Program’s Site
The City of Santa Barbara has began the process to update its General Plan
with an extensive public outreach to gauge the pulse of the community. This
process (“Plan Santa Barbara”) is expected to generate major policy changes.
Four public workshops were held at the beginning of the summer with a second round planned for the fall.
In order for a community to make shared decisions, it must be in possession
of shared FACTS and not proceed from misunderstandings and prejudice. That
is the message that COAST forwarded to City representatives at the May 17
presentation. How do you elevate the discussion from the usual rhetoric
(i.e., “Preserve the quality of life”, “Live within our resources”) to more
concrete topics?
Policy questions should be focused and informed instead of asking about
people’s “feelings”. COAST requests that the City provide updated
statistical information about population and development patterns as
background for these discussions. The community needs factual information
to evaluate how our population and region are evolving.
~To see COAST’s comments to City Staff click link below~
