Vote Yes on Measure S

I can not support this.
The city and county are robbing the taxpayers by continuing to pay outrageous pension benefits.
The money is there they are just electing to fund pensions instead of a new jail, parks, homeless etc.

Wow. a surprise endorsement, so long before the elections...I saw the "all problem solving" expenditure chart, but I didn't see an expense there for media buys...I've loved watching each individual bought out, and now the Indy.

This bill is a disgusting attempt to hold a gun of fear to people's heads to satisfy the prison industry. Maybe if the DA's office was less zealous in bloating their resumes there'd be less people arrested on trumped charges I.e. the recent sting on "illegal contractors" a majority of whom we're just people looking for a job such as painting or landscaping, NOT building bridges or jails for that matter. Or perhaps the Hortipharm case, all of which defendants have had their bail go from one million to zero but they still had to spend unjust time in jail as the DA stalled and stalled because they evidently have no case.
Why can't they have a half cent tax increase just for intervention or rehab? And why does a new jail take preference over our schools, roads, libraries?Those are alot of things that help people stay away from the lure of illegal activities.
Vote NO if care at all about this city and its soul, vote NO if you ever want to have any faith in the justice/legal system in this community, county, country.

Gag, wheeze, schneez . . . . "Buelshout!"

What a drivelous stab at trying to get folks to drink the Sheriff's kool-aid concoction.

In fact, common sense, financial self-interest, and human decency all will be served by voting NO on S.

Jail-overcrowding is a profoundly shameful condition in our society-- a condition that has resulted from the badly misplaced priorities of political leaders and the unrelenting efforts of those who stand to gain from diverting more and more public money into putting more and more people into more and more jails.

Jail-overcrowded is a symptom of a diseased criminal justice system, and voting for more this measure is a sure-fire way to exacerbate and intensify this evil.

No thanks, Indy. You really missed the point on this issue, and one can only hope that there were some strong voices against this misguided grunt of yours.

Say it aint so, Angry Poodle, that you weren't in the room when this stinker was let loose.

Pee-yoooooo!

"If common sense, financial self-interest, or human decency held sway, Measure S would be a slam dunk."

If common sense, financial self-interest, or human decency held sway: we wouldn't be filling up our jails with people who shouldn't be there!

When China can point to the US and accuse us of Human Rights violations because we have the *highest percentage of our population behind bars*, there is a serious problem.

I'm sorry, but the solution is NOT to build more jails so we can pack them full of more people who don't belong there.

Why won't the elected officials listen to the voters? Heck, why doesn't the Indy listen to it's readers. I just don't get it, why are their heads in the sand?

Come on Indy...

If Santa Barbara County jails were allowed to send all of their mentally ill population to a State or County mental hospital, I don't think we would need a new jail. This new sales tax should be directed towards a new mental health facility. A new jail will continue the mismanagement of the mentally ill population at a cost that is above and beyond that of a new county mental hospital. Pushing for more of the status quo is a disservice.

The Indy continues its tradition of more government for better or worse.

PAAAAAAAALEEEEEEEEEAAAAAZZZZZEEE

The leftist Independent is pushing for a tax and bigger government? GET OUT!!!

Nothing to see here, move along.....

Yes on 19, that will help alleviate the prison population.

We probably wouldn't need a prison at all if Prop 19 passes.

I, too, am surprised by the Independent's endorsement of Measure S. At a time when the economy is in an almost unprecedented free fall, the idea of an increased sales tax to fund a North County Jail is outrageous. The Sheriff was ready to close the current one during budget hearings.

In addition, there is an enormous amount of necessary infrastructure work needed across our County and all of California. Why not train prisoners--dare I say put them in chain gangs under strict supervision and discipline-- and get them to do some good old fashioned work like the rest of us who pay for their keep? Our community schools and many our County government buildings could be improved through janitorial services, gounds keeping, and drought-resistent landscaping that aren't being funded due to budgetary shortfalls. Teach prisoners work skills and a work ethic, require that they work, and transition them out of the prison system.

This just should not be put on the back of the tax payers and the local merchants who are already suffering under this recession.

Go to any public school campus in this county and look at the numerous "portable" classrooms. Build a $ 30 million jail while our kids are going to school in the equivalent of FEMA trailers? No Way!

What kind of message does this send our children about how society values education?

I'd gladly pay an additional half cent sales tax if it went to improving our school facilities. Maybe if we invested more in schools and education would need so many damn jails and prisons.........

What messages does the Indy intend to convey by the photo that accompanies its warped view of this issue?

It shows a clean and well-lighted room similar to a military barracks, back far more accommodating that most. Like military personnel, persons who are in jail must expect to live in no better conditions than soldiers subject to rigorous military discipline and bare-minimum conditions. This picture does NOT portray a place that provides less than this, and any claim otherwise is bunkum in a clown suit.

The writers above speak truths that the Indy and the Sheriff find too inconvenient to bear, and so they turn to the chapter on Blatantly False Propaganda in order to try to sell the S=$cheme.

For shame, Indy. For shame.

Why aren't the prisons self-supporting? After all, with all the captive labor, energy, and time to lay around in bed, surely this creative group can handle it. There is way too much human capacity languishing in prison beds to ask for handouts.

Yes on Proposition 19 and Yes On Measure S.

My Republican Mama is probably rolling in her grave. But we need to change the drug policy in this country.

We also need a Jail in North County. If you've followed the issue of Jail overcrowding in Santa Barbara County (if you've read the Independent for more than a few months) you know this.

You can complain (like Andy Caldwell) that the Board should have done this years ago. But here we are.

Yes on Proposition 19 and no on Prop S. A bigger jail system and more prisons, like war, are not the answer. The voters expressed their desire for education several years ago--not in the prison system but in our public schools and in educating our youth yet their desires and the funding towards K-12 education are now gutted. How odd--the Independent, the Santa Barbara News Press, the Daily Sound, the Sheriff, the Democrat-electeds (Wolf, Schneider, Farr, et. al.) are all in agreement...the establishment in the 1960s and the establishment now. Where are the Green Party, the Peace and Freedom Party and the Liberterians to offer up some new and creative ideas? Jail crowing? How about class-room overcrowding?

I am as bleeding heart liberal as they come. Way to the left of all those supes, who I admire, respect and support greatly. However, there is NO WAY I can support this regressive sales tax for more jails. Sales taxes are the most regressive of any form of tax meaning they have the biggest impact on the poorest people. NO NO NO to Measure S

YES on Prop 19 will also help overcrowding issues.

The pic looks like A or B block pretrial... and for my homies there...LOL!

Most people there are pot smokers, dui's, homeless, and people who owe money to government. Dangerous criminals... LIE... they go to state pen.

SB independent (and useful idiots responding here) are owned by employe unions, like seiu and prison guard unions.

Worst part: Independent states, "passing a half pct tax will result in a 1/2 pct *decrease* in sales tax" ?????? Cmon guys, these phoney liberal shills are LYING to you.