Lets save the trees along Modoc Road
Buellton prepares for Fall Fest
News-Press editorial: County ignores the environment in favor of multi-use path - A3
Carnival rides, games, bands and more planned for Nov. 11-13 - B1
Our 167th Year
Mayor: Lower State Street is improving Randy Rowse says homeless situation is getting better despite problems that led to restaurant’s upcoming closure
DAVE MASON / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Mayor Randy Rowse says it’s sad The Natural Cafe is closing after 30 years on lower State Street in Santa Barbara.
By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Mayor Randy Rowse calls the impending closure of The Natural Cafe “sad,” given the restaurant’s 30 years as a downtown Santa Barbara fixture. “They’ve been a longtime institution.” But the Santa Barbara mayor said the homeless problem along lower State Street appears to be improving despite the eatery’s ongoing troubles with aggressive vagrants. The Natural Cafe owner Kelly Brown recently announced that, after three decades of running his restaurant at 508 State St., he is closing its doors partly in response to increasingly aggressive panhandling by homeless people and problems with them interacting with his staff. He also maintained that homeless people near his restaurant are consuming alcohol and drugs in public, using planters for toilets, camping in empty storefronts “or locking themselves in our bathrooms and showering, sleeping and using drugs,” which he said “is an everyday occurrence,” Mayor Rowse conceded there might be “a lack of improvement on that part of State Street,” but that other areas downtown Please see CAFE on A2
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By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara City Council today will receive a status report by the Department of Public Works regarding recently completed capital improvements, as well as projects currently in design or construction. The council will meet in its chambers, 735 Anacapa St., starting at 2 p.m. The city’s Capital Improvement Program identifies current and future projects to maintain or improve the city’s capital infrastructure, staff wrote in its report to council. The CIP provides a preliminary prioritization of projects for funding in the next five years and identifies project needs for future years. The most recent CIP was presented and approved by council on March 16, 2021, and covered fiscal years 2022 to 2026. There were 14 CIP projects in the construction phase. The total cost for these projects is approximately $44.3 million. These include the Central Library Renovation Project, the Desal Conveyance Main Project and The Thousand Steps Beach Public Access Stairs Improvement Project. Two projects involve Santa Barbara Airport. The first, the Southfield Redevelopment Project, will reconfigure the rental car ready-return lot at the airline passenger terminal, adding roughly 60 car spaces and three overnight aircraft parking spaces. The project scope includes stormwater improvements and airport security improvements. Construction is anticipated to start in early 2023. The second involves SBA Terminal Expansion and Parking Structure, which is currently in the conceptual design phase. Concepts will include expanding the existing airline passenger terminal by roughly 16,000 square feet and adding a multilevel parking structure. The conceptual design phase is scheduled for completion in January 2023, with environmental review and design development to follow. The Central Library Renovation Project will include new lighting, new planters, new drought tolerant landscaping, and a new accessible ramp connecting the
By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE
The Natural Cafe was well-known in downtown Santa Barbara for its healthy menus. While the lower State Street location is closing, The Natural Cafe will continue to operate its locations on Hitchcock Way in Santa Barbara and at Camino Real Marketplace in Goleta.
upper plaza to the lower plaza with new hardscape throughout. Other features include the ADAcompliant elevator project and renovation of the lower level staff area. The Desal Conveyance Main Project, also known as the Desal Link Project, will install 2.25 miles of 24-inch pipe to connect the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant to the Cater Water Treatment Plan. When this project and other supporting projects are complete, the city will be able to distribute desalinated water to the city’s entire water service area. And the Thousand Steps Beach Public Access Stairs Improvement Project includes safety repairs and improvements to the historic beach access stairway on the Mesa. Improvements include a new continuous handrail, a new concrete guardrail at the main landing mid-stairway, and the reconstruction of the lower 24 steps and installation of seven new additional steps. The project is substantially complete, but a brief closure for additional work is expected this fall or winter, when conditions allow access. Other projects currently in design or construction include: • The Downtown De La Vina Street Safe Crosswalks and Buffered Bike Lanes project, which will install a buffered bike lane, replacing one vehicular travel lane on De La Vina Street. In addition, curb extensions, high visibility signs and pavement markings constructed along six intersections are designed to improve sightlines and decrease pedestrian exposure to traffic. • The Eastside Community Paseos Project, which will provide bike and pedestrian connections within and from the Eastside to the Downtown area. • Wastewater Main Rehabilitation 2022 Project, which is part of the city’s annual program to maintain approximately 257 miles of sanitary sewer infrastructure by utilizing cured-in-place trenchless lining technologies. • Water Main Replacement FY 21A Project, which will consist of replacing approximately 3.5 miles of aged and/or problematic water main pipes with PVC and Please see COUNCIL on A2
(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in potentially landmark cases that question whether colleges and universities’ race-based admissions policies can remain in place. The Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that colleges may consider race in admissions to help diversify their campuses. Now, though, those policies are under
fire at Harvard and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the oldest private and public schools in the country, where opponents have filed suit. UNC defended itself in oral arguments, Monday, pointing out that they intentionally create diversity along a range of metrics, including admitting more veterans and rural students, not just race. Harvard has made the point in the brief that race-based admissions policies have become Please see COURT on A4
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Supreme Court considers legality of race-based admission in colleges
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