CETA and CDBG Funding
In the middle 1970s, federal job-training (CETA) and community
development (CDBG) funding became available through the County.
At one point, more than 50 people had CETA positions working
in I.V.'s new agencies, getting important, hands-on employment
experience in these democratically run organizations while
helping to build the community.
Even the County got involved when they hired two I.V. residents
as CETA workers to be I.V.'s dogcatchers in an attempt to
curtail the packs of dogs that had become a danger to children.
These animal control trainees were permitted to use special
enforcement rules developed by the IVCC. Dogs had to be within
voice control of their owners, not leashed as required elsewhere
in the county. Three citations for wandering without such
voice control meant the dog had to be removed from the town.
In less than a year, the two CETA-dogcatchers had the situation
under control--proving that, at least in some areas, Isla
Vistans could do a better job running I.V. than the County.
It was both the initiation of these community institutions
and the support they received from local residents that created
the basis of the "community" of Isla Vista. In just
a few years, a whole collection of new institutions were established
that attempted to relate to residents' basic needs and to
represent their opinions and aspirations to outside authorities.
Isla Vistans were no longer powerless, and the town hasn't
been the same since.
UCSB Enrollment Increases
The scramble for living space in I.V. became intense between
1973 and 1979 when UCSB expanded its enrollment from 11,000
to 16,000, while the total number of dwelling units remained
approximately the same--due to a moratorium on new construction
enacted by Isla Vista and Goleta voters in 1972 because the
area had run out of water. A special census conducted by the
County in 1975 could only find five vacant apartments in Isla
Vista, out of a total of more than 4,400 household units.
Vacancy signs became an endangered species as rents increased
in double-digit percentage points each year from 1974 through
1980.
A study done by the UCSB Daily NEXUS in 1978, the year following
the implementation of Proposition 13 which limited property
tax rates, found that total property taxes paid went down
$2 million in I.V. that year, while total rents paid went
up $2 million -- netting the absentee landlords a nifty $4
million.
UCSB enrollment had plummeted after the 1970 disturbances,
driving down rents considerably. During the early 1970s, many
families and non-students moved into Isla Vista and the percentage
of college students dropped from over 75% if the town to roughly
44%, much as the 1970 Trow Report had recommended. But by
1989, UCSB's enrollment level exceeded 19,000, far in excess
of the 15,000-limit recommended in the Trow Report. The percentage
of college students again hovered around 75%.
