AnonymousBy Robert Ficarra, Metro Entertainment
For the last 10 years, I’ve been very vocal with my frustration at the City of Santa Barbara’s inability to be pro-local business. The endless studies, the revolving door at the Downtown Organization, the branding with Amazon, the insane permitting process, just the inability to take any real action or try any ideas. Meeting after meeting, nothing moves forward or gets done. The two studies cost over $100,000 and nothing useful was implemented from either of them.
Now, directly because the city has not set local businesses up for success, we are struggling more than we should be during this crisis. Most of us are hanging on, but let’s be clear, when the PPP and SBA loans run out in a few weeks it’s going to be retail armageddon. We can’t survive with curbside. We can’t survive at 50% capacity. We might be able to break even at best and use our dwindling savings to pay bills at home. If our politicians would have been proactive and pro-business, we would be better positioned to get through this. But they weren’t.
I watched the latest city council business advisory meeting. The biggest news? They don’t know what to do. Agree on nothing. And, most importantly, if anything goes awry, “We have no plan B”. That’s an exact quote.
Here’s what I think we should all expect from leadership. Step up. Step Forward. Be seen. Tell all of us what the plan is. Have a backup plan. Better yet, have two. Try new ideas, do something. Not everything will be successful. That’s ok. We understand not everything will work. Leadership is not about waiting and seeing and following the pack, stop being afraid of losing votes. We need action now. It’s been two months since we’ve been forced to close. I spoke with one city leader who told me they expect 1/3 of all businesses to close permanently. 1/3! Since State Street was about 20% empty already, does that mean over 1/2 of State Street businesses will be closed for good?
It’s time to come out of your offices and realize what’s happening to real people in real trouble.
And then get to work. Do something to help. That’s your job. Start doing it.
Let me be clear, no one could have prepared us for this pandemic. I like and respect many on the council. But we need to do better. We need to move past the years of inaction and get this done.
Downtown Santa Barbara is a ghost town. It’s also a dirty mess. Let’s clean it up before we invite people to come shop, eat and drink again. Getting people downtown will be for nothing if it’s an embarrassment. We have a real opportunity here. This isn’t business as usual. Let’s take advantage of the urgency and put forth lasting positive change and make real progress to save downtown. That’s the goal for everyone.
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I understand the frustration… As Nike says, “Just Do It…” Open your business(es) and see what happens.
If a restaurant like Joe’s seats 150, Open up and seat 75… Enough of this BS. If those are too afraid to leave their homes- FINE. Stay home. There is no evidence based information that those among us who are healthy and without medical issues are at risk of dying from this… If you DO get the flu, you will be down for a week and no doubt bounce… LET’S move on!
Couldn’t agree more. There has been a total lack of meaningful leadership on this issue for several years now, with the City preferring to kick the can down the road via consultants, get-togethers and talk, talk, talk but no action.
The City has been going down hill.
There are no plans. about 40 people playing soccer near the beach yesterday and police were parked watching them! if they are allowed to go out the shops should be able to open. Not everyone has to go out of their houses but businesses should be given an option to open up. Also how did they pass the 12 months to pay back rent? Are the home owners that depend on that rent going to get the same from the banks?
Interesting observations and frustrations, but I didn’t read any solutions offered by you. For example, you write, “Let’s…put forth lasting positive change and make real progress to save downtown.” Like what?
REOPEN SANTA BARBARA!!!
I agree the city is a cesspool of mismanagement, or shall I say non-management. However, the thing that will bring shoppers and diners back will be a substantial reduction in Covid cases and deaths. Not too much the city can do about that. If people are afraid they won’t go out to eat or shop no matter what, unless they are trying to make a political statement. Cleaning up the homeless problem is something the city can help with a lot, and I can assure you that keeps many people from going out even in the good times. Finally, in the short term, rent relief and/or mortgage deferment can really help keep businesses alive; I am not sure how much leverage the city has in that area or if they even care enough to try to make something happen.
And what happens when the tourists — Santa Barbara’s No. 1 industry — return? And the cruise ships? Will they bring the Coronavirus with them?
@A-158…. OH DEAR! The CARNAGE…!!!
