Daily Archives: July 29, 2021

Habitat for Humanity Santa Barbara County Home Repair Program

Habitat for Humanity, an equal housing opportunity, promotes dignity and independence for low-income homeowners by addressing critical health and safety needs within the homes. The Santa Barbara County Home Repair Program serves the geographic boundaries of Santa Barbara’s South County only – this includes Gaviota to the north and Carpinteria to the south.

Repair Opportunities
Repair opportunities range and can include both internal and external modifications. Health and safety upgrades in the home can potentially include: accessibility ramps, installing grab bars, exterior security lighting, flooring, exterior stairs, kitchen repair, windows, doors/widening doors, minor electrical, improving unsafe landscaping, and more. Habitat is also happy to provide access to community referrals and additional resources to eligible applicants.

Eligibility:
Each individual and/or family must meet all of Habitat’s homeowner selection requirements, and program eligibility will be determined based on the eligibility criteria for repairs. Completing an application does not guarantee program acceptance.

Partial list of Eligibility Criteria:

  1. Have a demonstrated need for critical health and safety repairs.
  2. Household gross income must be at or below 80% of the Area Median Income.
  3. Be willing to partner with Habitat for Humanity, volunteers and the community.

Apply Today
Habitat’s ability to address your need is dependent on available funding and project scope. If you are interested in learning more or completing an application, please contact katherine@sbhabitat.org or (805) 455-4919. Download the application here.

Our Water Our World: Controlling Cockroaches

No one wants cockroaches in their home or space, but it’s important to deter or remove them the right way and avoid harmful pesticides as much as possible. Below are some tips to help you keep these critters away.

Controlling Cockroaches
  • If you only have a few cockroaches, you may be able to control the problem with sticky traps and cleanup.
  • Use a strong vacuum with a crevice attachment to pull cockroaches from their hiding places and clean up nests. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter if possible. After vacuuming, take the vacuum cleaner outdoors, remove the bag, seal it in a plastic garbage bag, and put it in the trash. Wipe down the vacuum cleaner with a damp cloth.
  • Cockroach droppings (frass) attract more roaches and other pests. Clean up frass with soap and water. Then, use a hand duster such as a Pest Pistol to blow diatomaceous earth (DE) or boric acid powder into cracks, crevices, and other openings in walls, under large appliances, or in areas where you have found cockroach nests. Be sure to use DE sold for pest control, not for pool filters. When applying DE or boric acid powder, protect your lungs and eyes by wearing a dust mask, gloves, and safety goggles. Apply a very light coating because cockroaches will avoid piles of dust. It doesn’t take much to kill them.
  • One way to get to a cockroach hiding place behind a wall is to remove the cover plate on an electrical outlet or switch. Always turn off the power before applying products near electrical outlets.

If dusting is not effective, use enclosed cockroach baits.

Keep Cockroaches Out

Keep cockroaches away by blocking access to your home and to their food, water, and shelter. Follow these simple good housekeeping tips to keep them from coming back:

  • Store food in the refrigerator or in containers that seal tightly.
  • Clean counters and eating areas daily. Vacuum or sweep floors. Don’t leave dirty dishes out overnight, even in the dishwasher. Take out recycling and any garbage containing food scraps every night.
  • Place pet food and water bowls in larger bowls of soapy water.
  • Reduce clutter in all rooms (it provides shelter for cockroaches).
  • Keep kitchen surfaces dry whenever they are not in use, especially overnight.
  • Fix leaky plumbing.
  • Check items you bring into your house for cock- roaches or their egg cases. Pay special attention to used furniture and appliances, and cardboard cartons from food stores.
  • Put out sticky traps so that you’ll know as soon as cockroaches return. This is especially important in apartment buildings, condominiums, or other homes that share walls, where cockroaches can easily move from one home to another.

Find more information on controlling cockroaches with eco-friendly pesticide alternatives in our OWOW brochures in English and Spanish. 

The City of Goleta along with the Cities of Buellton, Carpinteria, Solvang, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and the County of Santa Barbara have partnered with the OWOW organization to promote the use of less-toxic products in an effort to reduce pesticide pollution in our communities. By reducing pesticide use and the use of less-toxic products around the home, you can help reduce pesticides and other pollutants such as herbicides and fertilizers from being picked up while watering or when it rains and transported to the nearest storm drain inlet and into our waterways. The OWOW website is a great resource for finding less-toxic products to use around your home or garden.

Green Room: Trash Pollution Prevention & Upcoming Events

The City of Goleta Environmental Services Division would like to highlight existing and upcoming programs to help avoid litter and trash pollution. Trash is an issue in watersheds since trash can make its way through the storm drain system, into creeks, and eventually into the ocean. It’s also bad for wildlife and it’s unsightly! The City of Goleta is committed to reducing trash in our communities and preventing trash from entering our creeks and the ocean. Here are some City programs as well as some ways that you can get involved and be a part of the solution.

