IVCC Formed
Isla Vista was certainly a challenge for these erstwhile world-changers.
More than 11,000 people, over two-thirds of who were students
at UCSB, lived in barely one-half square mile, not including
the 1,300 who live at Francisco Torres residence halls (which
went vacant in the early 1970s as UCSB enrollment dropped by
one-third by 1973). More than 96% of these residents were renters,
33% of the town was paved-over, there were no social services,
and neither the County nor UCSB had any presence in I.V. Where
to begin was even a challenge.
First,
residents came together politically with the formation of the
Isla Vista Community Council (IVCC). At a time when County officials
were actively resisting attempts by students to register to
vote at their campus address, more than 4,000 residents voted
in the first IVCC elections held May 5, 1970. Only 3,400 residents
were officially registered to vote at the time, when the law
still required people to be 21 to vote.
However, IVCC rules allowed any resident over 16 to vote for
council members. IVCC elections were carried out by 70-80 volunteers,
who were later permitted to set up tables outside of County
polling places during official elections. IVCC ballots were
handed out to voters as they entered the County polling place,
then returned to the IVCC tables out front. Ballots were counted
that evening, usually over beer and pizza.
The Council saw its mission to be the establishment of a consensus
on important issues facing the community through public hearings
and referendums, then to lobby for adoption of these policies
by the empowered governmental-bodies, that is, the UCSB administration
and County government.
Secondly, while both the County and UCSB officials were vitriolic
in their condemnation of the actions of individual demonstrators,
the several studies done on the causes of the riots so unanimously
criticized the roles played by both of these governmental agencies,
that each began to respond quite positively to suggestions on
how to ameliorate living conditions in Isla Vista. The County
even placed a moratorium on more building in Isla Vista--although
this wasn't much of a concession because UCSB enrollment dropped
over 20 percent by the fall of 1970 as parents kept their children
away from this politically unstable area.
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