••• The city of Santa Barbara has a new survey about parking downtown. This strikes me as the controversial part.
••• Santa Ynez General has reorganized: the storefront next to the Pony Express café, now called The Outpost, is focusing on gifty stuff like coffee table books, candles, and Santa Ynez merch. The recently expanded shop nearby (Santa Ynez General) is where you’ll find everything else, including women’s and men’s apparel and home design.
••• The Santa Barbara Airbus now includes a stop in Camarillo, which adds 15 minutes to the trip (30 minutes for the midday departure).
••• Paula Cole plays the Lobero Theatre on April 24. “Carmen” will always be a favorite….
••• Did anyone else get the recent email from Alaska Airlines touting service between Santa Barbara and Monterey? Since this would be new, but there was nothing about it online, I asked the airline about it. First they said they thought it was spam, which I pushed back on (because it linked to the airline’s website), and then they said it was a glitch: “Legitimate email but looks like the technology behind it is acting up so the team is pausing it for now. But, alas, the Santa Barbara-Monterey route is not real. We apologize for the confusion.” Maybe someday….
••• Two updates to my Lower Riviera walk: thanks to Celeste for pointing out that what looks like a bus stop on Alameda Padre Serra is actually the last remaining streetcar shelter. Nice that it got preserved, but maybe it should’ve been moved to somewhere it would actually get used?
••• And thanks to S. for pointing out that I missed the “secret” staircase that links E. Pedregosa Street between Grand Avenue and Loma Street. The first photo below shows the southern end (the stairs are between the two vehicles); the second photo is of the northern end, which comes out on a Loma Street spur.
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I recommend anyone wanting to understand how parking affects our cities to read: “Paved Paradise: How parking explains the world”.
It’s quite pro paid meters.
Oh that shelter got used :) I grew up across from the El Encanto and it was a big part of our free-range childhood, along with both Orpet parks, both Franceschi parks (there’s a secret Franceschi staircase too), and the sandstone roundabout on Paterna.
Less equipment to meter parking now if multi space Pay Stations are used, but those still cost and require servicing, the identification of those spaces will result in fewer cars per block. Plus the cost of parking enforcement. They will bring in revenue but it will be incremental.