The benches on State Street will remain where they are, the Santa Barbara City Council decided on Tuesday.
The controversial proposal to move the benches to discourage the homeless from sitting down fell one vote short.
The Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday voted to keep the benches in place on State Street. Daily Sound/Victor Maccharoli
The council vote was oddly split.
Councilman Grant House, a business owner but also a longtime homeless advocate, joined Dale Francisco, the council's most vocal critic of homeless people and panhandlers, in voting to relocate the benches. Councilman Randy Rowse, also a downtown business owner, sided with House and Francisco.
House blamed "the press" for "mischaracterizing" the situation.
"I pretty well support the proposal as is," House said. "If there was a proposal coming forward to take away the benches, I would say no way. I tend to support moving forward with the project as it is."
Mayor Helene Schneider, Michael Self, Harwood "Bendy" White and Frank Hotchkiss agreed that spending $50,000 to shift benches was a gamble they weren't willing to take.
"If this is effective, and it costs $50,000, I would say great," said councilman Hotchkiss, "but I don't know if it is effective and I don't want to spend that kind of money on it."
The council agreed to revisit the proposal in a year.
The "State Street Benches Relocation Pilot Project," would shift the direction of 14 benches on the 800 and 900 blocks of State Street, in a move that the Downtown Organization hopes will discourage homeless people, many of whom are mentally ill, from getting comfortable on State Street.
The Downtown Organization was working in partnership with the city's redevelopment agency on the proposal.
The proposal, however, appeared to pop up out of nowhere. The Downtown Organization and the redevelopment agency held a sparsely attended meeting in January at the Canary Hotel to announce the proposal.
When Schneider, an advocate for helping the homeless transition into permanent housing, found out, she asked that the matter go before the full council.
Redevelopment Agency manager Marck Aguilar admitted at Tuesday's council meeting that the proposal was not thoroughly vetted.
"There wasn't a whole lot of professional, in-depth analysis because it didn't seem warranted," Aguilar said.
Many community members were opposed to the project.
"To me it seems that taking the bench and moving it a few feet for $50,000 is a waste," said Faith Merrit. "It is turning our back on veterans. It is turning our back on the mentally ill."
She said the money should be used to help the homeless, not disrupt them.
"Why change 14 benches when you can change 14 hearts?" she said.
Councilman Francisco, who has been critical of the city spending money on some services for the homeless, said it was OK to spend $50,000.
"Everything we do in the public space is astonishingly expensive," Francisco said. "Many millions of dollars have been spent on State Street. At this point I see no reason why we should change this plan."
Schneider said the city needs to have a fact-based strategy for addressing the homeless problem. The city's 12-point plan for ending homelessness never mentioned moving benches as a solution to the problem.
"If we work smart we will be able to create good policy based on facts," Schneider said.
Article courtesy of Josh Molina, Daily Sound.
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