Vote Yes on Measure P 

Measure P — the Santa Barbara City College bond on the ballot — is a great investment for the community. SBCC has only had one successful bond since 1973, for $77 million in 2008. Only one bond in more than 50 years is not enough to keep Santa Barbara City College a great institution.

Santa Barbara City College has invested much in maintenance and repair over the years, but buildings only last so long. The current physical education building was built in the 1960s. It needs to be replaced. The proposed new Physical Education Building Replacement Project will quality SBCC to receive tens of millions of dollars of state funds that will not be available later. Also, construction would cost more later than now. 

Local students deserve top-notch SBCC facilities. It is important that the community protect its investment in the college. Measure P is a prudent proposal that will not increase the tax rate for SBCC above the $8.50 per hundred thousand dollars of assessed value approved in 2008. The assessed value of many properties is below, often considerably below, market value and can increase only 2 percent per year. 

The main Santa Barbara City College campus was acquired from Major F. W. Leadbetter in 1931 on the condition that it be used for college purposes. Major Leadbetter had a simultaneous offer for $450,000 for the property, but accepted an offer of $75,000 so that Santa Barbara would have an outstanding college campus.  

It is vital that this generation maintains Santa Barbara City College. More local residents benefit from the college directly and indirectly than any other local institution. Thousands of local families save tens of thousands of dollars each year through the lower cost of SBCC — both for concurrently enrolled high school students and local students who have graduated from high school and attend SBCC for their first two years of college. A yes vote for Measure P is a vote for Santa Barbara’s families! In both categories of the proportion of high school students who are concurrently enrolled in SBCC and in the percentage of local students who attend City College after high school, Santa Barbara City College leads or is among the very top community colleges in the state. In addition, SBCC has among the highest transfer rates in California of its students to four-year colleges. 

Among the vocational fields that SBCC emphasizes is health care. The college is vital to health care in our community. Hundreds of nurses and home health aides receive their education and training at the college. Santa Barbara City College’s continuing education program is also outstanding, again a state and national leader. 

Santa Barbara Mayor Harvey Nielson remarked on acquisition of the Cliff Drive property more than 90 years ago: “State College has reached its capacity in its present [Riviera] location. The Leadbetter site would be the most ideal in the country, as far as I know.” According to Supervisor Sam Stanwood: “I think that the plan … to purchase the Leadbetter property on the ocean is one of the finest propositions I’ve seen presented in this city in the sixty years that I have been living in Santa Barbara!” Planner Deming Tilton said: “I have never heard of an offer so generous, of such good will and friendly spirit toward a community from a man who does not live in it. The proposed Mesa site for the college is without parallel in beauty for an ideal college location in the country.”

Will this generation do its part to maintain and improve Santa Barbara City College for local students of all ages now and in the future? It is not easy to pass bonds for educational facilities, which require a 55 percent vote in favor, not a simple majority. 

It is great asset for Santa Barbara to possess one of the finest community colleges in the nation. SBCC binds the south coast together for students of all ages from Carpinteria to Goleta. Vote Yes on Measure P! 

Lanny Ebenstein is a past member of the Santa Barbara School Board and is president of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association.