Upper East Association
Santa Barbara

Neighborhood News

MTD Line 22 Cancellation - decision postponed to Q4 2012

Responsible Dog Owners Group (RDOG)

Wednesdays at La Huerta Historic Garden

Congratulations to Charmaine Jacobs

Survey - Safety Hazards

Nixle, a new Community Notification Service

Recycling Plastic Bags

MTD Line 22 cancellation- decision postponed to Q4 2012

At the MTD Board meeting on May 1 it was decided to postpone cancellation of Line 22 for about six months and to review the matter again in Q4 2012.  As a result, the Board did not consider the staff proposal to move the northbound bus stop for Lines 6 and 11 from Pueblo St. to Los Olivos St. There will be no changes in service at this time.

At a public meeting held at the Museum of Natural History on April 9, MTD representatives explained how Line 22, which serves the Upper East and Lower Riviera areas, has the lowest ridership of their routes. Subsequently, the Riviera Association wrote to MTD emphasizing the importance of Line 22 to the El Encanto Hotel, now being rebuilt, and to the new Bella Riviera residences being constructed on the site of the old St. Francis Hospital.  Staff of the El Encanto will depend on Line 22 to get to and from work, and residents of Bella Riviera are likewise expected to use the route heavily.

The decision to delay the elimination of Line 22 resulted from MTD's improved financial situation and the persuasive arguments put forth by both the Riviera Association and the County Air Pollution Control District.

It is only a temporary reprieve, however, and it may not last long enough for the El Encanto and Bella Riviera projects to be completed.  The best way to convince MTD to continue to operate Line 22 past this fall is to increase the ridership now.  If you want to see the route continue in operation, you are encouraged to use it whenever possible. 

Responsible Dog Owners Group (RDOG)

Nine UEA members who are also responsible dog owners met on April 19th to share ideas on where they go to exercise their dogs. Concerns were aired and participants agreed to do further research. For more information or to get involved, contact lisakburns@yahoo.com or deborah.rogow@gmail.com co-coordinators of RDOG.

Wednesdays at La Huerta Historic Garden

May is the best month to plant vegetable row crops for a summer harvest. Come to La Huerta Historic Garden on Wednesday mornings 9am-noon to see what's being planted now. The garden is located behind Serra Hall, next to the Stations of the Cross at Old Mission Santa Barbara.

Bring your gardening questions for Master Gardeners who volunteer at La Huerta. Volunteers who want to learn while working in the garden under the direction of SBCC Professor Emeritus Jerry Sortomme are welcome.

Congratulations to Charmaine Jacobs

The Upper East Association congratulates UEA member Charmaine Jacobs for her eight years of exemplary service as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Santa Barbara. She was elected chair of the Planning Commission in 2007 and served on the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance Steering Committee from 2004-2006 as well as the Housing Policy Steering Committee.   During her term Charmaine reviewed three of the City's largest and most controversial projects - renovation of Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara's new Airport terminal, and the City's General Plan 2030 Update - as well as hundreds of other projects that were critically important to the people proposing and opposing them.

In her role as a member of the 2030 General Plan Update Outreach Committee she kept the Upper East Board informed on re-zoning issues in the neighborhood.  Charmaine was known for her astute questioning of both applicants and city staff. Her critical thinking often resulted in improving a project's design or conditions of approval. Perhaps because Charmaine was trained as a fine artist, she was able to visualize how a project would look once built.

Her concern for size, bulk and scale and visual impact of a project from a human standpoint convinced the rest of the Planning Commission on the need to protect Santa Barbara's important cultural landmarks, such as the Presidio and Arlington Theater, from encroachment by large, multistory developments in the General Plan Update. Serving on the Steering Committee for the new airport terminal, she helped craft the guiding statement of "The Santa Barbara Airport Experience", resulting in an airport design that retains Santa Barbara's unique ambiance.  While appreciating the importance and need for a major regional medical campus, she also advocated to keep Cottage Hospital's edifice in proportion to its surroundings. As a result Cottage Hospital blends with existing medical offices and nearby residential areas.

The Upper East Association is proud to recognize Charmaine Jacobs for her service as a City Planning Commissioner from 2003 through 2011.

-- Prepared by Lisa Knox Burns for the Upper East Association Board

Survey - Safety Hazards

From time to time members express concern about safety hazards in the Upper East – overgrown vegetation blocking sight lines for vehicles, dangerous intersections, etc.  We want to compile a comprehensive list of such situations so we can discuss them in a coherent way with City officials.

If you are aware of a dangerous location in our neighborhood please send us an email at ueacomm@gmail.com with a description of what’s wrong and what you think might be done to correct it.  We'll report back on the results of this survey in future newsletters.

Nixle, a new Community Notification Service

The Santa Barbara Police Department has launched a new Community Notification Service called “Nixle” to improve communication with people who live, work, and visit our area. The system provides a quick, efficient, and secure way to get neighborhood-level information out to community members who subscribe to the system. Through www.nixle.com, the department will be able to send text message (SMS) and e-mail alerts to subscribers in a specific area.

Notifications might be considered in the following instances:

• A young child or an adult with Alzheimer’s disease walks away from home. The alert can include a picture of the individual with a map identifying the area where he or she was last seen.
• A public safety emergency requires people to stay in or remain away from their homes. A Nixle alert can let residents with a registered address in the affected neighborhood know what’s happening.
• A serious injury or fatal crash in which traffic investigators close down an intersection for several hours during the morning commute. This situation might warrant a notification to subscribers who live or work in the area, encouraging them to select a different route.
• Current crime trends and requests to identify possible suspects.

Through Nixle, the Police Department will deliver messages securely to citizens by e-mail and cell phone, supporting and expanding its community outreach efforts. Because the system will be most effective with large numbers of subscribers, you are encouraged to spread the word about the system.

Nixle is a secure communications service available to municipal, county, and state government agencies. The system is available at no cost to our citizens, though standard text message rates apply for subscribers who do not have text plans with their cell phone providers. Residents can receive technical and non-technical assistance directly from Nixle by sending email to support@nixle.com.

If you have questions about how the Police Department is utilizing the system, please contact ...

Lieutenant James P. Pfleging
Watch Commander
Santa Barbara Police Department
215 E. Figueroa Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 897-2378
www.sbpd.com

Recycling Plastic Bags

Clean plastic bags are now accepted in your blue recycle bin.  The following types of bags are okay:

• Any plastic bag or wrapping marked with #2 or #4
• White plastic grocery sacks the stores use to bag your purchases
• Clear bags used for produce
• Santa Barbara News-Press bags
• Drycleaner bags

It's no longer necessary to take them to a grocery store or discard them in the trash.