Protect the Old Mission

One image identifies Santa Barbara worldwide.

It isn’t Montecito, The Biltmore, The Clark Estate, Hope Ranch, any museum, any celebrity, or even State Street.

It is Old Mission Santa Barbara founded in 1786.

Nothing we have done since has matched its beauty or signature, and City of Santa Barbara has used it as its brand since its completion. It’s incredulous to even consider a behemoth prison-like structure at 505 East Los Olivos Street to be right beside the Mission and mar the visual. It is even self-destructive.

The 400-plus cars that will be added to an already traffic-challenged two-lane road will take driving from already challenging to dangerous. The Natural History Museum, The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and all the homes from the new build to Foothill and beyond would be dangerously affected. This high fire danger area needs the best possible ingress and egress of emergency vehicles.

We are so disturbed by what is happening to our city. If we hadn’t been in the Upper East going on 40 years and invested so much heart into our home we would be looking for the exit. It’s stressful for everyone to have to deal with this insensitive, dangerously blind push toward density. We even just received a letter offering us a lot split to add another million dollars to our value. Forget your back yard — build ADUs! Ugh.

Are we trying to overwhelm the city infrastructure, increase water usage, encourage all insurance companies to leave California?

It’s a small town for a reason. Check the topography.