CityofSantaBarbara
On Thursday, August 29, Congressman Salud Carbajal highlighted $963,000 in federal funding secured for the City’s Public Safety Radio Infrastructure Project.
City Administrator Kelly McAdoo, Mayor Randy Rowse, Congressmen Carbajal, and California Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis spoke about how these improvements will enhance emergency response capabilities and system reliability, significantly boosting community safety and preparedness during critical incidents.
“This is a momentous day for us. As mayor and my fellow councilmembers, our job is the day-to-day quality of life for our citizens, and that starts,… first and foremost, with our public safety officials, and any tools that can help our public safety officials do their job,” Mayor Rowse stated.
Congressman Salud Carbajal said, “It was a no-brainer because this funding has so many positive effects for our community. By upgrading our radio systems, we will improve responsive time and reliability to emergencies, disasters, and instances where Santa Barbara relies on its First Responders.”
The Public Safety Radio Infrastructure Project, which has a total project cost of 12 million dollars, aims to repair and replace aging infrastructure, including radio towers and backup power supplies, essential for maintaining effective communication during natural disasters and daily emergencies.
“Santa Barbara is an incredibly beautiful place, but our unique location comes with some significant public safety challenges,” emphasized Ms. McAdoo. “The ability of our first responders to communicate with each other is critical at any point during the year but particularly during disasters, so this funding will help us begin the replacement of an almost 30-year radio system…and that really is the backbone of our public safety response system.”
Project Background:
Santa Barbara operates a network of 11 sites across the City making up its radio communications system. The current system is over 30 years old, and requires parts that have not been supported by the manufacturer for 15 years. The upgraded system supported by this funding, which will allow each site to operate autonomously without additional equipment, will reduce communication failures resulting from weather events and improve the City’s ability to communicate during natural disasters.
After this upgrade of emergency operations equipment, will the police. sheriffs and fire departments finally have what is referred to in the public safety field as “interoperability”? Will all of these departments be able to communicate with one another in the field without having to go through the dispatchers of each department. The first thing that fails during a disaster is communications.
The best example of the problem goes back to 9/11. None of the police agencies could speak with one another, let alone with fire departments. This resulted in conflicting orders from commanders to their people. Some first responders were ordered into the doomed towers, while at the same time, others were ordered out. An untold number of first responders were killed because of conflicting orders. Police units and firefighting units could not speak with each other because there was no interoperability. I rest my case.
Thank you again, Congressman Carbajal!
why do we need federal money ?when we have paid enough taxes through the years enough that should’ve replaced that equipment many times over and over and updated that equipment numerous times over and over -Salud why don’t you put some energy into removing the POTUS? it’s been noted and documented that he is in very poor Neurological health and he’s still in the position of controlling our country which is the scariest thing I can even imagine
There’s evidence of neurological deficits in comments like yours.
your a 1/50 of a percenter
Followed by evidence of a lack of education. The word you wanted was “you’re”.
You again. Now your shaming people with dyslexia.
What is it that you disagree with other than the grammar or spelling?
Again, the word is “you’re”. Most people know better.
your so smart – golliy
Once again, Salud and other local politicians take pride in having coerced the entire country into funding another million-dollar project in the very affluent Santa Barbara, a project that local governments are unwilling to finance with their own money. Instead, they relied on Salud to help siphon the funds from all other U.S. taxpayers. Yet, he and other politicians boast about their achievement despite having sacrificed nothing themselves
“First you take people’s money away quietly and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly.” Sowell
Upgrading radios for First Responders? “Noooooo!!!! Not my precious pennies!”
Good gravy, I’ve had it with this complaining. I want to hear, EXACTLY, what you people ARE ok with our taxes going to? Come on, out with it.
It sounds like a nursery in here.
You just don’t get it , were not saying it’s a bad thing! it’s a bad thing that they’ve had enough money many times before they’ve squandered and how they do it with other peoples money thru a different channel Let’s see you come up with the answer for that that one. Oh God I hope I spelled everything right so U can
comprehend this
So, in your world, money spent in the past, on equipment that is now outdated, is somehow still available for procuring updated equipment. Brilliant! Your thinking skills are almost as impressive as your grammar/spelling/general literacy.
ANON – at 9 hours ago (whichever one you are) – cool deflection and attempt at an insult?