When the tourists return, they will bring with them…..money, money, money, much needed money. Will they bring the covid virus along with them? I’d say no more than the gazillions of people wandering around town today (and the last several week) with no social distancing or face coverings. I mean really, what are we gonna do….stay at home for rest of our lives, or live life to its fullest. Bring on the money-spending tourists, baby! Fill up the hotels. Fill up the restaurants. Fill up the sidewalks. Fill p the movie theaters.
Robert, what is your A, B and C game plan?
I doubt that this comment will be posted as I seem to have been silenced? The question as to what to do with the downtown area? 1) Get rid of the bike lanes, they are rarely used & when they are the riders are usually in the traffic lane. 2) Go back to what we had in the 80’s allow parking on the street & make it free! make it easy for people instead of making it a challenge. Sure we have some parking lots that offer parking , big deal. The lots were poorly designed & you have to pay. 3) The powers to be need to realize we as a people are driving our cars……. quit trying to make this a bike city, it’s not going to work. Example , look what the city did to Cota street , blocks and blocks of parking gone! for what , bike riders. I think I’ve seen it once! I do travel that street frequently. 4) Maybe our City leaders, if that’s what they are? should drive down to the downtown area of Palm Springs, it thrives………. why because they have easy access right in front of most business’s & beautiful parking structures that are all free. Palm Springs City Govt. works! why can’t ours. I have a place in Palm Springs & my wife and I are there often, very few empty storefronts. 5) Quit with the meter maids, men giving tickets every time you turn around. Just a few thoughts, but I remember when downtoe=wn Santa Barbara rocked! No More! SAD…………..
Perhaps this could be a once in a generation opportunity for reform. The city is the biggest obstacle to business in this town. In order to allow businesses to succeed, we need to fire all the bureaucrats that delay and obstruct progress. The permitting process should be scrapped, and all restrictions drastically cut. Whatever rules remain should be simple and 100% objective. You meet the letter of the law, you’re good to go. No subjective interpretations or uncertainty allowed. Let the commercial property and business owners call the shots and we could see a renaissance downtown like never before. However, if we continue with heavy handed city regulation we ought to consider a program to start demolishing the abandoned buildings and returning the land to nature. Detroit has had some excellent results with that approach.
The ironic part is Bob Ficarra has been writing pieces like this for the 10 years he claims the city government has been neglecting the downtown. However, if you were to drive by Bob’s business in the first block of West Anapamu, 99.1 % of people would never consider walking in. Good businesses provide a good or service that people want. Pre-Covid-19 shutdown the downtown was doing great. You can’t use empty retail square footage as a measurement of economic growth. The good majority of businesses thrived in the downtown over the past 10 years. You ‘re attacking your local leaders while there hands are tied behind there back. The state is on lockdown Bob.
Downtown was doing great? You may have missed the 70 empty storefronts on State Street that says otherwise. As for my shop, I’ll let my 29 years in business speak for itself. Your nameless attacks speak of a personal agenda.
Hey Bob, I have been in business for thirty years and sales are down 50% from pre crisis levels. Where is my pony? Stop blaming City Hall for the decline of bricks and mortar business now made worse by Covid 19. Look at that fancy typewriter computer thing in your office and realize that almost anything can be purchased online and delivered to your door.
Sorry, I don’t reply to people that can’t put their name to their comments. I welcome constructive discussions in person without clever internet nicknames to hide behind.
The knee jerk need to blame someone or some group for a national disaster is sad. We need to pull together to get through this in a positive way. Yes, it is awful. No, it was not the fault of anyone. It is happening anyway and to allow it to cause these angry accusations and scapegoating posts is destructive to our society.
Without question, this was the fault of the People’s Republic of China.
I would really like to hear some good suggestions for how to improve business downtown. In the Before Times I loved walking around the area near the Art Museum. La Arcada is a fantastic asset to the city, for example. And I enjoy restaurants. But I don’t buy many gifts, never buy comic books, rarely like the clothes on offer in boutiques, prefer the library over bookstores. I don’t need much, so my monetary contribution is small. I think I am not the target demographic. Is anybody? What would actually bring people to the stores?
BOB: “Sorry, I don’t reply to people that can’t put their name to their comments.” Isn’t that precisely what you just did???
I’d be curious what the author’s versions of Plan A and Plan B would be. It’s easy to criticize but hard to offer pertinent solutions.
