Reimagining space history
Biden criticized for bailout of union pensions
‘For All Mankind’ explores a timeline in which the first manned Mars mission took place in the 1990s - B1
Critics say regular Americans will foot the bill - A5
Our 167th Year
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T H U R S DA Y, J U LY 7, 2 0 2 2
The state of State Street Mayor Randy Rowse talk about challenges for downtown Santa Barbara in News-Press interview
ELECTION 2022
Mark Infanti running for Solvang mayor
DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS
Mark Infanti, who announced his candidacy for mayor in Solvang, stands with his wife, Gay Infanti, outside the city government complex.
By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS
Mark Infanti made it official Wednesday morning.. He’s running for mayor of Solvang. Standing outside the Solvang city government complex, Mr. Infanti stood with Mayor Charles Uhrig, who decided not to seek another term and persuaded Mr. Infanti, a current Solvang City Council member and the mayor pro tem, to seek the office. “He made the point that I had two years left in my city council
term,” Mr. Infanti told the NewsPress after his announcement. “He said, ‘Why don’t you just move over to the center chair and serve your two years there?’ “I thought about that,” Mr. Infanti said. “I was hesitant. I wasn’t going to run. But I talked to a bunch of people who supported me. These folks said, ‘You can do it,’ so I’m running.” In addition to Mayor Uhrig, current council members Claudia Orona and Jim Thomas stood with Mr. Infanti to show their support during Please see RACE on A6
The Santa Barbara City Council has delayed action concerning the parklets on State Street.
Carbajal discusses gun control, Roe v. Wade
By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Clearly frustrated at the slow pace of the Santa Barbara City Council decision-making regarding the future of lower State Street and the pedestrian promenade, Mayor Randy Rowse says his administration is taking steps to address security, homeless and vacancy issues in the downtown area. Mayor Rowse told the NewsPress Wednesday that efforts will begin this summer to provide deep cleaning, supplemental lighting and an increased law enforcement presence downtown to corral wayward skateboarders, deter graffiti, and stop speeding bicyclists and high-powered electric bike riders from colliding with pedestrians. “There are a few things in the works right now,” Mr. Rowse said. “The first thing is cleaning and lighting.” The latter “will take care of a multitude of sins,” he said. “Things happening in the dark don’t happen in the light.” In addition, Mayor Rowse said the city is “actively recruiting” a supplemental police presence dedicated to increasing public safety downtown. He noted that while they will not be sworn officers with the power to arrest, “we’ll be expanding our professional staff down there to provide an authoritative enforcement presence.” Perhaps most important is that they’ll be able to keep an eye on skateboarders who are not even supposed to be on the street and bicyclists who ride outside their marked lanes. “Right now it’s like a little bit of Wild West out there,” Mayor Rowse said. “Any time you get a uniformed presence out there, things get
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS
Mayor Randy Rowse, shown above at his election victory party in November, said he wants the city of Sant Barbara to move on to solutions for State Street.
better. People don’t always have to be arrested. “There are a lot of nuisances that don’t rise to the level of arrests.” Mr. Rowse, who was elected mayor in November, said he had no problem with the rental e-bikes available downtown, noting they’re “a really cool way to explore downtown State Street,” but the high-powered bikes were not anticipated by the California Vehicle Code. “We need some type of movement on those. I’d like to see us paint definitive lines marking
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lanes,” he said. Regarding the vagrants who line downtown State Street, Mayor Rowse said that dismissing them as a single group called “the homeless” is “simplistic.” “There are a lot of chronic people we see who need to be housed,” he said, “It’s not just a problem for another day. Sooner than later something needs to be done.” Mr. Rowse note that the “Dignity Moves” project is designed specifically for transients to “invite” them into housing and that
those who need it will be contacted by appropriate social services personnel. Another approach involves posting police authority letters on the windows of vacant storefronts, which will give police the authority to go into adjacent alcoves, which technically are private property, and clean them out of anyone who shouldn’t be there, including those who set up camps. The mayor said he’s also been talking with individual State Street Please see ROWSE on A6
Salud Carbajal grew up in the shadow of gun violence. “When I was a young boy about 12 years old my sister took her life with a revolver,” U.S. Rep. Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, told the News-Press. “The trauma of that experience and the loss of my sister has stayed with me for the rest of my life. “I grew up in Oxnard, where I lived in an area where gun violence was pretty pervasive and the challenge to loss of life stayed with me as well,” Rep. Carbajal said. During a recent interview with the News-Press, the congressman discussed the red flag law, which was recently signed into law as part of a larger gun control legislation package. “The bottom line is that it will save lives by preventing mass shottings, reducing daily gun violence throughout the country and reducing suicides,” Rep. Carbajal said. “For the 19 states and Washington, D.C., this will bolster laws by providing more training for law enforcement officials and creating an awareness of these laws. At the end of the day this will bolster states that have these laws and it will bolster support. “Grant programs incentivize laws by providing funding for training and creating awareness on these laws,” he said. “We basically have another tool to reduce gun violence in communities. It adds to the
NEWS-PRESS
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal
mosaic of tools increasing the safety of communities. “When somebody is posting on social media that they are going to go shoot up a school that is enough to get a judge to assess that behavior, it is enough to report it to authorities,” Rep. Carbajal said. “The grants (for states) are for funding training programs and developing protocols,” he said about the legislation that he sponsored. “The grants will fund putting in place structures and protocols for reporting someone who has been observed to have erratic behavior. Some behaviors are more subtle and don’t immediately warrant notifying authorities, however observed repeatedly over time Please see CARBAJAL on A6
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A6
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: N/A Meganumber: N/A
Wednesday’s DAILY 4: 0-5-3-8
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 27-31-50-51-61 Meganumber: 21
Wednesday’s FANTASY 5: 8-17-21-22-32
Wednesday’s DAILY DERBY: 02-09-06 Time: 1:47.64
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: N/A Meganumber: N/A
Sudoku................... B3 Weather................. A6
Wednesday’s DAILY 3: 1-9-7 / Wednesday’s Midday 9-4-7