Santa Barbarans weigh in on the possible county split

Santa Barbarans are talking about us.

Well, some of them are, anyway. Some of them thinkthat we should be able to turn the northernmost part ofthe county into Mission County if we want. Some of

them think that Santa Maria’s split away from its southernneighbors would be a bad idea.

And some of them could care less, either way.Typical.With county split supporters growing ever closer to their

25,000-signature goal, the issue will likely make it to county bal-lots within the next few years. To break away, Mission Countywould need to get more than 50 percent of the vote from resi-dents of the proposed county, and more than 50 percent of thevotes from residents of Santa Barbara County. Yes, that includesthe city of Santa Barbara.

Here in the northern end of the county, we’ve heard morethan our share of opinions from people for, against, and indif-ferent to the possible split, but we had no idea how anyone far-ther south than Santa Ynez felt about it.

To remedy this dearth of knowledge, we,as a staff, decided to get a little southernexposure. We checked in with split initiatorsto find out how the effort is faring. We dialedup south county officials and called Santa

Barbara city leadership. And then, with State Street in oursights, we started the car, made sure the offshore oil platformswere on our right-hand side, and watched the strawberry fieldsshrink in the rear-view mirror.

Here’s what we found:

The North County basicsJim Diani, Chairman of Citizens for County Organization

(CFCO), said right now the group is still in the process ofacquiring and verifying the roughly 21,000 signatures needed tokick start the county split’s economic feasibility study. He saidthat currently the group probably has around 20,000 signatures,but in order to be sure they get enough verified, they plan ongetting as many as 25,000.

The signature-gathering process must be completed by Sept.30. The CFCO then has 60 days to give the petitions to thecounty clerk. The county clerk then has 30 days to verify thesignatures. If enough signatures are certified, the governor(whoever it may be) has 120 days to appoint a County

Formation Review Commission, and the issuegoes on the ballots.

While the petition gatherers started collectingsignatures at busy places like the post office andgrocery stores, Diani thinks those areas may be

tapped out. The gatherers are still working the metropolitanareas—Santa Maria, Lompoc, Orcutt, and the Santa YnezValley—but now they’ve moved on to walking the precinctsand knocking on doors. He’s confident they will acquire theneeded signatures.

Diani believes it would be in the South County’s best interestto let the north split away. With the projected shift in popula-tion soon to favor the north, he believes the overriding philoso-phy of influence within county government will be from thenorth’s perspective.

“Eventually, the north will be telling the south what to do,” hesaid. “I think that impairs their ability in the south to maintaintheir quality of life. If they don’t want that to happen, then theyreally need to be objective in the approach with this.”

Diani believes that the “cost issue” might be a sore spot withSouth County voters. He tells them the same thing he’s beentelling North County residents for more than two years: Theeconomic impacts on both north and south will be answered inthe study. He agrees that if the study shows the economics justaren’t there, it won’t go any further.

“The study will provide us the tax base … [then] w e can pro-ject our revenues and expenses. I think the cost issue would be aconcern [for South County voters], and if we can’t make thiswork economically, then it’s not a good idea.

BY SUN STAFFPHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER GARDNER

Wish you weren’t here: Thoughsome Santa Barbarans opposedthe split, others thought it wouldbe a great idea if the northformed Mission County.

It’s a northIt’s a northsouth thingsouth thing

“I would hope that they would be objective at this pointand save their opinion for or against it until they have thestudy,” he said.

State Street shopsState Street and its environs represent the quintessential

Santa Barbara stop. Packed with quirky shops and antiquestores, dozens of trendy coffee shops and cafes, and an artmuseum, it seemed the perfect place to pick locals’ mindsfor their opinion on the split.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the shoppers, diners, andmuseum-goers were tourists who also wanted to make thequintessential Santa Barbara stop.

“Sorry. We’re just visiting,” was a common answer to ques-tions of whether people on the street supported the split.

One man at an outdoor dining table did fess up tobeing a local, and to having an opinion.