Without question it was the fault of [fill in the blank]. How silly to blame the Chinese for a virus that killed tens of thousands of their own. (Oh, I forgot, they don’t care about that.)
Those who are young and healthy and asympomatic certainly should not bother about the rest of us they might infect.
No one is blaming the Chinese. We are blaming their government for covering this up early on for what reason no one knows but we can certainly come to educated guesses – they thought they’d get it under control, wanted to stem other countries ordering PPE and vents, they were doing a no-no in that lab . . . goes on and on. but yes, CCP is wholly to blame.
No one is blaming the Chinese. We are blaming their government for covering this up early on for what reason no one knows but we can certainly come to educated guesses – they thought they’d get it under control, wanted to stem other countries ordering PPE and vents, they were doing a no-no in that lab . . . goes on and on. but yes, CCP is wholly to blame.
Close off State from Gutierrez to Figueroa to cars, at least temporarily. It works all over Europe. But if it doesn’t work, open it back up. Most downtowns are a square of about six blocks, not one long strip of 15 blocks. Have an arts and crafts fair one evening a week.
Mao Zedong’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ was responsible for the starvation and death of 45 million Chinese. “Killing tens of thousands of their own” is nothing for the CPC.
If you speak out against the CCP you will disappear. They are brutal. So no, they don’t care about their own. Their mitigation measures were not for the benefit of their people rather for the benefit of themselves – their cover up. Look at how they locked down people. Just awful.
Agree with closing State from Gutierrez to ‘about’ Figueroa… .. Also, also allow the businesses to put service and displays from the front of their business to the curb, for outdoor services. Put stand up tables for food/drink (including alcohol) with distancing. Clothing stores and the like can put some racks out also… Yes, details would need to be thought through, but would be a great step in the right direction to get the businesses back to reality.
Santa Barbara is still a tourist destination, just different clientele: They arrive here, pick up a shopping cart, locate a kip or a camp, ask where the good pickins’ are and enjoy the good weather.
For those railing on Bob for complaining and not providing solutions… It’s not his job. It’s our local elected officials’ job and their not doing it!
Until downtown is perceived as clean and inviting, the tourists will not come there. They may come to the beach area, but the dirty combat zone core feels like a place where only misfits and the unwashed are welcome. This lockdown IS giving us a great opportunity to reset the priorities for downtown, give locals a reason to go there as well as visitors. I support the idea of making much of State a pedestrian Mall. Allow restaurants to spread out to provide outdoor seating, then throw block parties, concerts, swap meet days. Here’s a successful example: In Amsterdam on Queen’s Day they make the whole city no vehicles and everyone hauls out their old stuff and does a yard sale. The parks are reserved just for children selling their old toys. As a mercantile culture, they want their kids to learn young to sell their old toys to someone younger, then go use the money to buy something from another kid. As far as I see it the only thing that works downtown is Farmer’s Market. So expand on that. Have one day a week artists can come set up tables and take a chance at selling whatever it is they make. One day a month motorcycle swap meet day. Anything like that would get people into the downtown, and as they walk past the brick-and-mortar shops one would hope they’d be enticed in. What needs to GO are the endless rules that the City would impose on anything like this……. the useless bureaucrats stifle every innovation.
You are right OBSERVER. We the people need to reclaim the government that is ours. Take control of it instead of letting the “public servants” tell us how it is supposed to work. We should be telling THEM! And one part of taking control is to manage the money being spent, not letting “the administration” make big ticket decisions that benefit “staff” or unions or special interests or tourists. Look at this: the administration currently has decided that there needs to be more than 1000 City employees for the operation of the City of Santa Barbara with a population of 90,000 plus. But Santa Maria and Ventura, both with more than 100,000 people, only need 600 or fewer employees. Just imagine how much YOU are being taxed to keep 400 people employed. When you have government employees negotiating their own salaries, benefits, perks, etc., the real taxpayers will lose every time. Maybe these highrollers in the administration think high salaries are “encouraging the economy”.
“30 year business” as soon as you want to attach your name to your comment and not be a keyboard coward we can have a real conversation.
Soapbox I have a 29 year successful business. As soon as local business has control over being overtaxed, insane fees, the homeless problem, outrageous permit guidelines and wait times and all the other issues our officials have ignored and/or pushed to the side maybe you’d have a point. For years the people in charge have been riding the Santa Barbara name instead of being proactive with solutions to keep downtown thriving.
