In no uncertain terms, farmers selling their wares at the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers’ Market delivered their message to the City Council. In equally no uncertain terms, members of the council got it: De la Guerra Plaza should not be considered an acceptable alternative site should the farmers’ market be forced to relocate from its current digs at the Cota Street parking lot so that a new police station can be built there.
Individual farmers, representatives from the S.B. Certified Farmers’ Market Board of Directors, and market executive director Sam Edelman showed up en masse, arguing that De la Guerra Plaza is barely big enough to accommodate the market’s existing number of vendors, let alone new ones, and that there isn’t enough nearby parking. A newly reimagined and revitalized De la Guerra Plaza might be good for the City of Santa Barbara, the council heard, but the menu of broader uses designed to promote greater civic engagement — tables, chairs, a music stage, trees, landscaping, and ongoing programming — might not be compatible with the needs of the market. What would happen, one speaker asked, during Fiesta if the farmers’ market were moved to the city’s most historic plaza? How could the market coexist with El Mercado?
Although the council voted to approve $200,000 for preliminary design, planning, and outreach for a major makeover to the plaza, councilmembers Eric Friedman and Kristen Sneddon made it clear they thought the council needed to take a much harder look at where the new police station will go. Friedman suggested Earl Warren Showgrounds — now struggling with crumbling infrastructure — might make a better receptor site. The old armory property was mentioned as well. In previous vetting exercises, city planners examined those sites and found them wanting.
