Siteline | Santa Barbara Is Finally Getting Serious About E-Bikes

October 17, 2024|by Erik Torkells

••• From the Independent: “The City of Santa Barbara is considering a few sweeping changes to its bicycle ordinance, which are intended to ensure that e-bikes follow the same rules as other bicycles [….] One of the biggest changes would be that the city would be able to impound e-bikes from underaged riders who are ‘operating in an unsafe manner’—[which] would allow Santa Barbara police to have a direct conversation with parents or guardians when they come to retrieve the bike (currently, state law limits law enforcement’s ability to speak directly with juveniles).” Noozhawk, meanwhile, said the city’s Ordinance Committee voted to send the matter to the city council, and said the changes also mandate “that riders must ride single file, use bike lanes, stay off sidewalks and wear properly strapped helmets for those under 18 years old. The changes also prohibit the operation of a bicycle or electric bicycle on a roadway unless it is ‘equipped with a brake that will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.'” The big question, of course, is to what degree any of this gets enforced.

••• The Art Essentials art-supply store is moving to 1207 State Street (Anapamu/Victoria) at year end. “The new store space is about 6,000 square feet, slightly smaller than the current store.” —Independent

••• The Montecito Journal has a police blotter (page 32), which I believe is new, with stuff like indecent exposure on Butterfly Beach and a burglary via dog door. Here’s hoping it’s a recurring feature.

••• “Rick Caruso, owner of the Rosewood Miramar Beach hotel, took his housing and luxury retail shop project to the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission. […] Caruso wants to build 26 affordable-housing units and eight market-rate units at the five-star luxury hotel [and] to add about 17,500 square feet of high-end boutique retail shops. […] Santa Barbara County last month tried to skip a hearing at the Montecito Planning Commission, but after public outcry added a hearing on Oct. 18. The project is scheduled to go back to the county Planning commission on Nov. 1 for a final vote. If it is appealed, which it likely will be, the Board of Supervisors would decide the fate of the project likely in December.” P.S. “Caruso pulled out all the stops at the meeting. He catered a coffee, breakfast and lunch bar on the sidewalk outside the county building. Containers of fresh fruit, boxes of BLT and veggie sandwiches, and bowls of kale salad covered the table.” —Noozhawk

••• A look at the contest between incumbent Oscar Gutierrez and challenger Tony Becerra over the District 3 seat on the Santa Barbara City Council. —Noozhawk

••• “After serving as the Lobero Theatre’s executive director since 1997, David Asbell is stepping down to a part time role in the new year as the nonprofit’s program director. Asbell is the longest-serving director in the theater’s 150-year history [….] Asbell will be handing over the executive director reins to his trusted ally, Marianne Clark, who has also been with the Lobero since 1997.” —Independent

••• “The California Coastal Commission on Thursday voted against SpaceX boosting its number of annual launches to 50 a year from Vandenberg Space Force Base,” reported Noozhawk. “However, the rejection could be moot because of the ongoing difference of opinion about how to handle SpaceX missions as the dispute appears to be inching toward legal action.” (The vast majority of the launches include non-government-related payloads, but Vandenberg Space Force Base and SpaceX want them all treated as if they’re military in nature.) Indeed, reports KEYT, “SpaceX has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the California Coastal Commission alleging political discrimination and unlawful regulation of a federal activity.”

················

Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter and you’ll never miss a post.

Tags: California Coastal Commission, Lobero Theatre, Oscar Gutierrez, Rosewood Miramar Beach, Santa Barbara Art Essentials, SpaceX, Tony Becerra, Vandenberg Space Force Base

The police blotter in the montecito journal was a recurring feature for many years. Not sure when they discontinued it, but glad to see it’s back!

Santa Barbara is so good at banning things and then doing absolutely nothing about enforcing such bans.

Laws are meaningless when they’re not enforced.

As one example of hundreds of such regulations that are not enforced: Gas powered leaf blowers were banned in Santa Barbara in 1997

Glad to see your links to these stories, first the e-bike thing. I agree with those that say without any enforcement the new ordinances won’t do much.

Next, I’m glad Art Essential’s is moving and not closing. A local store to sell art supplies and more is a treasure. On a side note I would love to have camera store come back to downtown, (like Samy’s).

The best was the Oscar vs. Tony race on the West side. For further understanding go to You Tube, > Josh Molina, his interview with Tony. Tony has a life story that qualifies him to sit on the Dais. In my opinion.

Sounds more like the council is targeting kids on bikes. Sneddon, Jordan and O.Gutierrez have all called out kids specifically on public record. Why don’t they just say no kids allowed on the Promenade? Its what they have wanted since day one. The experiment continues to fail, and now kids are the new scapegoat for their soon to be $100million failure. There are far more adults violating pre-existing bike laws. If public safety is what they want on bikes on the Promenade, then they should just set up a couple DWI checkpoints between the 400-600 block, and 1100-1300 blocks. If not, then clearly anti-kids on the promenade is all the sole objective.

I am pretty sure they are not focused on the Promenade. The kids riding e-bikes are all over town, riding in the middle of the roads, on sidewalks etc. I have seen many dangerous maneuvers and wondered when the city would start to care. It is a good start.

like I said, targeting kids. I see far more adults violating these laws on a daily basis that I do “kids”. That includes cyclist as well as e bike riders. Laguna Beach and HB (where they copied the laws from) first offered education on the topic before imposing the laws and then enforcing them (and they actually do enforce them, but they haven’t defunded or cut budgets from their PD) The only place they may try to enforce it, is the beloved Promenade..because they have to blame something for the failure so far. You can smoke crack on the corner, urinate in the bushes or shoplift from a store..and nothing will happen. But, pop a wheelie..and you’re in trouble 😆 educate the kids, don’t target them to push an agenda. Maybe target the budget first? Already buried us into a $7+million defecit, brilliant!

Ive seen both kids and adults run red lights on bike, but the difference is when the kids do it, they are completely clueless and often not looking, using their phone or cutting off cars .. different

I love the idea of educating first, then enforcing.I’m always shocked that most bike riders of all ages don’t use hand turning signals!!!

People are gonna do what they do when there are no consequences. Minors and adults alike need to comply. Mommy and daddy will pay for their kids’ violations and can deal with “education” — which is not rocket science. My opinion, however, is moot: there is little to no enforcement of basic traffic laws anymore.

I think this is a good start as well. I haven’t personally seen adults doing wheelies in the middle of Cabrillo, turning last minute in front of fast-driving cars, etc, though this has happened to me several times by teenagers. And I have kids BTW. We should be enforcing this as often they are not wearing helmets either… which is just scary (for them and their families).

In the 70’s at our local grammar schools we had “Bike Ralleys” every year. We all rode our bikes to school and everywhere in those days. We would bring our bikes to school and go through a series of drills, showing our hand signals and that we understood the rules of the road as a bike rider. They checked that our bikes were safe and encouraged helmets. We got a little paper bike driver’s license if we passed all the tests. All the kids looked forward to this annual event that was run by the police. We felt empowered and it made us better car drivers in the future. This type of thing should be back in the grammar schools today and would make for safer roads for all.

IMAGINE THAT!