Political Impacts
While
their results have been mixed in this effort, the EOC's positions
have been critical to the outcome of the several important community
issues on which they have chosen to take a stand.
For example:
ˇ 10 out of 13 of the speakers at the Board of Supervisors hearing
to block the establishment of a camp-site designation, which
would have saved Tipi Village in 1979, were members of the church
(UCSB Nexus, 10/18/79, page 1). The camp-site re-zoing was rejected
by the County Supervity Supervisors (see Chapter 6).
ˇ Most of the speakers against I.V. having an election on becoming
an independent "city" during the 1985 LAFCO hearings
were EOC members, although they didn't identify themselves as
such.
ˇ Many of the speakers in 1987 who spoke during the public hearing
in favor of the County establishing a ban on open containers
of alcohol were members of the EOC, although they again did
not identify themselves as such. Most of their comments related
the horrors of the 1987 Halloween event that had drawn some
25-30,000 people--a total surprise to everyone. They asked the
Supes to "give us permanent residents protection from the
transient students."
The
sight of so many middle-class families at public hearings impresses
policy-makers beyond Isla Vista. These are people that the policy-makers
can identify with, not the transient students. This has always
been a major problem with getting community-supported policies
implemented in a town that is 96% renters.
The church has also greatly increased its stature with the UCSB
administration. Recently, when UCSB set up a hiring committee
to interview for a new liaison position in Isla Vista, the person
representing the "community" was one of the deacons in the church,
according to Mike Stowers, the then-A.S. President, who also
served on the committee. In what might be a related matter,
the University is seeking an agreement with the church for parking
spaces on church property to supply the new office the University
is opening in the Isla Vista Open Door Medical Clinic building
adjacent to the church's property.
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