Upcoming Community Events and Programs
  • California Coastal Clean-up Day: The 37th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day is set for Saturday, September 18, 2021, from 9am-Noon, at beaches and waterways throughout the state. Help us remove the trash and plastic pollution! To learn more and sign-up, visit Explore Ecology.
  • Santa Barbara Creek Week: Celebrate the 22nd Annual Creek Week, September 18-25th, 2021. Creek Week is an annual celebration of our creeks, watersheds, and the ocean, with many local organizations hosting events to help build awareness and stewardship of the natural treasures of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Carpinteria. Learn more about this event here.
  • Community Based Volunteer Programs: There are community-based volunteer programs through local organizations and partners at the Environmental Defense Center, Explore Ecology, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Santa Barbara Urban Creeks Council, Heal the Ocean Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara County. These organizations work with volunteers to clean up our creeks, ocean, and other spaces. If you know of other community cleanup programs, we would love to hear more about them! Please contact the Environmental Services Division at environmentalservices@cityofgoleta.org
    • If you are interested in getting involved in community cleanups, please contact us!
  • Full Trash Capture: The City of Goleta will be installing full trash capture systems or their equivalent in all of our storm drains to prevent trash from entering waterways. Stay tuned for more; updates will be provided in our Green Room posts, as well as our stormwater web page here.
Current City of Goleta Programs
  • Beautify Goleta: While this program was on hold during the pandemic, it will resume soon, new and improved! Beautify Goleta provides dumpster and collection services to neighborhoods on a rotating schedule, to help residents properly dispose of bulky items.
  • Illegal Dumping: contact our Environmental Services Division to report illegal dumping on public right of way (pickups occur twice a month). Report illegal dumping to environmentalservices@cityofgoleta.org.
  • Free Bulky Items Collection: We partner with MarBorg to offer two FREE bulky item collections annually. All you need to do is call them to schedule a pick-up (805-963-1852). You can place bulky items curbside on the scheduled day, and they will be removed.
  • Recycling Programs: We have many recycling services available to residents for battery collection, medicine and sharps collection, styrofoam, and of course including Unlimited Recyclables Collection and Unlimited Green Waste Collection at no additional charge. Learn more here.
  • Shopping Carts: Report abandoned shopping carts to CAR-TRAC 888-992-4778.
  • Homeless Strategic Plan: This plan will provide sanitary services to houseless community members as well as inspection and cleanup programs for abandoned items. View our Homeless Strategic Plan to learn about the sensitive issues related to homelessness, and how we as a City plan to address them.
  • Street Sweeping: This program is integral to keeping our streets clean and free of trash and debris. Street sweeping helps remove waste from the gutter and roadsides that would otherwise go into storm drains, causing water pollution.
  • Mutt Mitt Program: Pet waste is one of the largest sources of water pollution. The City of Goleta’s Mutt Mitt Pet Waste Program works to address the issue of bacteria in streams from pet waste. City staff maintains 24 mutt mitt stations located at City maintained parks and open spaces, and along bike paths and walking trails.
  • Parks and Open Space Cleanups: City of Goleta staff regularly encounter sources of pollution in our open spaces and around local creeks whether during regular creek cleanups or reported by local citizens, and staff work to remove these sources of pollution from our creeks immediately.

For more information on these programs as well as upcoming programs such as full trash capture and community-based cleanup events, visit our Environmental Services website.

Pictured: Beautify Goleta event in 2016

Pipeline Safety – Contact 811 Before You Dig

Avoid hazards and prevent pipeline damage by contacting underground service alert before you dig.

Underground utility pipelines can be located anywhere, including under streets, sidewalks and private property – sometimes just inches below the surface. Hitting one of these pipelines while digging, planting, or doing demolition work can cause serious injury, property damage, and loss of utility service.

Whether you are planning to build a major development or just landscaping your yard, make sure to submit a request online or call 811, a free service available to everyone. Representatives will coordinate with the ga company and other utility owners in the area to mark the locations of buried utility-owned lines.

SoCalGas provides additional information, including how to recognize a natural gas leak, at www.socalgas.com/stay-safe/safety-and-prevention/digging-and-yard-safety.

More information is also available at https://call811.com/.

Paying for your Bus Ride is Now Easier with Contactless Payment

Contactless payment options are now available on Clean Air Express buses and on a selection of Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District (MTD) buses. It is the first to be introduced among public transit providers in the Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo tri-county region and one of the first three systems to be deployed statewide. The tap-to-ride system uses cutting-edge fare payment technology provided by specialist partners Littlepay, Kuba, Cybersource, and Elavon. 

