Santa Barbara is a wonderful place to live, and I care deeply about keeping it that way. That is why I am a member of Strong Towns Santa Barbara. For me, the point is not to “fix” Santa Barbara as if it were broken. It is to ask how we can make a great community even stronger, more resilient, and more welcoming for the people who live here now and those who will come after us.
I was struck by the recent op-ed suggesting that Santa Barbara does not need Strong Towns ideas because it is already a strong town. I respectfully disagree. Being beautiful, beloved, and historically important does not automatically make a city financially or socially resilient. In fact, places we cherish most can become vulnerable when housing becomes unaffordable, transportation choices are too limited, and growth patterns make it harder to maintain the civic and financial health of the community.
What I appreciate about Strong Towns Santa Barbara is the spirit behind it: a group of people asking, “What’s one thing we can do today to make our neighbors’ lives better?” For me, that is the right question for a city that wants to remain livable for teachers, nurses, service workers, young families, seniors, and everyone else who keeps Santa Barbara functioning. It means making Santa Barbara a place where more people can afford to live, where walking, biking, and rolling are safe and comfortable, and where growth supports the long-term health of the community.
Strong Towns principles are not about making Santa Barbara less Santa Barbara. They are about coming together to celebrate what makes this community special by ensuring that it works for the people who live and work here now, and for the generations that follow. That’s exactly the work that countless Santa Barbarians, from Pearl Chase onward, have been doing, and I’m proud to be part of a group carrying that tradition forward in our own time.
If we care about Santa Barbara’s beauty, character, and prosperity, we should also care about its resilience. Being part of Strong Towns Santa Barbara gives me a hopeful, practical way to do that. It’s a place where I can join with others who want to be good stewards of a city we love.
