SBCAG WANTS YOUR 'INPUT' (AKA ANOTHER TAX DOLLAR FUNDED FOCUS GROUP FOR FEWER CARS)

Hold the presses! Or, more accurately, hold your horses because the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) is once again 'seeking public input.' The Lompoc Record dutifully reported this week that our esteemed regional planners, fresh from last week's 'strategic visioning retreat' (paid for by you, naturally), want to know how you, the public, prefer to be informed about how they're going to fundamentally alter your life. We suspect the preferred method for many is 'not at all, just leave my roads alone.'

This latest charade is less about 'participation' and more about checking a bureaucratic box before they roll out the next round of 'sustainable transportation initiatives' – which, translated from bureaucrat-speak, means more bike lanes that go nowhere, fewer parking spots, and increasingly congested roadways for anyone daring to drive a personal vehicle. Remember when they 'inputted' all those taxpayer dollars into studies telling us exactly what we already knew? It seems the only thing SBCAG consistently improves is the efficiency of emptying the public purse for consultants who recommend fewer cars for the people actually paying for everything.

The real story here isn't what they're asking, it's why they're asking *now*. We're betting this is a thinly veiled attempt to justify the next grant application for another multi-million-dollar 'equitable access' project that will mysteriously benefit a well-connected developer's land parcel while making life harder for the average working family. Don't be fooled by the 'community participation' buzzwords; the only 'input' they truly value is the one that pads their budgets and pushes their preferred agenda, regardless of what actual residents might prefer. They're not asking for your opinion; they're asking how you'd like to be told what they're doing to you.