Police Station Costs

If the city can afford $200,000 per month rent, it can afford to purchase property next to the current police station, the best place for the station. Even a $100 million mortgage can be paid off in 60 years using just the rent money.

The police will not walk to court on Figueroa Street from a station at Cota Street, six blocks and six long traffic lights away. The walk is time consuming and sweat inducing. The police will drive to court parking to save time.

Distance from the current Figueroa Street station to court is only one block and one short traffic light away. It is faster to walk than drive. The police will walk to save time.

Everything about De la Guerra Plaza is wrong for our beautifully functioning, stable, educational, business friendly, family supporting, climate helping, large, Saturday Farmers Market that is an agricultural and cultural gem for all. The plaza has too many disrupting uses and too little space.

City Council, please put on your moral, progressive thinking caps. Taking the Cota lot is short-sighted, penny wise and pound foolish. It destroys too much of Santa Barbara’s beneficial long-term vibrancy.