What Do You Think?
What is going on at the
Santa Barbara County Department of Long Range Planning? This newly created
department, headed by Mike Brown and John McInnes, has
become the “vehicle of choice” for delivering what seems to be an endless
stream of costly land use projects that the public is either not aware of or
does not understand, let’s take the Greater Santa Ynez
Valley Baseline Study as an example:
First we were told that
this baseline report was going to study the affects of the gambling industry in
Santa Barbara County including the Santa Ynez Valley,
where a Las Vegas style casino has existed for several years now. However, when
the “Project Charter,” which describes the project was released by McInnes on Aug. 8, there was absolutely nothing about
studying the affects of the gambling-casino industry anywhere in it. Instead,
it focused on other issues such as housing and land use topics.
Then, a few weeks later a
new project charter was released now referring to the study of “possible
expansion of the Chumash Enterprises,” but again no mention of the
gambling-casino industry. The other issues such as housing and land use topics
remained.
Then, four major community
groups in the Santa Ynez Valley sent a letter to
Supervisor Brooks Firestone asking him to have the county “kill this project”
and return the $100,000 that was taken from the Community Plan to fund it -
indicating that the intent of the baseline study was both vague and highly
suspicious.
Now, on Sept. 18, it is
coming back to the Board of Supervisors, via John McInnes
and Mike Brown, for yet another pass at getting the blessing of the board to
proceed with the study – who even knows at this point what new version of this
we will see during the Sept. 18 presentation.
I think enough is enough.
This is nothing more than a “shell game” and a waste of taxpayers’ time and
money. I also think that those who insist on this study going forward are doing
it for self-serving reasons that will benefit the only the very few who know
what it is really about. It is time for McInnes and
Brown to stop pushing this down our throats and for Supervisor Firestone to
respond to the clear wishes of the people of the Valley and the community
groups that represent them.
What
do you think?
To obtain a copy of the Board of
Supervisors Meeting Agenda that will be held on Sept. 18, you may contact the
Clerk of the Board @ (805) 568-2240