A ‘Howdy’ from Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse

Santa Barbara’s 99th Fiesta has come and gone. The planning for our Centennial Fiesta Celebration starts immediately, in order to produce the most flawless and fun Fiesta ever. It’s hard to imagine surpassing the talent and performances of our Junior Spirit, Olivia Nelson and our first-ever male Spirit, Jack Harwood, but the incredible dedication and robust competition for those positions has never produced anything but the finest. We’ll pack those vivid memories away for the time being, but kudos to a fabulous effort from the volunteers at Old Spanish Days. The once-a-year experience of wearing my cowboy boots for a full week is also behind me, and I should be walking normally again relatively soon. Yes, I’m a cowboy. Howdy.

We are finally teed up to construct the State Street Underpass Project, something that’s been in the works for well over a decade. I share the feeling of sticker shock with a lot of folks, as we are in a bidding cycle that isn’t currently favorable to big capital projects. On the other side of the coin, this effort is largely grant funded and is designed to provide a light, clean, and inviting walking, biking, and driving experience to draw folks from our waterfront to our downtown. This connection is now even more important with the development of lower State Street’s Entrada de Santa Barbara and the emergence of the Funk Zone.

The status of State Street, now closed from the 500 to the 1200 blocks, is a daily topic of discussion for most of us in Santa Barbara. The consultant work and the volunteer committee dedicated to the developing State Street Master Plan, should have some deliverable results by the end of this year. Those concepts will trigger much further public discussion about consensus and the amount and source of funding, and that dialogue needs to be given ample time to bring the results to fruition. The concern now is the current status and the remainder of the interim period between now and when a final agreed upon plan can be executed. We are in our fourth summer of a COVID-triggered configuration and I am hopeful that we can move forward with a cogent interim plan to activate the street for all merchants, residents, and visitors. There are some significant meetings coming up in the next few weeks to determine that direction and, if you have an opinion about the downtown, we’d welcome your comments as always.

Lastly, during Fiesta Pequeña at the Mission, I was seated next to the Consul General of Spain, Juan Carlos Sanchez, who commented: “You must be very proud of your city…” Of course, I cherish Santa Barbara and I answered in the affirmative, but all I could think of was the massive list of things yet to be accomplished. But as I thought further about his impressions as a guest, I realized that yes, there is so much to be proud of beyond just my “to do list” and the color and beauty of that night overlooking our city.

The volunteer efforts to pull off our celebrations, our people who show up for community clean up days, participate in youth programs, our dedicated city staff, and my fellow elected officials who put in a lot of unheralded effort. That includes our business community, schools, and incredible hospitality industry, not to mention the community celebrations like Fiesta, Solstice, and our International Film Festival. All of these elements enhance our quality of life as citizens in this city. As we are challenged daily to map our city’s future, we must remain mindful of our cultural foundations, our traditions and the many elements that have made us one of the most desirable cities on the planet. I treasured the opportunity to meet those challenges.

Thanks for the honor.