RANDY ROWSE (STILL) BEGS CITY HALL: PLEASE DO THE JOB YOU'RE PAID FOR!

In a display of civic duty so quaint it almost seems satirical, former Mayor Randy Rowse has penned another plea, this time through the digital pages of Noozhawk, imploring local residents to pay attention to elections. His profound insight? Local elections matter, especially when City Hall is too busy navel-gazing and grandstanding to notice the growing number of unhoused encampments or the potholes large enough to swallow a Prius whole. It's a testament to the current state of affairs when simply asking elected officials to focus on basic municipal services is considered a radical act of political commentary.

Indeed, while our progressive overlords at City Hall are busy drafting manifestos on climate reparations for earthworms or debating the proper pronoun for a traffic cone, the actual nuts and bolts of urban management seem to have vanished into the ether. Mr. Rowse's piece is a gentle, almost wistful, reminder that before we transform Santa Barbara into a utopia of electric scooters and artisanal kombucha, someone actually has to pick up the trash and ensure the water flows. Who knew?

Perhaps the real 'unheard' and 'dismissed' are the taxpayers who just want a functioning city, not a sociology experiment. But alas, common sense is a commodity as rare as a balanced budget these days. It seems our local leaders are so engrossed in their lofty, often expensive, ideological crusades that the mundane act of governance is left to the wayside. Maybe if they framed 'fixing a broken sewer line' as an act of 'environmental justice,' they'd finally get around to it. The Whipping Post Take: The basics *do* matter, and frankly, we're tired of explaining it to people who claim to be governing.