WHAT’S IN A NAME: Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to be “czar?” It’s a title so powerful that it doesn’t need — nor would it tolerate — an “a” in front of it. One simply is czar, which decidedly is not to be confused with its syphilitic kissing cousin “tsar,” a title that reeks of aristocratic inbreeding and mothballs. The issue came to a head this Tuesday when City Councilmember Eric Friedman asked Kimberlee Albers whether what is really needed is a “homeless czar?”
At the time, they were then discussing an impenetrably dense report — 104 pages long — that Albers was presenting on the county’s latest plan to address homelessness. Albers, being the county’s de facto homeless czar — though without the furs and scepter — all too predictably answered no. Santa Barbara, she said, already has a stakeholder group that has 27 members guiding the 180 groups dealing with homelessness one way or the other.
Also, another such commission is made up of elected officials from each of the eight cities and the County of Santa Barbara. This Tuesday, for example, the council voted to appoint Mayor Cathy Murillo and Councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez to serve on it.