Howard Wittausch is an architect and civil engineer.He said that South County environmentalists hope theycan slow development and growth in the north. Hethinks that overall, county leaders are two-faced: sup-porting environmental issues on one side, but settingland-use regulations that practically force property own-

ers to develop on the other. The urbaniza-tion of the South Coast, he said, is beingfacilitated by the agenda of the NorthCounty supervisors.

“I’m not alone in this perception,” he said.The split would be a good thing,

Wittausch said, though he thinks thatcoastal issues as a whole are more pressingthan north-south ones.

Getting off the street and into some shopsflushed out more opinions.

One barbershop employee, who didn’tgive her name, had a quick opinion on theproposed split. She said she lived in Goleta,and the residents of that new city werehappy to represent themselves. They nowcan vote on their own mayor, which theycouldn’t do in Santa Barbara even thoughthey worked there. She thinks the northwould be OK representing them.

“I think whatever you guys want to do upthere should be just fine,” she said.

A trip into a men’s clothing store revealedan employee, Thomas Draper, who waswilling to share his opinion. Although hehadn’t heard anything about the split, whentold about the issue and a few of the prosand cons, he made up his mind.

“It makes sense to me,” he said. “It’d be

just like the split between northern and southern California.”Hitting the streets again yielded three “I don’t know anything

about it” answers from people reading newspapers.In Stitches, a sewing store, two ladies shared that they were

aware of the issue and its many aspects. The owner, AnnaPedotti, and her employee, Laura Acosta, had both heard aboutthe proposed split on the radio and read about it in print. Theyare both dead-set against such a division.

“I think it would be bad for both,” Pedotti said. “My motherwent through it the last time, so I know all about it.” She saidshe recognizes that there are historical differences betweenNorth County and the South County (“You live here longenough, you realize it.”) but even then, it’s still not a good idea.

“Even with the philosophical difference it’s not OK, becauseyou’ve also got different tax bases,” Pedotti said. She said a majorproblem with the proposed split would be the South County’spotential loss of open spaces.

Acosta agreed.“The open space issue—Santa Barbara doesn’t have [open

spaces]. If they’re using Santa Maria as that crutch … [if they split]then they’re gonna have to deal with some issues that they keepsweeping under the carpet,”Acosta said.“I don’t know enoughabout it, but I think Santa Barbara’s gonna take it in the shorts.”

The Santa Barbara County courthouseUnlike the passers-by on State Street, foot traffic around the

courthouse carried more than a few Santa Barbara residentswho shared more than few opinions.

“I’m for the split,” said Frank Mackey, a volunteer at the cour-thouse information booth. “I feel for the people in NorthCounty. They’re not getting the concerns they need from thesupervisors. There’s a block of three who vote together all thetime, and that’s not fair to the north.”

His wife, Marie, also an info-booth volunteer, let Frank do

most of the talking, explaining that she doesn’t feelstrongly one way or the other.

“It’d be neat to have their own representation,” Marieventured. “They’ve been feeling that way for years,”Frank cut in. If the split makes it to the ballot, Franksaid he’d vote yes—a sentiment that hasn’t changedsince the first split effort in 1978.

“I thought then they should have split, too,” he said.“I just wish them luck.”

Elsewhere in the courthouse, attitudes about the poten-tial county divorce varied as much as each visitor’s attire.

Outside the elevator, PeteArtusio, owner of the Casa deSevilla restaurant, mulled thecounty split prospect with threefriends.

“It’s not something that peo-ple talk about down here,”Artusio said.

“We didn’t know about it,”said a man in Artusio’s group, a

visitor from LA. “It’s not news down there.”“It’s not that we don’t care,” Artusio continued. “It’s

just that most people down here don’t know whichway they’d go.”

Around the corner, in the sheltered breezeway, anattorney for the public defender knew exactly whichway Santa Barbarans should go.

“I think it’s a ridiculous idea,” said K.C. Williamson, adistinguished but relaxed middle-aged man. “It’d be alot of wasted money.”

Williamson said he questioned not only the loss of taxpayers’money for the inevitable duplication of services, but the motivespropelling the split movement.

“A lot of the effort behind it is funded by development inter-ests that feel constrained by the environmental [consciousness]of the South County,” he said.

“I think the county is a workable size. I’d hate to see eitherpart of the county lose the other.”

