The spirit of Luis Linares, the teen stabbed to death in a State Street gang fight in March, hovered over the Santa Barbara City Council budget deliberations on 6/26. Coupled with stabbings that followed in its wake, Linares’s death prompted the council to allot about $275,000 in additional youth recreation, job development, and anti-gang programs. Some funding will come from an increase in parking ticket and rental fees for beaches, parks, and other facilities. In addition, the council allocated funds from the city’s $105- million budget for neighborhood bike patrols.
