By Anna Marie Gott

Santa Barbara has a growing homeless problem of that there IS no doubt. Tourists, downtown business people and residents have all complained about the issue which continues to grow in both size and scope. The real question is how does the City address the issue and is "springing" a homeless trailer park on residents without notice the right way to conduct business? This is a 3 year experiment that includes 40 trailers being parked adjacent to a neighborhood to house 40 hardcore homeless individuals and nearby residents of the proposed location were not consulted. This left their possible concerns intentionally disregarded and unaddressed while the City pushed ahead with a Grant Funding Application that would place a homeless trailer camp in their neighborhood for 3 years.

Noticing a simple Grant Funding Application on the City Council's Agenda rather than a Grant Funding Application that includes a 40 unit Homeless Trailer Park at Castillo and Carrillo seems designed to bury the information to ensure that residents won't voice their opinions. The Staff report even failed to mention anything about the homeless trailer camp or how long it would be in operation. It simply mentioned "Development of Bridge Housings" which is as clear as mud. The fact of the matter is that the City is planing to house 40 hardened mentally ill and addicted homeless individuals on rotating basis for 3 years adjacent to a residential neighborhood and they decided to limit the information provided to the public and leave neighbors out of the decision making process.

I believe that we make the best decisions when we have the most information and there IS a healthy dialog. I also believe that when the City fails to notify and allow comments that it perpetuates the belief that many residents have that the City Staff and Council do not care what they think nor do they care to listen.

The City needs input from residents before the grant application is turned in and residents need to be apart of the conversation and the decision making process. But with a due date of 11/16 to apply for the grant the ONLY opportunity residents seem to have is on Tuesday (11/13/18) at City Council UNLESS residents demand a Special Emergency Meeting which is an option residents can advocate for.

If you are concerned about this plan and the lack of dialog or notice given to residents most affected I urge you to attend the meeting or send an email to the City Council on this topic. If they don't hear from you the location won't be changed, a Special Emergency Meeting won't be had and the way the City notices things like this won't change. So, I urge you to attend the meeting or write a email expressing your thoughts.

City Council Meeting: 735 Anacapa, 2nd Fl Tuesday @2:00PM Email Comments/Concerns: [email protected] gov

Read the City's Plan:

Do you have an opinion on something local? Share it with us at [email protected]. The views and opinions expressed in Op-Ed articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of edhat.