Thanks, Isla Vista!

When Jerry Brown dissolved California’s redevelopment agencies, including Isla Vista’s, it looked like I.V. might lose its last real opportunity for a multiservice community center. Thanks to the work of many UCSB students, Isla Vista residents old and new, and the cooperation of the community, the county retained ownership of two buildings in the loop.

We wish to thank the county for its effort in negotiating with the state to retain these buildings for community use. Special thanks to Doreen Farr and her assistant Esther Aguilera.

The county has been a financial supporter of the Isla Vista clinic going back at least to the revenue-sharing program of the 1970s. It is a two-way street as the former medical director of the Isla Vista Open Door Clinic (now the Isla Vista Neighborhood Clinic) became director of the Santa Barbara County health department. The current board and its predecessors have recognized the need for a community service center anchored by a medical clinic.

Isla Vista, like all other communities in Santa Barbara County, deserves and requires the convenience and stabilizing influence of a multiservice community center. Now Isla Vista has the physical plant. The real work begins as we bring together the many community services that can and should participate in a collaborative delivery of human services.