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Establishing emergency shelters SB Council discusses combatting fire risk posed by homeless encampments
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
The Santa Barbara City Council may soon declare a state of emergency to address the high fire risk posed by homeless encampments in the city.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Barbara City Council may soon declare a state of emergency to address the high fire risk posed by homeless encampments in the city. Tuesday night, the council voted unanimously on an effort costing upwards of $1 million to establish one or multiple temporary locations to house individuals living in encampments in high fire prone areas. The proposed pilot program would last through the high fire season, which runs through the end of September. Potential sites could include city lots such as the Carillo/Castillo Commuter Lot, City Hall lot and other lots such as the Earl Warren Showgrounds, the former Staples building on State Street, or others. Tuesday’s emergency hearing came as Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley announced that charges were formally filed against 23-year-old Victor Angel Hernandez of Santa Barbara. Mr. Hernandez is charged with three felony counts and two misdemeanor counts, including arson of an inhabited structure, attempted arson and reckless burning. He is accused of starting the Loma Fire, which burned over seven acres and damaged two structures. Mr. Hernandez appeared for arraignment Tuesday for the felony complaint and pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all special allegations. The case is currently set for preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. June 2 in Santa Barbara Superior Court. While city and fire officials acknowledged Tuesday that Mr. Hernandez was homeless, the fire wasn’t sparked from an encampment and was purposefully set. City staff will return in two weeks with potential shelter sites. Council members requested to find funding options to expand bed capacity at PATH Santa Barbara, in addition to the new shelter or shelters. The areas would require
portable restrooms, hand wash stations, trash collection, food, showers, medical aid and case management. Around-the-clock security would be required for both the site and surrounding neighborhood. During Tuesday’s meeting, city staff mentioned several “fire prone areas” throughout the city, including the Highway 101 ramps at Castillo and Garden streets, along the Union Pacific service area, open space preserves, the bird refuge/Los Patos, the open space between Santa Barbara City College and the 800 block of Cliff Drive and Loma Alta Drive. Public commenters at the meeting included local service providers such as representatives from City Net, Housing Authority and SB ACT, and all agreed on an “all hands on deck” effort to address the issue, and create long-term, permanent solutions for those living in encampments. Other community members commenting said that they wanted to protect the dignity of the individuals currently living in encampments and the surrounding neighborhoods from impacts. “There is a coalition of service providers ready, willing and able to support you in your decision,” Brad Fieldhouse, executive director of City Net, said during public comment. “We know how to do this. City Net has run a dozen of these emergency response shelters. They need to be safe, they need to be clean, and they need to have the appropriate amount of services.” Council members expressed the importance in acting now and acting quickly in order to address the issue. City Fire personnel shared with meeting attendees that in the month of May, the fire department responded to 18 homeless-related fires in 23 days — not counting incidents ruled as suspicious circumstances — when a more common rate would be one to two a month. City staff presented statistics ranging from July 1, 2020, through Monday of this week. Staff received 1,017 requests from the public regarding encampment clearances, and
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The city council voted unanimously on an effort costing upwards of $1 million to establish locations throughout the city to house individuals living in encampments in high fire prone areas.
of those, there are 252 daily waterfront clearances, 141 underpass clearances, 300 park locations, 148 CalTrans locations and 30 Union Pacific service areas where encampments are located. “It’s obvious that if we end up doing a sanctioned encampment that it would have all the services, monitoring and 24/7 security,” Mayor Cathy Murillo said. Councilman Mike Jordan echoed the need for neighborhood safety, while also respecting the dignity of those being removed from their encampments. “I’m 100% committed to getting encampments out of high fire hazard areas,” he said. “I’m equally committed to the people that are being displaced having an alternative site to go live in. One of those cannot take place without the other, and I will remain equally committed to both of those.” Councilman Eric Friedman said that, considering the very dry fire season ahead, “conditions are ripe for more fires unless we do something to try to abate them upfront and very quickly.” “For too long, we’ve been saturated with problems, but we need to come up with solutions and we’ve been short on them,” Mr. Friedman said. “We no longer have the option to kick the can down the road.” Councilwoman Meagan Harmon supported putting the encampment shelter in City
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email: gmccormick@newspress.com
SBA offers direct service to Chicago By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
The Santa Barbara Municipal Airport will begin direct flights to the Windy City next month, offering customers a gateway to the Midwest as the tourism industry eyes a comeback in the latter half of this year. Starting June 3, SBA will begin direct service to Chicago O’Hare International Airport with United Airlines. Daily flights will depart at 7 a.m. and arrive in Chicago around 1:20 p.m. local time, and the plane can seat about 76 passengers. This direct service expands on the seasonal weekend service offered by American Airlines out of SBA, which began nonstop flights to Chicago on May 8 and will continue offering service on weekends through Sept. 5. The new United Airlines service will be the longest direct flight SBA currently offers, filling a gap in the market for both leisure and business customers while connecting Santa Barbara travelers to more than 60 international destinations via Chicago. “Chicago is such a hub, such a great airport and so many people from all over the world come in and out of there,” Angi Daus, the marketing coordinator for the airport, told the News-Press.
