Historic Regional Elected Official Summit Held

Santa Barbara County residents have long considered our region separate and distinct from the rest of southern California.  The Santa Barbara-Ventura County line is viewed by many as the boundary dividing the Central Coast from Los Angeles.   These old perspectives are changing, however, as we find that Santa Barbara County is increasingly connected to Ventura County.

Decisions made by local governments to our south affect our own community’s quality of life.  We can no longer afford to ignore changes that are taking place in the rest of southern California.  Port expansion plans in Los Angeles and Long Beach, the need for more freight line capacity from coastal ports to inland warehousing and distribution centers, the increasing demand upon regional airports, the jobs--housing imbalance between Santa Barbara and Ventura County all affect our own community’s future. 

Recognizing this changing reality, a wide range of local elected officials from Santa Maria, Lompoc, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara & Goleta met recently with our elected counterparts from Ventura County and southern California to discuss issues of mutual concern.  This unprecedented summit meeting, brought together for the first time elected leaders from the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), Ventura Council of Governments (VCOG), Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) and the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to begin seeking common ground on issues of regional significance including housing, jobs and transportation. 

Our discussions confirmed how important it is that we collaborate on a number of issues given the inter-relationship of the transportation, and planning issues facing our regions.  Local governments enjoy tremendous public support because of the high visibility and accountability of local decision making.  Unfortunately, local communities are no longer islands where local actions alone can buffer us from the effects of outside events. To protect community character and quality of life we need to actively engage our local communities in understanding how the newly emerging interconnectedness of the world economy is driving change in Southern California and then we can develop strategies that are compatible with our region, but protect our own local interests.

Among the items raised at the summit meeting included exploring various approaches to alleviate worsening traffic congestion on the 101 Freeway, strategies to achieve a jobs/housing balance amidst a growing population and trans-migration between counties in the region.    Other key issues included the possibility of extending the Metrolink commuter train system from Ventura into Santa Barbara County, increasing other transit services between Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties like the Coastal Express bus service and integrating Santa Barbara County into Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies to improve the efficiency of traffic flow on the freeway.

Participants agreed that by advocating for legislation and funding as a united region we will be a much more effective in working with Congress and the State Legislature to ensure that our region has the resources and policies to preserve our long-term prosperity and high quality of life.  As part of this cooperative approach, leaders acknowledged the need to educate their communities about the benefits of regional planning and advocacy.

Nearly 100 years ago Santa Barbara and Ventura County separated into two counties.  The dividing line between the two counties won’t be erased but the challenges of the 21^st century demand continued dialogue across county and regional lines.  The same connections exist with our northern neighbors in San Luis Obispo County and deserve similar attention.  Dramatic change is occurring all around us.  We can either deal with this change reactively or begin the working together to meet the challenges ahead. 

Signed,

Santa Barbara County Supervisor                                                                         Santa Barbara County Supervisor Susan Rose                                        Carpinteria Mayor Dick Weinberg                                                                         Lompoc Mayor Dick DeWees                                                                           Carpinteria Vice Mayor Donna Jordan                                                             Goleta City Councilmember Jack Hawxhurst                                                  Santa Barbara City Councilmember Dan Secord                                           Santa Maria City Councilmember Marty Mariscal                                                

70% of County Transportation Sales Tax Measures Pass

November 2, Election Day, was a big day for transportation sales tax measures around the State.    Local transportation tax measures were on the ballots in ten counties.  After weeks of hand counting ballots in San Diego and Sonoma County the results are in – Seven out of ten measures were successfully approved by local voters generating a combined 30 billion dollars for transportation improvements over the next 40 years!

Voters in five counties—San Bernardino, San Mateo, Sacramento, Contra Costa, and San Diego—had to decide whether to renew expiring sales tax measures.  Successful approval of the required 2/3 majority was achieved in all five counties.  New measures were put before voters in five other counties—Marin, Sonoma, Solano, Santa Cruz, and Ventura.   The Measures in Marin and Sonoma passed.

Expenditure plans were adopted for each of the local transportation measures by the regional agency responsible for administering the tax programs.  All of the successful measures are multimodal—between 20% and 60% of their revenues will be dedicated to transit and alternative mode projects.  A number of the successful measures also have sub-regional components to address the special needs of certain geographic regions of their counties. 

Legislative efforts to reduce the majority needed for special transportation sales tax measures from 2/3 to 55% or 50% are all but dead, given that seven of the ten measures on the ballot met the supermajority requirement and passed.  Unfortunately, while local voters have again shown strong support for transportation projects, the Governor and State Legislature continue to raid voter approved Proposition 42 transportation funds to balance the general fund budget deficit. 

The public clearly supports investment in California’s transportation infrastructure as the recent election result prove.  As the Legislature begins its new session it’s important to let our representatives in Sacramento know that California can no longer tolerate further cuts to transportation funding. There is a clear crisis in transportation funding in California - we are literally 'running on empty' and any further suspension to Prop. 42 will result in deprogramming of projects in the STIP, lost jobs, and significant economic impact to the state.  Our legislative leaders need to recognize what local voters around the state already understand – investing in transportation improvements are vital to preserving the quality of life promise of the “Golden State”.