Richard Goldman, dean of the Santa Barbara and VenturaColleges of Law, joined the conversation.

“In the long run, we need each other,” Goldman said. “Thereare things that Santa Maria has that Santa Barbara doesn’t. Theyrepresent different ends of the spectrum—together it’s a reason-able match.”

SANTA BARBARA continued page 14

‘It’s not somethingthat people talkabout down here.’Pete Artusio, Casa de Sevilla restaurant owner

Then and now: Frank Mackey, who vol-unteers at the courthouse informationbooth with his wife, Marie, supported thesplit in 1978 and hasn’t changed his mindthis time around.

Don’t bite the handthat feeds you:Scott Turnbull thinksthat Santa Maria isgetting a much betterdeal being tied to thecounty than it wouldif it was on its own.

Friends in need: Richard Goldman, dean of the SantaBarbara and Ventura Colleges of Law, said Santa Maria andSanta Barbara need each other. He added that the majority ofthe tax revenue comes from the South County while the NorthCounty needs most of the social services.

He further explained that splitting north and south is a losingsituation for the north, especially since the majority of the taxrevenue comes from the South County while the North Countyneeds most of the social services.

“Montecito—that would be a tremendous tax base cut off,” hesaid. “It would be a level of disservice to everybody that’s justgoing to be extreme.

“The bottom line is control,” Goldman said before going tolunch with Williamson. “It’s a matter of time before [the north]has control. The population is going north—it will get the thirdsupervisor sooner or later.”

Two young bankers walking past the courthouse both con-fessed to not being up on the split issue.

“I haven’t heard about it,” one said, trailing off.“I can’t imagine much revenue coming in for the county up

there,” the other said. “You have to look at the fiscal impact,” heconcluded, adding that he hadn’t looked into it much yet.

Also walking by the courthouse, Scott Turnbull, the employeebenefits manager for the county, said that personally, he’s ratherambivalent.

“l have mixed feelings. I understand that there are people inthe North County interested in the split because they’re too con-trolled by the south,” he said, “but I think it’s a minority of spe-cial interests, political interests.”

Turnbull said that that minorityview will cripple the potential MissionCounty in the long run.

“It would be a waste of taxpayers’money,” he said. “I don’t think they

realize how much it would cost to provide a similar level of ser-vices. They might have to raise taxes, which is the opposite ofwhat they want to do for their people.

“They’re getting a much better deal being tied to the county.”

Marty Blum, mayor of Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara’s mayor isn’t saying yes or no. Not yet, anyway.

Until she knows enough of the details and hard numbers to feelcomfortable making a decision, she’s saying she’s “somewhatsupportive of the split.”

She said that in her native Illinois, small county sizes put landcontrol issues in the hands of the cities—“Where it should be,”she said—and that a county split here could mean the same thing.

Blum said that regardless of whether people think there’s toomuch or too little power on either end of the county, the powerstructure is completely fair because it’s simply based on the num-ber of people who live in that area. “And Santa Maria’s growingand we’re not growing as fast,” she said,“so it’s going to change.There’s no race, so [Santa Maria] is not going to win anything.

“I feel like that has more to do with the politics of who’s beenelected than who has more power,” she added.

As for what her office has been doing to prepare for a possible

split, “It’s been real quiet downhere,” she said. “We’re not evenoffering workshops on it.”

Naomi Schwartz, 1stDistrict Supervisor

From her position as chair ofthe Santa Barbara CountyBoard of Supervisors, NaomiSchwartz waxed philosophicwhen she noted that dividingthe existing county is the equiv-alent of turning away from anongoing disagreement.

“I think it’s very temptingsometimes in life to want towalk away from differences ofopinion. I know we all experi-ence that in our personal lives.The same is true in civic life,”she said. “It feels easier to walkaway than to try to negotiate agood working agreement withpeople you don’t always agreewith.”

She said that over the pastseveral years, there’s been a lot of rabble rousing coming fromNorth County.

“It was maintained when Gail Marshall was elected to theboard and ... then it took on a very shrill tone and found itsvoice in issues such as redistricting and the recall of SupervisorMarshall and the number of lawsuits that have been filed [that]originated from North County,” Schwartz explained.