“So it expands opportunities literally all over the world for our constituents and community members to go all over the world from there. And there are real economic impacts for (our) area.” She added, “Once things start opening for business travel, we see this being a dynamite route for that. Chicago is a great hub for businesses all over the world.” Initially, the airport was expecting to offer direct service to Chicago starting a year ago, but plans were quickly slashed by the pandemic. Now, with travel making a comeback, airport officials are excited to finally offer this new connection in the Midwest, Ms. Daus said. To celebrate the new direct service, Dave’s Dogs Grill will be set up outside the main terminal entrance from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday and Saturday for the entire month of June. After a lagging year for the tourism and hospitality industry, local travel agencies are hopeful the new service to and from Chicago will entice new visitors to vacation in the region and bolster Santa Barbara’s economic recovery. For the hard-hit hospitality industry, the new service could mean hope is on the horizon. “While local hotel performance has been improving during the Please see CHICAGO on A3
SB Unified board discusses LCAP draft District reveals anticipated summer school enrollment By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
During the regular board meeting of the Santa Barbara Unified School District Tuesday night, the board discussed the first draft of the 2021-2024 Local Control Accountability Plan, which directs the spending of $11.6 million across three school years. The majority of the funding, or just over $6.2 million, is earmarked for the LCAP’s first goal: “Use relevant and inclusive instruction, curriculum, and assessments to ensure our students experience learning that is meaningful, engaging, responsive, and individualized to increase college and career preparedness.” To meet this goal, the plan budgets for more specialists to cater instruction and professional development for teachers. It also calls for more interventions for students struggling with language and literacy. Goal two focused on mental health and family engagement,
including funding earmarked for family education. The final goal prioritizes “equitable student outcomes” by expanding AVID and PEAC programs, which assists lowincome latino students. The presentation did not include many actionable items the district could take. Public commenters, both of which frequently comment, were skeptical of the plan. Monie de Wit, who is a member of the LCAP parent advisory committee, wondered how stakeholder input was considered for the plan. Board President Kate Ford asked for a detailed list of LCAP items and the input that guided each decision. She also asked for the plan to utilize “accessible language,” as the goals are confusing to the public. Roseanne Crawford, an outspoken critic of the district’s dual-language immersion program, spoke in opposition of LCAP funding going to the program. The presentation did not identify the dual-language immersion courses nor the Please see sbusd on A4
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Hall’s parking lot, citing that the neighborhoods surrounding the Carillo/Castillo Commuter Lot have a “real lack of trust already” because of the impacts already being experienced by the homeless population. “How do we show political courage? How do we show leadership? What better place to locate it in than the City Hall parking lot?” she said. “That’s us doing our part, all of us on Council, all of us banding together and prioritizing homeless issues as a city.” Council members Friedman and Jordan and Mayor Pro Tempore Oscar Gutierrez will work on contacting other elected officials in the county, state and federal level for assistance with the endeavor. “There are so many groups in this community that hold power over the people in the community, whether that’s corporate entities that operate and own or rent large plots of land throughout the city … or religious organizations who also own or rent large plots of land throughout the city,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “The city can only do so much … I’m begging you, literally, for the love of God, help us. Help us address this crisis we’re in. “Help these people in need, because just to pile it on the city, we’re only one link in the chain.” News-Press Associate Editor Mitchell White contributed to this report.
Wheels up to the Windy City
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