@Soap The businesses have the responsibility of running a responsible and hopefully profitable business. The city has the responsibility of ensuring the environment for that. They have not. The amount of money and time and more money it takes to jump through the city’s Labrinth of hoops to start and run a business is crazy. They are paid by us to make sure the environment for business is stable. We pay to be inspected, for licensing, for multiple permits…so we can be inspected by them too. Although if nobody is buying anything, maybe they will have to eliminate some of these positions. LOL! Like that would ever happen.
I’d put the responsibility on local businesses to support a vibrant downtown rather than the other way around. If you have an unsuccessful business before, during, or after this crisis, it is your responsibility to adapt, attract customers and offer something that draws people to your business and our downtown, or perish. A cramped, dumpy retail space devoted to a niche audience, with a woefully outdated online presence and lacking online retail or any meaningful social media community beyond a GoFundMe campaign, is unlikely to survive under any condition.
A large part of the problem is the lack of any business experience, especially entrepreneurial, in local government. Many, if not most of the highly paid managers hold degrees in government: public policy, civic planning, law, accounting and specialized fields like civil engineering and traffic planning for example. They have never had to make tough choices on who gets paid what or managed a P/L based on hard earned and non guaranteed revenue. They have never had to choose whether to pay themselves or to pay their suppliers. They literally went to school to learn how to find ways to create more fees, fines, taxes and regulations. To expect these people, or their bureaucracies to change in anyway that is detrimental to their own existence is crazy. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| The only way to fix this mess is to re-think the entire roll of local government and to then staff accordingly. The upcoming economic depression that will hit SB may be one way to do this. The city needs to cut a sizeable portion of its staff and services ASAP. What we really need to do is make sure that the ones they choose to keep are the ones that are best for the people, for the future of SB and not the best the bureaucracy and the public employee unions… Now is the time to re-think our city and to rebuild for the future. Where is our modern day Pearl Chase? Its not in City Hall and its certainly not in any committee put together by the CoC. As if lawyers accountants and middle managers have ever created anything new…
I have not seen Murillo once since this all began. All I get from SB is some MEAGER constant contact update at the end of the day. It’s nothing short of a joke.
We have that, it’s on the waterfront and has been for decades. If I ever see another water color painting of a palm tree……
How do you know I am not? Oh, you assumed…
I’ve seen her plenty, just not on Faux News. Really, what can she do except hang on and hope for the best just like the rest of us? Being mayor of one small town doesn’t give her a lot of options.
Please show me the language in the Voter Guide that said our electeds are responsible for developing a business plan for responding to a once in 500 years pandemic? They are supposed to be primarily responsible for delivering basic services- water, trash pickup, sewage treatment, and then they also have regulatory authority over development which includes businesses and residences. The reality is that many of these problems have not been solved by anyone, so it is not a question of ignorant electeds ignoring the obvious.
Once in 500 years Pitmix? There has been about 10 since the great Spanish Flue of the early 1900’s. This one seems so much worse because of how we responsed to the virus not the virus itself.
Pit likely works for the city or has close ties. They (proper pronoun for the unknown) are always defending the City and County, especially the worst mayor in our town’s history -Ms. wet noodle herself, Cathy Murillo. They have made many claims to live on the Westside, but sometimes its Carp. Especially in the threads where they are defending Das… Take that for what you will Sam.
in my four decades in Santa Barbara County and city I cannot recall a time when the downtown businesses were NOT disgruntled, and North County Oil/Ag corporations were not bashing “South County” electeds. The bashing heightens when the electeds are of a female persuasion. So, whether pandemic or mudslide, wildfire drought or recession- always look to these special interests to zero in on whomever they view as a vulnerable target who will get so tired of their whining that they give in. Andy Caldwell, Ed St G, really doesn’t matter, there are dozens to fill their shoes. and the “thought leaders”/bloggers who give them a platform
Ok, 1 in 500 years was wrong, how about once in a lifetime for most of us? No way there have been 10 pandemics worse than this one in terms of fatalities since 1918. SBO, you know what they say about assumptions, and you are making a lot of them. If these problems are so easy to solve, get off the sidelines and start implementing your great ideas.