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Senate candidates speak out Monique Limón cites COVID-19 as immediate priority
Editor’s note: These are more articles in this week’s News-Press series on local candidates in the Nov. 3 election. On Thursday, the series will feature stories on the races for the Santa Barbara County Board of Education and the Carpinteria Unified School District board. By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Elected to the State Assembly in 2016, 37th District Assemblywoman Monique Limón believes the past four years have prepared her well for serving in the California Legislature’s upper house. She is running as a Democrat for state Senate District 19 against Republican Gary Michaels.
Gary Michaels calls for creating better paying jobs
ELECTION 2020
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Given the health and economic impacts that have come from the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Limón told the News-Press that responding to the effects of the pandemic will be among her first orders of business if elected in November. “We need to ensure Californians are safe from the virus and they have access to necessary Please see LIMóN on A6
Should Republican candidate Gary Michaels win the election for state Senate District 19 against Assemblywoman Monique Limón next month, his first order of business will be addressing the pressing issue of homelessness, as the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to add to the homeless population. “When you get into office, you respond to the immediate, very high-level problems,” Mr. Michaels told the News-Press. He said this would be done by providing “some rather immediate accommodations,” with possibilities including setting up more shelters and utilizing mobile home parks.
By JOSH GREGA
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“We need to ensure Californians are safe from the virus (COVID-19) and they have access to necessary care,” state Senate candidate Monique Limón said.
Raytheon looking to hire
Long term, the Santa Maria resident wants to create more high-paying jobs in Senate District 19 to help fix the income inequality between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara. According to the Census website, Santa Maria’s per capita income between 2014 and 2018 was $19,647, far less than Santa Barbara’s $43,939. Mr. Michaels said a per capita income in the neighborhood of $19,000 is a sign that there aren’t enough high paying jobs in North County. From what he can tell, there’s great interest in the clean energy sector and jobs in that industry are exactly what can fix the income disparities in District 19. “We need to think about developing industries here,” he Please see michaels on A6
Lighting, bike path coming to State Street By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
Raytheon Intelligence & Space has started to hire people to fill more than 100 positions.
Goleta company helps to decrease region’s unemployment By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
While most businesses have had to freeze hiring, Raytheon Intelligence & Space is doing quite the opposite. The Goleta company specializes in developing advanced sensors, training, and cyber and software solutions and employs around 1,400 people already, with 400plus engineering personnel. To help out employment in the region during the pandemic, Raytheon began hiring people for more than 100 positions in Southern California. The jobs range from cybersecurity to hardware and systems design to engineering. Since April 1, the company has had 152 Goleta hires — 87
professional, 65 college, 27 interns and 35 full-time graduates. The Goleta team is specifically focused on advanced tactical and surveillance radars, electronic warfare systems and space-based sensors. Currently there are still 60 positions open, according to Annabel Flores, the vice president of Electronic Warfare Systems at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. Of those, 43 must sit in Goleta and 17 have Goleta as an option, but it’s not required. “It’s been an adjustment, but hiring is still very much a key priority for our Goleta team,” she told the News-Press. “Our acquisition team has gotten very creative doing a lot more virtual events.” Please see RAYTHEON on A7
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“We have a really strong employee base that is proud to live in Goleta and work at Raytheon,” said Annabel Flores, far right, vice president of Electronic Warfare Systems at Raytheon Intelligence & Space.
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Gary Michaels, a Republican candidate for state Senate, said the North County area could benefit from jobs in the clean energy industry.
New amenities are coming to the State Street promenade. As an interim measure, the promenade will soon have large terracotta pots, iron-looking traffic delineators, a green bike path down the center and string lighting — all in an effort to create a more permanent look rather than a construction look. On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously approved the authorization of no more than $250,000 to purchase delineators and lighting. Rob Dayton, the city’s transportation manager, said “interim” in this case most likely means two to three years. He added that the $250,000 is coming from a fund that would have originally gone toward redesigning the street, if it wasn’t for the pandemic. A big consideration for the staff and council was that of creating a pedestrian-friendly and cyclistfriendly street. The green bike path, according to staff, will channel bikers to the middle. “We want cyclists to take the responsibility for not hitting anyone,” Mr. Dayton said. “It’s the cyclist that has to figure it out and protect the pedestrian.” Mayor Pro Tempore Kristen Sneddon stated she was hesitant with the approval due to the fact that a survey from the public on the future of State Street will be returning to the city in a month’s time. “I’m not comfortable with moving into something that might be two to three years before we’re getting results back from the public,” she said. However, she said she supports the improvements. “We have no idea what’s happening a month or six months or a year from now anyhow,” council member Mike Jordan said. “There’s a clear reason to jump on this right now with two weeks and three days until Daylight Savings Time.” In other news, the council unanimously approved the Mobilehome Park Overlay Zone and related section map amendments, and will initiate code amendments to re-establish vacancy rent control. This will subsequently protect existing mobile home parks from
redevelopment to other uses. “We are in a housing crisis right now with affordability and mobile homes provide some stability, and many residents have lived there for decades,” council member Eric Friedman said. “We have an obligation and a duty to our community to protect what we already have.” Council member Meagan Harmon echoed the support of protecting mobile home parks. “It’s becoming more and more expensive, and prohibitively so, for many folks to either maintain residence in the park or move into one, so I think these are very important changes,” she said. “There’s this fundamental asymmetry where the park owner has quite a bit of leverage over its residents.” Mayor Cathy Murillo added, “I will do everything I can to protect their housing as it is.” Finally, the council unanimously denied Scott Wenz’s, with Cars Are Basic, appeal to deny the Olive Mill Roundabout Project. City staff found that the project maintains existing public/ coastal access, strives to resolve functional concerns, ensures safe and efficient connections to all modes, provides robust pedestrian and bicycle facilities, is sensitive to historic structures, uses materials appropriate for the Santa Barbara region and the design is accommodated within the existing right-of-way. In response to the appeal, staff found that roundabouts do not increase vehicle miles traveled per the State Office of Planning guidelines and reduced delay/ idling results in reduced energy consumption. In addition, they found the project would minimize vehicle miles traveled due to no roadway expansion, improvement to an existing intersection, narrowed travel lanes to slow traffic and improvement to pedestrian and bicycle facilities. “I thank Mr. Becker and Mr. Wenz for the watchdog work that they do on these issues,” said Mayor Murillo. “I appreciated his argumentation, but I am persuaded that the appeal issues have been addressed.” email: gmccormick@newspress.com
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