Press

September 15, 2007
EdHat.com

Friday morning representatives from the City of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments proposed On-TRAC: “A Plan of Transit/Rail Action for Commuters” to the Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) receiving overwhelming support for the plan. The VCTC Executive Director, Ginger Gherardi had invited the Santa Barbara delegation to present On-TRAC after hearing about it at a Santa Barbara City Council meeting.

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BY ERIC LINDBERG

DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara city leaders voiced their support of a commuter rail plan for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties at yesterday’s City Council meeting.
The Council unanimously approved On-TRAC, a plan developed by the Council’s Rail Subcommittee outlining the challenges and initial steps necessary to implement a commuter rail in the Santa Barbara corridor.

Full Article

In lieu of Birthday gifts, Kirsten Zecher has asked her friends donate to Coast!! Thank you for your generosity and Happy Birthday.

Another wonderful party for COAST and our supporters. An overflowing crowd filled the 6th floor terrace of the Balboa Building for an afternoon of fun and color.

See short article and the comment with a link to the full report.

We are pleased to announce that we were awarded a grant by the Fund for Santa Barbara to advocate for a fair, inclusive and balanced Measure D 2008. Measure D is the Santa Barbara County sales tax measure dedicated to transportation that will be on the ballot in 2008. COAST will be conducting public outreach and community organizing to ensure that the measure contains funds for transit, commuter rail, traffic demand management programs, bicycle, pedestrian and Safe Route to School projects. Since Measure D is a sales tax, not a gas tax, it needs to benefit all modes of transportation and all segments of the population, whether they drive a car or not. We need a transportation system that is socially just and environmentally responsible.

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The trial of The People versus Ernesto Botello finished jury selection
this afternoon, and the trial itself will begin Tuesday, April 17.  The
charge brought by SB County aganst Botello is vehicular manslaughter in
the death of Jake Boysel, the 12-year old bicyclist hit last September.

The trial judge Clifford Anderson, defense attorney Neil Levinson, &
prosecuting attorney Ali Neufer asked numerous questions to prosective
jurors from a  jury pool of 100, & many were dismissed for one reason or
another.  One of the dismissed women stated that she used to bike with
her 12-year old son to school, but stopped after the Boysel death; she
was excused from duty.  Reporters from at least the SB News-Press & SB
Newsroom attended today.

The jury of 12 individuals, 6 men & 6 women, plus 3 alternates were
selected by 5:00 today. Their average age seemed to be about 40 years old.

What impressed me today was the extent with which the legal system in our
democracy goes to obtain a fair, unprejudiced trial.  Judge Andeson
stressed that individual jurors may agree or disagree with the law, but
they have to set aside their individual emotions & experiences in
consideration of guilt or innocence of Botello.

Tuesday morning will begin with opening statements by the prosecution,
describing what evidence they will present in the trial.  The defense may
or may not offer opening statements.  Then the prosecution will proceed
with their case, followed by the defense, closing statements by both
sides, then jury deliberation.  If the jury deems Botello guilty, the
judge will administer a sentence on the defendent.

Expected trial dates this week are:

Tuesday, 10:00 AM-4:30 PM
Wednesday 8:30 AM-12:00 noon
Thursday, 10:00 AM-4:30 PM
Friday-Saturday, nothing

All are in Room 10 in the Courthouse Annex building at 118 East Figueroa
Street, Santa
Barbara.  The trial will continue into next week.

~~ Ralph Fertig, President
~~ Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition
~~ www.sbbike.org

With new transit plans, farmworkers may get a reliable, safe way to get to the fields
BY JEANINE STEWART

Date: 04/12/2007

It may have taken two and a half years of advocacy, but Santa Barbara County is off and running toward obtaining actual vans and a plan to make farmworkers’ trips to work more safe, reliable, and affordable.

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Seven months after Jake Boysel was hit & killed while biking to school in
Santa Barbara, a trial will begin.  The driver of the SUV that hit Jake,
Ernesto Botello, is charged by the County with vehicular manslaughter.

The County’s prosecuting attorney Ali Neufer said that jury selection
will begin on Tuesday, April 10th.  It will continue on April 11th & if
completed in time, initial arguments will begin that day.  She said that
it will take place in the courtroom of Judge Clifford Anderson, Room 10
in the Courthouse Annex building at 118 East Figueroa Street, Santa
Barbara.  The trial is expected to take several days & end the following
week.

It was a lovely sunny morning on September 6, 2006 as 12-year old Jake
Boysel biked toward La Colina Junior High School for classes. He was
doing everything right, pedaling uphill in the Calle Real bikelane, but
he never made it to school.  Hit from behind by Ernesto Botello, Jake was
thrown off his bike, hit the ground and never regained consciousness. His
shoes, backpack, and helmet were torn off.  His mountain bike was broken
in two.  Everybody mourned the tragic, senseless loss.

I have no idea how the trial will end, however I join others in hoping
that it will result in greater awareness of bicyclists, greater safety
for all, and justice for our community.

