Community comeback plans presented by Chamber partners in the Santa Barbara State of the City

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - After the dire days of the pandemic, Santa Barbara is poised to economically bounce back.

Issues involved in the roadmap to recovery were presented during the State of the City address presented by the South Coast Chamber of Commerce.

Various community leaders have laid out the challenges in areas including employment, education, tourism, commercial leasing and health.

Economic Development Manager Jason Harris said "The city took dramatic steps to support businesses, open outdoors and reposition downtown State street into a new environment."

Long standing challenges in housing and homelessness were also part of the discussion and remain on the forefront.

The city currently has a three year economic recovery plan to improve the business plan. It has committed improvement to plans that help businesses and provide improved customer service.

Harris said, "The plan calls for strengthening the city's economy in all areas and improving the downtown hub for art, entertainment and culture." He said the promenade is "evolving and will be part of a strong economic footprint" involving the waterfront and the Funk Zone.

The future, he said they will rely on collaboration with community leaders and the Chamber of Commerce.

Francoise DeJohn from Hayes Commercial Real Estate said, "Unexpected sales of commercial property took place in late 2020. For this year, market activity has picked up in the second quarter."

The most obvious change in the pandemic for business owners has been outside dining and the promenade changes in downtown Santa Barbara. "The parklets have clearly been a boon to restaurants," he said. But "they need to be carefully designed."

At the La Cumbre Mall there is a 20 percent vacancy and the large Sears building is on the market for a short term lease.

He said industrial property has been the most resilient.

CEO of Visit Santa Barbara, Kathy Janega-Dykes said there were many pandemic pivots. The travel industry was facing many devastating months.

With tourism slowing down to barely a fraction of its past, the "absence was felt far and wide," said Janega-Dykes.

The hotel industry along with those in restaurants, museums and visitor serving industries had crippling losses.

Janega-Dykes said, they have to be "focused and nimble." Digital media campaigns were launched to put out positive message.

Now that the travelers are coming back, she says it has helped to have travelers who are close by, such as the Los Angeles area visitors.

"We have many reasons to enter the summer season with optimism," said Janega-Dykes. "We have been able to bring the weekend business up to very healthy levels, but need to work on mid-week."

She encouraged the public to invite their family and friends to the area.

They are also marketing the area as a wedding destination.

A large paid media campaign for out of state visitors will also be launched.

Recently one of the long awaited highlights in local travel included the arrival of Southwest Airlines to the Santa Barbara Airport. This week Alaska also launched expanded service with a new flight to San Diego.

Cottage Hospital CEO Ron Werft said the hospital staff and the community responded quickly when the COVID-19 crisis hit. He said there were quick decisions to get personal protective gear when there was a nationwide shortage, along with innovative local ways to get face shields.

The surge capacity response included preparing for off site patient care.

He said the health system and workers have been "really strained" by the pandemic. "The condition of our community is improving now," said Werft. "But he virus is still here and still mutating."

He says a lot of work is ongoing to increase vaccine rate among Latinos and the underserved communities.

The Cottage Hospital campus has also been going through a massive restoration project and the Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital will soon be moving out to the Goleta hospital site.

Santa Barbara School Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said throughout the pandemic year and now, beyond, the district is working on bringing up all students to their top learning potential. They are taking steps to have a full year ahead of in-class teaching. Summer school classes began June 14.

For more information go to: South Coast Chamber of Commerce