plaza.
Oh, also: he intends to run for re-election: “That’s my plan,” said the mayor, elected in 2021. “I like this job.”
All this and more, right here, right now on Newsmakers TV. Check out our conversation with Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse below or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here.
He “likes this job”… I forgot he was the Mayor, that is how QUIET he has been until it’s time to talk reelection.
So Rowse is saying nothing to see here. Despite juvenile stabbing down the street from him where unfriendlies hang out & others live in the green space bordering city college.
Despite the numerous violent crimes posted here on EdHat. And those are just the ones reported on.
Seriously. Who’s paying him? City Council doesn’t work for the tax payer.
All is “fine” in S.B. Just read the comments posted on Edhat.
If you denounce the lawlessness and , sorry Mayor, the INCREASING criminality in S.B. (how about the abducted Grandmother who nobody’s talking about here?) the “woke” , “well meaning” and “head in the sand” Edhat commenters have nothing to say in defense of this catastrophic situation than call you “racist” without EVER being able to QUOTE one single comment of yours which shows any racism .
But let’s just all keep pretending that it has never been better than that here and then, obviously, if that many people lie about it: it has to be true, right ?
8431: Where are your rejoinders to the points I’m making ?
Keep your head in the sand: it’s getting worse all the time and it’ll only keep getting worse !
The kidnapping and gang violence are unrelated. Don’t connect dots that aren’t on the same bulletin board. It makes you sound really conspiratorial and it’s people like you who detract from well meaning citizens who actually seek reasonable change.
3:01 p.m. I like your comment. Rowse is ineffectual and by far the most inept Mayor we’ve had in decades.
Age has nothing to do with it. Career politicians.
Rowse had 8 years as City Council. Not 1 person could answer what he did for the City or his district.
But hey you voted for him. Hope you got your money’s worth. Same goes for every sitting council member
Each ignores the homeless, crime & other issues that have been in existence for over a decade.
Great job voters. You voted in a drinking buddy who does nothing to improve this city.
Give yourselves a Pat on the back & do t complain about your choices.
If you’re unhappy then vote differently. He already had 8 years to show he’s ineffective. Don’t be surprised now. He’s s career politician looking after himself.
Like the oversized vehicle parking ban. It’s only because they were parking under his bedroom window that he voted for that. Yep. If it doesn’t impact him personally good luck.
Wow Rowse. Never thought I’d say I miss Murillo yet here I am.
We need someone with the energy and aptitude of Harriet Miller or Sheila Lodge. Rowse may as well be a limpet on a rock.
So a bunch of gangsters get in a shootout pretty much within sight of State Street and City Hall and a stray bullet kills a tourist? Gotta love good old paradise on the beach where that’s not a problem. Because I tell you what. Everywhere else I’ve ever been would consider that to be a problem and not a small problem either. Perhaps paradise on the beach is a fool’s paradise?
Actually, what SB needs is a friggin police department who does their job!! The City creates rules and regs; posts said rules on little signs down State Street, and then does NOT enforce them!! Is this Randy’s fault? NOPE its not! No smoking on the streets; no bike riding on the sidewalks; no camping on the beach; and the list goes on and on and this City is turning into a S–t Hole!! SB’s PD is afraid to offend and therefore NOTHING gets enforced. The PD needs more training on how not to be afraid to to handle difficult people – homeless or not.
SBPD dislikes your comment xD
Them using the excuse of being understaffed should be considered criminal.
I’m always seeing them literally loaf around. Multiple squad cars at chic fil a for lunch but the community is “underserved.” Multiple units posting for “tag ups” in the parking lots on the beaches but not ready to respond to gang violence at Leadbetter or the Wharf. I can’t sit at Butterfly or the viewpoint past 11 because the cops will show up but at the same times violent crime will be committed along the waterfront and homeless are dying in their camps.
It hardly looks like the police are hard pressed to respond to all this violence, and deterioration of the citizens lifestyle, it looks a lot more like they are turning a blind eye in favor of assuring their safety and a secured pension here in beautiful SB.
Go ahead and downvote me, a couple stuck up malfeasant officers or the police chief are not going to stop us from seeing right through this crap.
This guy is either a cop or family to one. Notice the lack of username? No actual presence on here, just here to try and make it seem like the public isn’t sick of all this
Way to go Mayor Rowse!
It is nice to see that shoving another housing plan in the publics face like the Pot growing plan that has ruined Carpinteria is being slow rolled as it should be! Santa Barbara needs a leader who can stand up to special interests and not just go for the tax revenue.
No mas Das!
As the lead detective told us the city gets by on a wing AND a prayer, when asked why he evinced NO interest in the blatant drug dealing next door to us…& This was NOT a small operation! So, gangs & drug dealers operate knowing nothing much is gonna prevent them. Well, the reckoning will awaken those indulging in denial and lazy indifference to the deep dysfunction so abundantly clear to anyone who doesn’t drink the cool aid, Rowse is a Saturday Night Live joke.