With two years left on his Santa Maria City Council term, Carlos Escobedo resigned from his role as the 1st District’s representative in early March. Eleven minutes into the council’s March 3 meeting, Escobedo announced his decision from the dais during the public comment period. “Due to my upcoming move outside District 1, I will […]
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Santa Maria agendizes hearing to discuss forming immigration ad hoc committee
For local high school student Lorena Martinez, real-time events have shown that the Santa Maria City Council’s pace in deciding whether to form an immigration ad hoc committee is too slow. “Real families are being torn apart. Children are living with fear and uncertainty. Parents are afraid to go to work. This is happening here […]
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Santa Maria’s immigrant resolution stirs backlash from elected officials, advocacy groups
Of all the tangents Santa Maria leaders veered into while discussing a resolution to support immigrants, nostalgia for the 1950s was one of the most disheartening, an Oxnard official stated. “People need to really think more critically about romanticizing that era,” Oxnard City Council Member Gabe Teran said in a Facebook thread. Teran was referring […]
Posted inOpinion
Santa Maria’s resolution in support of immigrant residents lacks backbone
There’s a common idiom heard among the halls of newspaper offices and other media outlets: “old news is no news.” There was certainly some of that at the Santa Maria City Council meeting on Feb. 3. The meeting was dominated by extensive public comment and discussion among City Council members on how to acknowledge Santa […]
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Santa Maria to formalize ‘a clear message that we do stand with immigrants’
With one hand holding onto a cardboard cutout of a silhouetted body, Jeanne Sparks told the Santa Maria City Council she doesn’t want to see local officials stand idly by while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations escalate. “We can’t let them do to our community what they have done elsewhere,” Sparks said at the […]