Clean Air Express and Santa Barbara MTD customers will see contactless payment readers installed at the front of the designated buses. If a customer’s debit or credit card is valid and has the contactless symbol on it or if they use a mobile payment option, they can tap it on the payment reader, look for a green checkmark on the payment reader’s screen, and take a seat to ride. 

Clean Air Express and Santa Barbara MTD still accept physical passes and cash payments. The contactless payment option is just one more way to pay a fare—and to do so in a quick, secure way on both transit providers.

Together, the adjoining transit providers are making it simpler for Central Coast riders to travel along U.S. 101 and into and around Santa Barbara’s North and South Counties. Whether a day-tripper or a commuter, a North County rider can tap to enjoy a scenic coastline ride on Clean Air Express, transferring in Goleta or Santa Barbara to tap onto a Santa Barbara MTD bus to continue to ride seamlessly to South Coast workplaces, restaurants, shops, and beaches.

For more information go to: www.sbmtd.gov/TaptoRide

Thank You to our Outgoing Parks & Rec Student Commissioner

City of Goleta wants to thank our Parks and Recreation’s Student Commissioner Jonika Ronkainen for her service to the City! She served as the Student Commissioner from October 2020 through August 2021, and also graduated from the City’s first LEAD (Learn, Empower, Advocate, Discuss) Goleta Community Academy in July 2019. Jonika is leaving Goleta for Boson as she begins her freshman year at Boston University this fall, where she will be studying Linguistics and Philosophy at the College of Arts and Sciences.

Growing up in Goleta, Jonika spent much of her time in the city’s parks, running around the many playgrounds as a child,playing volleyball with friends, more recently walking her dog and hosting occasional meetings with her book club.

Jonika said about her experience on the Parks and Recreation Commission, “I loved having the opportunity to participate in discussions about the exciting new projects being undertaken in my hometown and investing a bit more time into getting to know Goleta’s shared spaces, the importance of which has been especially highlighted over the past year and a half of isolation.”

JoAnne Plummer, Parks and Recreation Manager, added “Commissioner Ronkainen was a valuable asset to our Commission and will be missed. Many of the points she raised during discussions contributed significantly to the outcome of the decisions made by the Commission. She was always prepared for the meetings and her inquiries and comments were well thought out, insightful, and enthusiastic. While we are sad to see Commissioner Ronkainen leave, we are excited for the next chapter in her life.”

Youth and Student Commission positions at the City are great opportunities to get involved and learn about City government at a young age. We encourage our eligible community members to look for openings when we have them and to apply!

Meet the New GUSD Superintendent

When school goes back this month, the Goleta Union School District will have a new Superintendent, Dr. Diana Galindo-Roybal. The GUSD board said it selected Dr. Galindo-Roybal due to her proven track record of promoting academic success, professional learning communities among teachers, and parent engagement.

Dr. Galindo-Roybal recently served as the Executive Director of Elementary Education for the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado. In that role, she oversaw and provided support to 15 elementary schools serving 8,000 students. Dr. Galindo-Roybal has over 25 years of experience in public education. and had been with the Cherry Creek School District since 1998. In her time as a Principal and Administrator, she implemented Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS), worked with Padres Unidos groups supporting Spanish speaking families, initiated an Adult English Class to increase parent engagement, and developed Professional Learning Communities (PLC) with teachers.

Dr. Galindo-Roybal earned her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership from University of Phoenix, an Educational Specialist (Ed.S) degree in Administration & Educational Leadership from the University of Colorado, a Master’s Degree (MA) in Curriculum & Instructional Design from Colorado Christian University, and a Bachelor’s Degree (BA) in Elementary Education from Colorado Christian University.

Dr. Galindo-Roybal is a California native and was born in Woodland, California and grew up in the Inland Empire in Southern California. She has been married for 32 years to her husband, Chris Roybal who recently retired from the Colorado Air National Guard. They have two adult children and enjoy outdoor recreational activities. Dr. Galindo-Roybal and her husband are enjoying their recent relocation to the Goleta area.

Welcome to the Good Land! #GoodLandGoodPeople

Bike Share Survey Results Are In!

Thank you to the more than 400 people who took our community interest survey on bringing a bike share pilot program to Goleta! Bike share programs are popular in cities throughout California, including our neighbor City of Santa Barbara. The City of Goleta is considering a bike share pilot program that would offer bikes on-demand, providing residents and visitors with quick and easy access to some of Goleta’s most popular destinations. The results from the survey will help the City Council decide if a bike share program is appropriate for our community.

