••• “In a surprising turn of events, the Santa Barbara City Council balked at approving new outdoor dining fees on Tuesday. The council voted 5-1 to wait two weeks to give staff time to evaluate reduced fees for restaurants to have outdoor dining. […] ‘I am just frustrated because once again it looks like we are being a very indecisive council,’ [mayor Randy] Rowse said. ‘To rehash this yet again, and we will, are we going to make a decision next time?'” —Noozhawk
••• “The Santa Barbara City Council unanimously approved a new agreement with longtime trash-collection partner MarBorg worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 15 years.” It was no surprise, as the city opted not to open the bidding up to anyone else. But here’s the news-you-can-use-part from the Independent‘s article (boldface mine):
The new agreement met many of the city’s objectives, including a more “efficient” curbside cart program, which [city environmental services manager Lorraine Cruz Carpenter] explained would apply to residential customers with fewer than four units. Under the new program—which she said was a move away from the more “labor-intensive” methods to a new system with “automated and wheeled carts”—MarBorg employees will no longer come up driveways onto the property to collect cans. Instead, customers will have to “opt in” to an extra
$90 [per month]premium charge to continue on-premise collection (individuals with disabilities or over the age of 80 will be accommodated at no extra cost).
UPDATE 4/19: The city says that the $90 part of the Independent’s article is wrong (so I removed the number from the headline). Here’s an explanation:
It is correct that the City will be adopting a curbside collection service using wheeled carts. Official rollout and outreach for this program will begin in July of 2024, although residents will probably not see a change out of containers until closer to January 1, 2025, with a restructuring of the customer rates expected to take place July 1, 2025, once the container transition is fully completed. Before any transition, there will be plenty of information sent to residents to prepare them for the program change, fees, and qualified exemptions (individuals with a disability or age of 80 years or older).
Solid Waste rates are approved annually by City Council and the “In-Place” service fee will be presented for approval by City Council during the budget process that will take place this time next year. All rate payers are notified annually of proposed rate changes via a Prop 218 Notice. The current monthly fee for residential accounts serving 1-4 dwelling units for In-Place Service of wheeled carts is $40.92, which is proposed to change to $41.21 for the period from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. We expect that the cost will remain similar for the period from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. If you are currently receiving in-place service of non-wheeled cans at no additional cost, there will not be a change for in-place service added this year.
Beginning July 1, 2025, contract requires that the City not set in-place charges to less than MarBorg’s cost of providing that service, so that there is not a specific situation where MarBorg is providing service at a loss. We do not yet have the in-place/on-premise charge for July 1, 2025 until a cost analysis is done but we expect the fee to be close to what it is now.
••• Photos of the superbloom underway in Carrizo Plain National Monument. —Edhat
••• “While the Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden is often known for its ‘turtle pond,’ the Santa Barbara Parks & Recreation Department decided to remove and relocate the turtles [to the Turtle and Tortoise Rescue of Arroyo Grande] to provide them with a better habitat and to improve the pond’s ecosystem.” —Noozhawk
••• “Trails and beach access will be closed in the areas surrounding the Carpinteria Salt Marsh until June while Santa Barbara County clears excess debris deposited in the marsh following this year’s storms.” —Noozhawk
••• A nice recap of the debate over the proposed hotel at 101 Garden Street. —Independent
••• “The Santa Barbara County South Board of Architectural Review granted preliminary approval for the Santa Claus Lane Beach Access and Streetscape Improvement Project last week. The project will be brought back for final approval once the applicants address board concerns about plant species and planters in the parking area.” Goodbye, scruffy charm. —Coastal View News
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Is the Marborg premium charge annually or monthly?
Monthly.
Sounds like a great opportunity for an enterprising young person to start a new business putting their neighbors trash cans out for pick up.
Anyone who can afford that extra $90 a month for the Marborg fee will more than likely just have their housekeepers or gardeners do it from now on. Marborg might do better to say something to the effect of: we no longer offer this service with the exception of disabled folks and people over the age of _____.
As of now, they sound a little petulant and greedy, imo.
I rode my beach cruiser up State this morning. Even with the few structures that remain in the 500 block I think the Solstice, Fiesta and other parades could come back.
Does the new Marborg policy also apply to County residents?
It has already been implemented in the unincorporated parts of the county (which has a different contract with MarBorg). From a February post: “A MarBorg Industries executive explained the recent rate hike for non-curbside service. The contract with the county was renegotiated to help more customers pay less: everyone’s “basic service” charge (before extras such as larger containers) was lowered by 10 percent, which is being financed by charging more for the “concierge service” of retrieving containers from customers’ properties. Evidently, this change was already in place in other unincorporated parts of the county, such as the Goleta Valley; Montecito was the last area to get the bad news.” https://www.sitelinesb.com/the-las-aves-developer-has-taken-over-more-of-los-patos-way/