Santa Barbara residents and business owners raised concerns about safety on State Street during the April 7 City Council meeting and called for increased police patrols, stricter enforcement of electric bicycle regulations, and stronger oversight of unlicensed street vending.
A local business owner presented a petition that was signed by 370 residents and business representatives raising concerns about safety conditions.
The petition urges the City Council and Santa Barbara Police Department to take steps to restore safety and what supporters described as a “family-friendly” environment on State Street.
The signatures were collected over roughly a week and a half, as the petition focused on improving safety, maintaining public order, and keeping the area accessible for visitors, families, and workers.
Concerns Raised
Several issues were raised, including concerns about minors riding high-speed electric bicycles in crowded pedestrian areas.
Speakers said groups of riders often travel through crowded areas at speeds that exceed California regulations, contributing to collisions and safety incidents, particularly near the farmers market. In addition, concerns over thefts, vandalism, aggressive conduct, and suspected drug-related activity were also raised during the meeting.
Business owners said these issues have affected customer experience and daily operations. Some also reported harassment, including verbal abuse directed at employees and visitors. Unlicensed street vendors were also cited as a concern. While some enforcement efforts are already underway, petitioners called for more consistent regulation.
Proposed Safety Measures
To address these concerns, the petition outlines several measures, including increased police presence through regular foot, bicycle, and motorcycle patrols along State Street. Supporters noted the need for consistent police visibility, particularly during peak business and evening hours.
The proposal also calls for stricter enforcement of existing safety regulations, particularly those governing electric bicycles.
No new laws were proposed; instead, the focus is on enforcing existing state regulations to reduce unsafe riding and prevent further incidents. Supporters argued that improving safety is tied to the area’s economic health, saying a safer environment could attract more visitors, support local businesses, and increase sales tax revenue.
They added that increased revenue could help ease financial pressures in a city with a high cost of living.
City Council members did not announce any immediate policy changes following the comments. The issue is expected to remain part of ongoing discussions about the future of State Street.
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Those $2 tacos are dangerous to Republucans fragile brains.
E-bikes, State St. and street meats. Does anyone in this town care about anything else? My God, people…..
State St is something to care about!
HAMMONDS – what about it should we be obsessing over?
Homelessness? That’s a national problem and for some reason, every other civilized country has figured out how to keep even their biggest cities relatively free of homeless through social programs. We don’t like that stuff so there you go.
High rents? Yeah, that’s the cause of all those vacancies but again, no one wants to address the problem.
No cars? Well, most people like it that way and no one here will even consider a compromise so you’re stuck with that it looks like.
Anything else?
Good luck with that. The cat’s out of the bag with State St. It was always safer when it was open to cars like all other streets in town. People had to obey the rules of the road. Now it’s a free for all of e-bike riders mixed with pedestrians in the middle of the closed roads, where there are no rules of the road. Look forward to the City to do another consultant “study” on what to do next with it!
BASIC – ” It was always safer when it was open to cars like all other streets in town.”
Prove it.
How many deadly or at lease severe injury car vs pedestrian accidents have there been on State since it closed partially?
Liar.
Look how many people have complained about the current situation on State since it closed down. Look at the City Council dealing with meetings, studies, consultants, etc. about people getting sideswiped by bikes, businesses shutting down, lack of safety, etc. If you pay any attention at all, the COVID experiment that you still support has lost its usefulness years back. Toss away all your KN95 masks. You don’t need them any longer any more than you need a little blankey as an adult. Pedestrians can walk on the sidewalk, as they always have. Bikes can ride in bike lanes, as the6 always have. It’s common sense, if you have a brain. How about you prove how great State is doing since it’s gotten the experimental shut down. You cannot. It’s obvious to the City and it’s citizens that it’s suffering. Pretty straightforward.
Why are you commenting on a place that you don’t live, don’t like, and apparently don’t visit? Stay in Goleta.
“Look how many people have …” expressed their preference for keeping State St. closed to cars.
> It’s common sense
Common sense is what low IQ people use in the place of reasoning.
> Toss away all your KN95 masks. You don’t need them any longer any more than you need a little blankey as an adult.
Remember, this is from the piece of garbage who attacked Jerry Roberts, a two time cancer sufferer with no spleen, for wearing a mask while doing a newscast because the piece of garbage baselessly and stupidly assumed that Jerry was alone. That was six years ago and this bit of slime has only become worse since then.
Somebody dove headfirst into toxic loserville today.
> It was always safer when it was open to cars like all other streets in town
Lying as always. The injury rate dropped dramatically after it was closed to cars, as any rational person would have expected.
https://www.independent.com/2023/01/23/cyclists-and-pedestrians-are-safer-on-the-promenade/
Basic just makes up whatever they/them can use to fit their own backwards con smarmy beta male agenda.
He says “It’s common sense, if you have a brain….Pretty straightforward.”
This is how profoundly stupid people with no intellectual integrity and no introspection operate.
The deterioration of downtown Santa Barbara is well under way. I hope the City of SB can get its act together and bounce back, but no one believes that’ll be happening in the foreseeable future….if ever. Crime, drugs, bad behavior, and failed businesses do not exactly entice people to visit the area. Imagine being a first-time visitor excited about experiencing the hype they’ve read about or drone videos they’ve watched. Then the sad reality sinks in at their expense (money for flights, lodging, transportation, etc. all wasted). Almost no public restrooms, and those that are in place are a bit sketchy/yucky. Sitting benches….removed. God forbid contacting LE or public health to remove a street camper passed out across a sidewalk. At least some of the For Sale/Lease properties will have artwork in their windows….a huge win for artists…that’s nice. Meanwhile….downtown areas in Ventura, Oxnard, Lompoc, Santa Maria, ….just about everywhere else on the Central Coast are kickin’ “A.” Maybe adding another hydration station will help.
BeeKnee. Holy cow, get off the sauce. What apocalyptic doom world do you live in? Downtown was beautiful today. I can imagine trying to remember what it looks like from Lompoc.is hard.
BTW, downtown L9npoc is a sad joke.
BTW the past two times I’ve been through downtown Lompoc this year it looked like a drug and gang infested hell hole.