City of Goleta Sustainability Manager Cindy Moore said, “We are very appreciative that so many people took the time to give their feedback. We received a lot of thoughtful responses that will help the City Council to consider the future of bike sharing in our community.”

The survey was available in English and Spanish, and open for three weeks (June 28 – July 19). It included 17 questions in six categories: demographics, current transportation habits, bike share support, bike share operational details, a mapping element, and additional comments.

Over 80% of people who responded to the survey either lived or worked in the City of Goleta. On average, respondents were supportive of bringing a bike share to Goleta, with 66% of people rating their support as either a 4 or a 5 on a scale of 0-5. The most liked benefits of bike share were positive environmental impact, convenience, reduced traffic congestion, fun, and improved health. The most common concerns were street safety, access to bicycles, and cost to use a bicycle. Most people preferred a bike share program that operated regionally with a docked system. The most common places people said they would start and end their bike rides were shopping centers, Old Town, parks and open space, City of Santa Barbara, and Isla Vista. View the full survey results in English and Spanish.

The bike share survey results will be presented to the City Council Energy/Green Issues Standing Committee in September for their consideration and direction regarding next steps.

LED Street Lighting Project Given the Green Light

City of Goleta is moving forward with its LED Street Lighting Project after receiving approval from City Council. On July 20th, the Goleta City Council unanimously voted to approve the design plans and authorize the LED conversion agreement amendment for the LED Street Lighting Project. This is a major milestone in the City’s sustainability efforts as we will be replacing approximately 1,300 High Pressure Sodium (HPS) streetlight fixtures throughout Goleta with new energy efficient LED streetlights. The project is expected to save Goleta over 345,000 kilowatt hours and approximately $115,000 in energy costs in the first year after the project is implemented. In addition to saving the City money, the new lights will require less maintenance and provide clearer lighting.

Cecilia Brown, a 50-year resident of the City of Goleta said, “The City’s LED Street Light Project is a very important and significant capital improvement project which will benefit all of Goleta and its residents. Staff has been most accommodating in working with the public and responding to their inquiries. Kudos to LED Street Light Project manager Michael Winnewisser and Deputy Public Works Director James Campero for recognizing and promoting Goleta standards in project design.”

In 2020, the City acquired the streetlights from Southern California Edison and began looking into different LED options for our community. In January 2021, we held a pilot study to get community input. Based on feedback from the pilot study, Green Committee, and Virtual Town Hall, the City has selected GE fixtures that are 2700K color temperature streetlights. The wattage of the LED fixtures will vary depending on the road type of the light’s location: arterials, collectors, and residential streets will all vary in brightness. The busier streets will have higher energy, and thus brighter lights.

Design maps showing the existing and proposed streetlight fixture wattages throughout the City, as well as other project design considerations and recommendations, are available on our website at www.CityofGoleta.org/LEDStreetlights.

Watch our video featuring Public Works staff to learn more about the LED Street Lighting Project. The video is available in English (https://youtu.be/6zgKww9XIiQ) and Spanish (https://youtu.be/j9-r-2zLi9Q).

City staff is currently coordinating with our consultant and their subcontractor to approve and place the order for LED streetlights needed for conversion to begin. The LED streetlight fixtures are anticipated to take approximately two months to ship and arrive. City staff will update our website and do outreach with the proposed conversion schedule once the LED streetlights are received and construction is ready to begin.

Please contact Project Manager Michael Winnewisser at (805) 690-5120 or mwinnewisser@cityofgoleta.org for any questions or additional information.

Goleta Train Depot Project Enters Final Design Stage

The Goleta Train Depot project is now in the final stretch of the design phase. At its meeting on July 13, 2021, the Design Review Board provided its support for the final design of the Train Depot. Now the focus for the Project team will be on more detailed drawings.

When completed, the Train Depot will be a full-service multi-modal train station next to the existing Amtrak platform on South La Patera Lane. By creating a full-service station, the City hopes to increase train ridership, improve connections to bus transit, accommodate transit service to/from the Santa Barbara Airport and UCSB, and add new bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The Project Team is planning to start construction of the Goleta Train Depot in the summer of 2022.

The Design Review Board (DRB) has been a big part of this process, providing input, guidance, and support on this project, most recently at the July 13, 2021, meeting, and previously at the January 26 and April 27 meetings. Meeting information is available at www.CityofGoleta.org/GoletaMeetings.

The comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report just closed on July 19, 2021, and the Project team will be working to review and address comments as part of the environmental review process.

Once the more detailed drawings are complete, the Project Team plans on presenting them as part of a status update to the City Council along with more current cost estimates.

To learn more about this project, go to https://tinyurl.com/GoletaTrainDepot.

Goleta Train Depot Rendering