By the time most of Santa Barbara wakes up, fields in the valley have already been picked. Hotel linens are stripped and washed. This is the shift that keeps the county running — and a lot of it is done by people whose legal status has been in limbo for years.
Declaring a freeze across thousands of housing units without a plan to help housing providers manage continued rising costs is not thoughtful policy. It is a political gesture that imposes real harm on one group while offering brief relief to another.
Our democratic norms have sunk to the point of danger for a free society.
