It is not fair to the taxpayers of Santa Maria for our City Council and Planning Commission to give the developer of the recently approved housing on the site of the old Fallas property in Town Center West $1.25 million in incentives, when he will make millions on this project without taking money out of the voters’ pockets.
Carlos Escobedo was right in voting against the mayor’s scheme. Perhaps he knows that Alice Patino, Etta Waterfield, and Mike Cordero have a history of waiving developer fees, requirements for parking spots, and more. Unbridled development, at the people’s cost, is the wrong direction for Santa Maria to take. The traffic impacts the whole Central Coast from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara.
Our quality of life suffers in the heavy traffic, the lack of parking, and the strain it puts on our water supply. When will we elect a council that will slow down this growth and deal with the problems it has already created. Please ask Santa Maria’s leaders, “Where will all the water come from?”
Gale McNeeley
Santa Maria
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2022.