News of theWeek
CONT’D
Dueling Prison Plans
OYSTER PERPETUAL MILGAUSS
1015 State St. Santa Barbara, CA 962-5815 www.churchilljewelers.com rolex 19779
oyster perpetual and milgauss are trademarks.
JOIN US FOR A
1ST THURSDAY ART OPENING Sept. 5th 5-8 pm
TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
invitational multi-media show featuring 9 California artists Sept. 5-28
and don't miss....
SHOP SPREE Sept. 6 & 7 Entire Showroom Reduced! 1323 STATE STREET SANTA BARBARA 962-6909 • MON-FRI 10-5, SAT 11-5 12
THE INDEPENDENT
september 5, 2013
After 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam voiced his faith that the State of California understands Santa Barbara’s needs for additional jail space at Tuesday’s board meeting, liberal 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal quipped at his conservative colleague, “It’s great to see your confidence in the state government. It’s very refreshing.” With a federal court breathing down California’s neck to remove 9,600 inmates from its prison system, however, it’s hard to ignore that the burden of overcrowding is shifting to county jails. This week, Governor Jerry Brown (backed by Assembly Speaker John Perez) and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg unveiled competing plans to reduce the state prison population. The governor’s plan would shift the prisoners to privately run facilities — some of them out of state — and cost $315 million the first year and $415 million each of the following two years. Most importantly for those concerned about public safety, the governor’s plan would keep inmates from being released early. Steinberg’s plan calls for a $200 million annual expenditure on rehabilitation and mental health services in order to shrink the prison population. It is contingent on the agreement of inmates’ lawyers and a three-judge panel to offer a three-year delay in enforcing its order to release prisoners. While Santa Barbara’s Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson is all-in on Steinberg’s plan, Assemblymember Das Williams said he’d like to see both sides talk. He said his two priorities are that no prisoners are released early — especially because most nonviolent nonsexual offenders are already out — and that it is cost effective. He said the governor’s proposal is strong on the former and Steinberg’s is strong on the latter. Steinberg’s bill, said Jackson, “does not release a single prisoner early. It puts money into programs that are focused in the community that are known to improve public safety by incentivizing counties to … address the needs of people to become trained for employment, deal with substance abuse, mental health issues, and life skills, which have been proven in the past to reduce the recidivism rate.” Jackson and Williams both agree that the lawsuit that provoked the population-reduction orders are stealing money from schools. “Every dollar that is spent on this is a theft from our educational system, our health-care system, and everything else we hold dear,” said Williams. If Jerry Brown’s plan were to gain legislative approval, the state would spend more on — Brandon Fastman prisons than on higher education this fiscal year.
news briefs cont’d The supervisors approved spending $25,000 to get outside legal advice on the county’s options with regard to the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ intention to annex 1,400 acres of noncontiguous land to their reservation. These efforts have been the subject of intense community concern, particularly in the Santa Ynez Valley, and have been opposed by the county supervisors. Initially, the supes had been asked to approve a $150,000 contract for outside legal advice, but that amount included the possibility of litigation services. The fees were dropped because some supervisors felt uncomfortable including litigation in the quiver of options. The board has insisted that if the tribe wishes to pursue housing and economic development schemes on land off the reservation, it needs to follow the same development review process required of all county residents. Santa Barbara County’s Health Department estimates there are 25,000 county residents who are eligible for health insurance once the federal Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — kicks in January 1, 2014. To this end, the department just accepted a federal grant of $233,000 to sign as many new enrollees up as possible. That money will pay for eight new contractors — bilingual, computer literate, and preferably veterans — to sign up those eligible for any of the new Health Insurance Exchanges still to be worked out at the state level. In addition, they will sign up individuals eligible for expanded Medi-Cal, estimated to be 6,000. County Health is not the only entity signing new enrollees up; nonprofits like the United Way have received funding to do the same. The Rincon Septic to Sewer Conversion Project finally broke ground on 8/30 when homeowners, elected officials, and community members gathered at the Rincon community
gates to celebrate the start of construction on a project 15 years in the making. In the late 1990s, surfers started complaining of infections and rashes caused by septic system runoff, and a 1998 study confirmed that 20 percent of the bacterial pollution in the lagoon that feeds into Rincon waters was from human fecal material. That discovery prompted a collaborative effort by Heal the Ocean, Carpinteria Sanitary District, and various stakeholders to tackle the contentious environmental issue. Construction on the system is scheduled to finish in 2014. The Rincon Palms Hotel (planned for the corner of Storke Rd. and Hollister Ave.) remains in flux. After hours of debate among councilmembers, concerned citizens, and developers — all of whom had varying opinions on the proposed hotel’s amenities, design, and impact on mountain views and traffic — the Goleta City Council voted 4-1 on 9/3 to continue its discussion on the project on 10/1. The original iteration of the hotel approved in 2008 was for a 112-room building with a free-standing restaurant but was later revised to be a 149-room hotel with a 5,440-square-foot conference center instead of a restaurant. Councilmembers and residents took issue with both proposals, prompting the council to suggest that the developers find a compromise.
EDUCATION Rep. Lois Capps paid a visit to the underground floor of the Santa Barbara school district offices, which is quickly transforming from a repository for old materials to a functional space. She was visiting the Parent Resource Center (PRC), an educational multimedia library for parents of students with learning disabilities. Capps told Cheri Rae McKinney — the PRC’s founder — that she would like to see her apply for some grant money to increase outreach. Along with the PRC, five “teachers on special assignment” cont’d page 15 (or teacher teachers) are