Silencing that shrillness by cutting the north-south connec-tion doesn’t make for good government in the long run, thesupervisor said.

“The best way to find a solution that works for both Northand South County is to understand and respect the differencesand [find] common agendas, seek consensus,” she said.

“My goal this year [as board chair] was to bring us to com-mon ground wherever that was possible on the board, and I feelwe’ve done that,” Schwartz said. “It’s really unfortunate that thatis not being reflected in the communities.”

Steve Cushman, executive director of the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce

Steve Cushman is in favor of the county split, but his organi-zation is taking a wait-and-see approach.

“No. 1, I don’t think that they believe that it would qualify forthe ballot, so they didn’t want to waste time. And No. 2, we’vebeen down this road before, and it didn’t pass,” said Cushman,executive director of the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce.

Personally, he thinks a split would be beneficial to both theproposed Mission County and to Santa Barbara County. Hecites the notorious “philosophical differences” between the twocounties as the main differences in the two places. With theSouth County’s economy driven by tourism and the NorthCounty’s driven by a variety of agriculture, manufacturing, andoil, he sees the need for a split.

“All in all, the economic interests are so different that it justmakes sense to split,” he said. But he thinks Santa Barbara willbe better off financially in the short term.

“Primarily because of Guadalupe, North County is the nettaker of dollars. You’ve got to resolve that somehow,” he said.“Sowe end up better off down here. If you’re considering managingtax dollars, I think the South County will be better off financially.I don’t think the North County will be better off financially. But Ithink the North County would have a Board of Supervisors thatwould be more attuned to their economic interests.”

Jim Armstrong, Santa Barbara city administrator

From his professional perspective, Jim Armstrong, SantaBarbara city administrator, said the City Council hasn’t taken anofficial stance, so he hasn’t either. But that doesn’t preclude hishaving reservations about the split movement.

“We’re all concerned about the fiscal impacts of it, not just forour own area but for the whole county,” he said. “I personallywish the system was different so we could do a fiscal analysis ...before it’s on the ballot.”

Specifically, he sees the fledgling Mission County as having a

feeble financial start.“It would not have sufficient revenues to provide services they

would like based on the rough fiscal indicators that the countyput out about a year ago,” Armstrong said.

And regarding the name Mission County? “I don’t have an opinion one way or the other—I know where

the wine’s from,” he said with a laugh.

Mike Brown, county administratorThis attempt to split the county isn’t the first that county

administrators have seen, and Mike Brown said that his officehas played “a very minor role” when the process came up before.

He said they’ve been invited from time to time to explainwhat would go into splitting the county, what a feasible calendarwould look like, and how it could affect certain specific areas.“But we just explain the rules, that’s all,” he said.

Brown would definitely be affected by the split; as a SantaYnez resident, he would be living in the new county and work-ing in the old one. There’s also the amount of government-levelwork that it would require, especially in his office. “[MissionCounty employees] will need a lot of information to do the job,”he said. “So it will become a workload issue.”

Despite the potential changes, Brown and his co-workersaren’t weighing in with their opinions.

“We on the professional staff hold no position on the countysplit issue,” he said.

As for the name, Brown said he hadn’t given much thought.

Remember, he said, this area has been known as Santa Barbarasince before it was a county, before it was a territory, before itwas even part of Mexico.

“The name Santa Barbara has a lot of cachet all over theUnited States to all over the world,” he said.❍

The Sun staff has cachet all over the Central Coast. Editor RyanMiller, News Editor Andrea Rooks, Arts Editor Abraham Hyatt,and Staff Writer Matt McBride contributed to this article. Sendcomments or ideas to rmiller@santamariasun.com.

SANTA BARBARA from page 13

‘It’s been real quietdown here. We’re not even offeringworkshops on it.’

Marty Blum, mayor of Santa Barbara

Walking the walk:Santa Barbara’s StateStreet features asmany shops as thereare opinions aboutthe county split.

Question authority: K.C. Williamson thinks a split is a ridicu-lous idea. He questioned the loss of taxpayers’ money, duplica-tion of services, and the motives propelling the split movement.