~~ Ralph Fertig, President
~~ Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition
~~ www.sbbike.org

SBCAG UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTS VANPOOLS FOR FARMWORKERS

Thursday, January 18
Betteravia Government Center, Santa Maria

In front of a packed room, cameras rolling and reporters covering every
move, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) voted
unanimously to expedite delivery of a van pool program for agricultural
workers in the Santa Maria Valley.

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click below to view results~
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Backers of Measure D may have been beaten at the polls Tuesday, but they are not defeated.

Officials with the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, which drafted the proposal, refuse to concede until they see the final vote tally, which is expected in the coming weeks.

Only when the count is official, an SBCAG spokesman said, will they go back to the drawing board to craft a new proposal.

SBCAG staff members are quick to point out there are still 24,000 absentee and 3,000 provisional ballots to be counted.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2006/11/10/news/news02.txt

On behalf of the COAST Board, I want to thank everyone who helped out on Measure D over the past year, and everyone who cared enough to take the time and become informed about the issues. Now, we really have our work cut out for us to educate more folks out there so that the next version of Measure D will pass. And we will keep working to make sure that whatever version of the measure appears on the ballot in 2008 will be a balanced measure like this one was, with plenty of funding for alternatives that will be sustainable for the 30 years of the measure and beyond.

Thanks again,

Mark Bradley, President

Oct. 20-26, 2006

Excerpt from editorial:

“For one thing, passing Measure D requires a two-thirds vote and this time around there’s a very large group of no-growth voters who seems to have signed on to support the measure. Their opposition could block a future “D-Lite” vote. For another, passing Measure D now will put into play a large co-investment from federal funds…. For thirds, it will put the Highway 101 fix on track now, rather than waiting for a new ballot measure to be drafted and put to a vote.”

So, thank you Henry Dubroff!

Video of the TV news story by KSBY TV6
link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6334923388390130265

Greetings,
This afternoon, I worked a shift at the Measure D phone bank. Our current digs at Egenolf’s law offices are very posh, and the training, provided by our handsome new coordinator, Ben, was as thorough as anyone could want. The people who actually picked up the phone were surprisingly nice. I think I actually persuaded a few. My most memorable call was to a woman named Mildred, whose age was listed as “02.” This turned out to be 102. She told me right away that she was completely deaf, but we had a nice chat anyway.
About half way through the shift, Alex Pujo stopped by and brought us some lemonade. This was greeted with great joy.
So even if you have just an hour to spare, come on down and help us out. It isn’t as hard as you might think.
Where: Egenolf Law Offices, 130 E. Carillo St. (corner of Santa Barbara Street) upstairs.
When: Monday thru Thursday, 5:30 to 8:30 PM, Sunday 3-7 PM.

See you there,
Eva

Letter writer Gloria Hebert argues that a $3.45 gallon of gas pays 60 cents in taxes for roads and transit, and “Sacramento is swimming in cash for transportation”. If it was only true! When gas was under $2 fifteen years ago we already paid 60 cents in taxes, and when the gallon reaches $5 in a not-so-distant future we will still be paying 60 cents regardless of fuel cost or inflation.

The truth is that fuel taxes, which are fixed, no longer pay their way for transportation needs and they have not done so for at least 20 years. That is why 18 counties in California supplement transportation funding with sales taxes. Santa Barbara County has been doing so since 1989 with Measure D, which will be on the November ballot for renewal.

The commuter nightmare south of town is a daily reminder that we need to fund the “101-In-Motion Plan” agreed to by the community and its elected leaders. It is a balanced and far-reaching plan to address congestion by increasing road, rail and transit capacity in a sustainable way: for our present needs and those of our children.

Roads, streets and sidewalks have maintenance needs that are paid for with Measure D. These needs are not going away. The carnage on our streets reminds us that, sadly, Safe Routes to School are not.

Measure D is a local tax for local use. If you want to experience life without Measure D you need to go no further than Ventura or San Luis Obispo, two counties that do not have this tax.

We cannot rely on Caltrans or the State. Measure D will provide matching funds to access State bonds and Federal programs. We have a choice: to complain about things that need doing, or to put our money where our collective mouth is.

-Alex Pujo, Secretary COAST

http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2006/08/27/opinion/082706a.txt

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_C_metro20.67aea7.html

The Coalition for a Fair Measure D’s first phone bank session was a success. The session was sponsored by COAST. We thank our wonderful volunteers: Kate Bechtel and friend Lee Babcock, Beth Cornett, Rebecca Gutierrez, Sheila Kamhi, Sandy Stites, Kelsi Boyle, Dennis Story, Mark Bradley, Alex Pujo, Dick Axilrod, Eva Inbar. We appreciate our Coalition partner SEIU for letting us use their office space.
We will have these events weekly from now on and one of our partner organizations needs to step up to the plate. We have always said that grassroots organizing and supplying volunteers would be our strength. Now is the time to make good on our promises.