News of theWeek employee alongside Singer’s annual personnel evaluation. Singer — the city’s highest-paid employee, whose salary was bumped up $7 to $202,284 a year — received a reduced-term contract, down to one year from three years, with an added stipulation to meet “agreedupon goals and objectives.” He has held the position since 2005. Hundreds of service workers rallied at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning at UCSB’s Henley Gate to strike in unison with workers of the largest union in the UC system. Though contract negotiations between workers in AFSCME 3299 and UC officials are ongoing, union leaders say the strike is about unfair labor practices. Workers across the 10-campus, five-hospital university system say they were retaliated against after participating in a system-wide strike last May. Strikers later marched through campus, and as of press time, had planned to continue demonstrating until 7 p.m.
SPORTS In a season that saw them go undefeated in their conference and score a 12-5-3 record, UCSB’s men’s soccer team is headed to the NCAA Tournament after earning the No. 10 national seed. Their high ranking in the bracket — there are 48 teams total — netted them a
first-round bye; their first game will be Sunday, 11/24, at Harder Stadium against either Penn State or St. Francis Brooklyn. The Gauchos won the National Championship in 2006.
DEATHS COU RTESY
news briefs cont’d
CONT’D
Abraham Safina (pictured), known as Abe, a prominent figure in Santa Barbara for his and his brothers’ towing company and numerous rental properties, died 11/8 at the age of 86. Safina’s surviving brother William — their brother Michael died last year — said Abe succumbed to old age and that services are planned for Thursday. William said their towing company, Tony’s Towing Service — named after their father — closed about 10 years ago, but he is still handling their real estate business.
Roundabout or Stoplight?
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THE INDEPENDENT
NovEmbEr 21, 2013
COU RTESY C IT Y O F S.B.
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So intense is the hostility to installing a new stoplight at the intersection of Cliff Drive and Las Positas Road that the Santa Barbara City Council is itching to spend an additional $600,000 to install a roundabout instead. The question, of course, is where that extra money will come from and at the YELLOW LIGHT: New scaled-back plans for a roundabout at Cliff expense of what Drive and Las Positas Road are a hit, but money remains a question. other vital road repairs. City Hall has $750,000 in federal transportation dollars to build something to alleviate the rush-hour congestion at that intersection, which would cover the cost of a stoplight but not a roundabout. City Hall risks losing that money, however, if it doesn’t spend it in the next couple of years. Initially, the cost differential between the two choices was $1.1 million, but city traffic engineers figured how to whittle the gap down to $600,000. Councilmembers were agreed that roundabouts — once reviled in town as something alien and exotic — are faster, quieter, more aesthetically pleasing, generate less congestion and exhaust, are safer, and move cars through the intersection more efficiently. By contrast, the level of service there with a stoplight would gradually get worse and attract more collisions. Traffic engineer Derrick Bailey reported that roundabouts on average have 21 percent fewer collisions and 66 percent fewer injury collisions than stoplights do. A few councilmembers were so opposed to a stoplight that losing the money and building nothing there would be preferable. Still, the additional cost remained a bone of contention for the roundabout. Cathy Murillo expressed concern that much-needed traffic improvements for the Eastside would suffer unfairly if the extra money was spent to make “a good neighborhood better.” Councilmember Dale Francisco said he couldn’t support spending so much extra money when a stoplight addressed 85 percent of the intersection’s needs. And Councilmember Bendy White lamented the sorry state of road repairs elsewhere throughout the city. But bean counters noted that City Hall finished the year with $4 million more than projected and that some of that could possibly be used for the roundabout. The discussion for how to spend that surplus is scheduled for — Nick Welsh next January. Based on that, the council voted to delay the decision.