From: Cj C
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2024 2:26 PM
To: Web-City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: comment for regular session 9/17/2024
*** EXTERNAL EMAIL: Please use caution when opening links or attachments. *** Hello
I understand this email is past the 2:00pm cut off time - I hope you will still consider it and save me the hurried trip home rushing after work that would be so nice!
I would just like to state my opposition for the record to this project the way it is proposed. Many of us who own properties, homes, businesses in the area feel it is an offense and an insult to our own contributions to the city. Those of us who pay for what we want, who want things we can't afford and who have to accept no for an answer are insulted that this deal essentially turns our endless hard work into a joke by basically discounting this high value land for others to profit from.
This is before we even get started on the issues that we all pay through the nose for - gas, homelessness, utilities, taxes, health care, and on and on.
I understand you want to attract doctors, young professionals, etc but as a person who works with doctors, nurses, health care professionals etc - it's not about the cool urban housing but other things such as - proximity to the beach, access to activities such as wine tasting etc, living in Santa Barbara County, earning a high dollar amount compared to cost of living. Literally none of the nurses I have ever hired (and many live in Santa Maria and Orcutt despite working in SLO), literally NONE of them have ever said "when I get enough money I am going to move to somewhere cooler. " In fact it's the opposite - Santa Maria draws the young professionals already because they are able to afford a quality of life they are not able to in other areas.
Furthermore, this kind of forced growth - where we are practically giving away land (literally turns my stomach btw), shows in a community. It's one of those things that when not natural and organic, and not a natural product of the environment - winds up being what I can only describe as "modern blight. " You know it when you see it - new multimillion dollar construction that stays empty because the rent is too high for businesses to afford, or businesses that come in and out every 3 months because they can't sustain in that area and end up being a location that feels cursed. Those "newer" buildings that aren't actually nicer, that feel cheap when you walk in and you already know they aren't going to last and just feel like they don't fit in.
This is not right for our city of Santa Maria, not right for our people of Santa Maria.
Please do not do this! please. Give it some time, at least, and let's come up with something that more of us want to see and enjoy!
Thank you
Carly Castillo
Santa Maria, CA 93455