Why can’t you answer the question? Your kind is constantly crying, mewling rather, about your tax pennies being spent on ANYTHING. So, ONCE AGAIN, what DO you want your money going toward?
Simple question.
It’s not your pennies; it’s the pennies of millions of other taxpayers nationwide that are paying for this project, many from much poorer communities. It’s a local project, so it should be funded with local money. Should the federal government pay to upgrade every community’s radio system? I don’t expect the people in Toledo, Ohio, to pay for repairing the sidewalk in front of my house. Maybe the federal government can pay for street cleaning, too. We are the wealthiest state, and one of the wealthiest cities and counties in that state, yet we still expect someone else to pay for our infrastructure. The current system is over 30 years old, yet no local officials deemed it necessary to allocate local tax revenue for its update.
ANON – yet another commenter that refuses to answer my question: What DO you approve of your taxes being spent on?
Why can no one answer the question?
As to your dodgy point, this was paid for through a federal grant. That’s how these things work. If you don’t think some pennies from your federal income tax payments might be used in some indirect way to pay for new helmets for a fire department in Walla Walla, Washington at some point, then you need to brush up on how taxes work.
Good points. Money is money. Be smart with it. What’s wrong with having a criticism and opinion if it’s not being spent well? Nothing.
Blank checks? No thank you.
Some people just don’t understand civilization.
People in states like Arkansas and Mississippi rely on *our* tax pennies to pay for *their* sidewalks. Red state welfare, but that’s how government is supposed to work.
The only thing to be concerned about is the fact that red state governments perpetuate this circumstance by neglecting their citizens’ needs.
A lot of our taxes go to fund red states with their incompetent governments. You should be complaining about them. I’m glad we occasionally get some back to help California’s citizens.
But, some people just don’t understand civilization.
Take the time to look up the amount in the billions of dollars that governments in our country spend on illegal immigrants with services that most American do not receive; Free healthcare, housing, food and even cash. While this keeps going on, many Americans have no or lousy healthcare and many seniors are splitting daily doses into partial doses.
THEKID – whatabout whatabout…. yawn….
Anywho, do you what Medicaid is? You know, that “free healthcare” that is available to ALL qualifying citizens?
Give it a rest with the “illegals get free stuff the rest of us don’t” tripe, as it’s bunkus. In some states, yeah, they get access to the SAME SERVICES qualifying citizens do. Americans aren’t being denied anything because of their citizenship.
And seriously…. it costs less (this has been discussed and proven over and over) to provide people with preventative healthcare than it does if we don’t and they rely only on the ER and Urgent Care for routine medical issues. If you’re freaking out about your tax pennies, you should be supporting healthcare for all. It’s way cheaper in the long run.
But you know…. facts and such.
Have you looked at California lately ? we are the poster child how politics can ruin something
You obviously don’t base your opinions on reality.
Living in a bubble of misery must please you somehow.
Thomas Sowell, as usually characterized:
“Thomas Sowell has been a titan of conservative politics for decades. Underneath the erudition and prolific output is a cynical thinker who puts an intellectual gloss on social domination.”
My money.
I’m fine with spending my tax dollars on local emergency service upgrades.
that’s great !problem is not everybody wants to just keep Getting fleeced over and over
What a pawn.
ANON – please elaborate in what way upgrading communication systems for first responders is being “fleeced over?”
Like I’ve asked your comrades (of course with no response), what DO you approve your tax pennies going to?
This is actually a pretty good question if we can get past the heated arguements. What level of government should be funding different types of efforts? One approach is local governments look to higher levels of government to fund more expensive efforts. That’s typical in California. Another approach is local governments should be responsible for identifying their needs and associated funding.
In many states, local governments are limited in their abilities raise funding due to the way the state has set up government financing in that particular state. Even in an affluent area like ours, the local government relies on handouts from the state and feds because of the way California allows local governments to fund themselves. Other states give cities more tools to fund themselves, and make less funding available for handouts. Overall state taxes are probably less, but local taxes may be more. In my opinion, there is more transparency when local governments have to raise funding themselves.
Taxpayers are paying for it either way and no question that emergency services need reliable communications.
The Democrats in power create unnecessary problems, and then ask for more of our hard earned money to fix them.
What a pawn.
This is probably TL;DR for all the anti-gummint ignoramuses, but it’s an inspiring story of public service:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/michael-lewis-chris-marks-the-canary-who-is-government/