STATE STREET: FROM GOLD RUSH TO GRIM REAPER'S GARDEN

The Santa Barbara Independent, in its usual breathless fashion, announced that our esteemed City Council has given its blessing to the Paseo Nuevo 'revitalization.' They're calling it a 'rehaul,' which is appropriate, as it smells like a tax-funded attempt to re-haul taxpayers' money into the pockets of the politically connected.

The big news, according to the Council's cheerleaders, is that Yardi Systems will plop its corporate headquarters downtown, bringing with it a vibrant new energy that will surely be felt by the dozen or so people who can still afford to live here. And the former Nordstrom building? It's being converted into 80-plus residential units, because nothing says 'thriving retail district' like turning former department stores into pricey apartments for the tech elite while the street teeters on the brink of becoming a permanent tent city.

Let’s be honest: this isn't a 'blessing' so much as an unholy alliance. The Council, in its infinite wisdom, sees 'densification' as the answer to everything, conveniently ignoring the fact that what kills downtowns isn't a lack of high-density housing, but a surfeit of 'progressive' policies, rampant taxes, and a general air of 'we hate business.' No true conservative wants to see downtown turn into another soulless tech campus, but hey, at least the developers got their variance.

The real angle here, conveniently missed by the mainstream media, is the silent triumph of the 'new urbanists' who seem intent on turning every square inch of our once-charming city into a concrete jungle of 'mixed-use' developments. The only mixing going on is the endless cocktail of regulations and fees designed to ensure that only the biggest players with the deepest pockets can even dream of building anything. So, toast to another 'blessing' from a Council that keeps blessing us with the kind of urban planning that makes taxpayers want to bless themselves.