COAST would like to thank our newest council member, Cathy Murillo, who went out there herself to observe and spoke eloquently to the needs of the many walkers in the area.

We also want to thank all the people who e-mailed and called. Brittany Odermann Heaton, Robert Adams and Ed France spoke in favor of alternative 2A – thank you!

Through all of our efforts, we turned this around.

On January 11, representatives of COAST attended a very special ribbon cutting ceremony. It was for the footpath on San Ysidro Road leading to Montecito Union School that COAST helped bring about. MUS Superintendent Tammy Murphy and Supervisor Salud Carbajal led the ceremony together with all the students of the school. The kids actually cut the ribbon. They had placed thank-you notes on all the mailboxes on San Ysidro Road and left a sunflower at each one. Large groups of up to 50 children and their parents walked the new path to school that day. Later, when the kids were in school, dog walkers and joggers enjoyed it as well.

We thank Supervisor Carbajal who rolled up his sleeves and got things done. We thank our County Public Works staff, above all Matt Dobberteen, who worked hard on this. We thank all the parents who did not stop pushing for this. Most of all, we thank Stephen Murdoch for getting the ball rolling and for his generosity to COAST. He is still in London and so could not be with us on this special day, but his parents, Joan and Bill Murdoch, were present. Exactly five years ago, in January of 2007, Stephen and I first had coffee at Pierre Lafond’s in the Upper Village to talk about a path because he had no safe place to walk to school with his two young daughters. Afterward, we walked along San Ysidro Road together, clambering over rocks and tree roots. Now the path we imagined has become a reality. I hope that one day, Stephen will be back and walk to school on this path with his daughters. (Report by Eva Inbar)

Photos by: Lisa Valencia

In the City of Santa Barbara, more than one-half of all residents only own one car or no car at all. And in the Eastside of Santa Barbara, those numbers are even higher. There is a great concentration of pedestrians in the Eastside, people of all ages who walk to school, walk to the bus stop for work, and walk to their friends’ and families’ homes.

If you talk with any Eastside resident on the street, they will tell you that they do not feel safe walking in their neighborhood. Sparse streetlights, speeding cars, and unsafe crosswalks lare the main issues that are adversely affecting pedestrian safety in the Eastside. Most recently, on October 7th, a 15-year-old was struck by a truck while crossing Milpas and Ortega. We are calling for immediate action to make the corner of Milpas and Ortega safer, and we also are calling on the City of Santa Barbara to improve overall walking conditions to the Eastside.

This is important because we are all pedestrians, and we all deserve to walk safely in our neighborhood!

If you support this, please click the link below to sign our petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/helene-schneider-mayor-improve-traffic-and-pedestrian-safety-in-the-eastside-of-santa-barbara

If you’d like to get involved, please contact Caitlin by email, or by calling (805) 875-3562.

This year’s Fall Gathering was COAST’s best event ever! An enthusiastic crowd of COAST members, community leaders, and elected officials enjoyed an evening of wine, drinks, and fun for the October 27th event.

COAST was proud to present their annual Barry Siegel Award, given to members of the community who have made outstanding improvements to modes of transportation in the Santa Barbara region, to the Mesa Architects. The Mesa Architects have been integral in making neccessary changes to Cliff Drive, and worked with CalTrans and the City Council to reach a (very rare) uninamious decision to restripe Cliff Drive. This road diet will slow cars down and make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the street safely.

The event was sponsored by MTD, Cottage Health System, CEC, AFSB, Martha Siegel, and Roger and Eileen Horton. Thank you to our sponsors! And thank you to everyone who came!

The Community Environmental Council, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, and COAST have teamed up to develop a questionnaire for candidates running for Santa Barbara City Council. The questionnaire focused on current transportation issues, such as the attractiveness of alternative transportation and the jobs vs. housing imbalance.

We asked the following questions:

1. Do you agree with the City’s Circulation Element vision statement, “Santa Barbara should be a city in which alternative forms of transportation and mobility are so available and so attractive that use of an automobile is a choice, not a necessity”? If not, how would you improve it?
2. Given that dangerous walking conditions that exist in Santa Barbara’s Eastside, what might you do to make the Eastside a safer place to walk – more lighting, re-pavement of crosswalks, speed bumps, more police enforcement, or something else?
3. Is it the City’s duty to improve the jobs/housing imbalance in Santa Barbara? If so, what would you have the City do to accomplish this? If not, how can this imbalance be best addressed?
4. Please list three specific things you would prioritize to improve our regional transportation. How would you pay for them? How long would it take to accomplish them?
5. Do you support the State of California’s goals for new and retrofitted “net zero energy” buildings that generate as much energy as they use? If so, how can the City be a leader and help its citizens meet this challenge? If not, why?
6. Given projections of increased traffic levels in Santa Barbara, how would you best mitigate our upcoming street congestion?

And here are their responses, by candidate:

Sharon Byrne
Iya Falcone
Dale Francisco
Jerry Matteo
Cathy Murrillo
Randy Rowse
Deborah Schwartz
Michael Self

Remember to register to vote if you haven’t already. This election is also entirely vote-by-mail. Here upcoming dates of interest:

Monday, October 10: Voter Information packets mailed including pre-paid postage for returned ballots
Monday, October 10: Vote-by-mail period begins
Monday, October 24: Last day to register to vote
Tuesday, November 8: Election Day – Last day City Clerk’s Office can receive vote-by-mail ballots. There will be also be five drop-off centers throughout the City, allowing voters the option to vote in person
Three City Councilmember seats are on the ballot.

For more information, visit www.SBCityVote.org.

NEXT WALK:  June 22 – Join us in the Spring 2011 for Walking Wednesdays!

FREE and open to ALL – 4^th Wednesday of the month during Daylight Savings

What Is It?

The walks are a leisurely hour and a half, each month featuring a different theme, location and guest leader. The benefits are varied: exercise, learning about and enjoying our community, and appreciating the slower pace that walking affords us.

Previous walks include:

• Jeff Shelton’s Architecture -  featuring his whimsical creations to include Cota Street Studios, El Andaluz and the Ablitt’s Tower.
• Trees of the Santa Barbara Skyline – from the history of the Moreton Bay Fig at the Train Station to the difference between a fan palm and feather palm.
• Everyday Art – the stories behind the hidden and not so hidden public art that can be found throughout downtown Santa Barbara on prominent corners and in winding paseos.
• Architecture of the Eastside/Upper State Street Neighborhoods – from French Norman to Dutch Colonial to Spanish Revival, participants sharpen their architecture knowledge and learn details to look for when appreciating the various styles.
• Mission Creek: Floods to Fish – to better understand how an urban creek functions both for flood protection and fish passage of the endangered steelhead trout.

What People Are Saying:
“I have lived here for 50 years and am just now really appreciating the beauty of this town.”
“The walks are both fun and educational.”
“Great idea and great company as well as great information.”
“I’m definitely coming back next month!”

Proposed (1993):  Highway 101 at Olive Mill Road as seen from overpass

Impossible? Don’t be so sure.

Click here for more information and what you can do to get involved.