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1983-84 Cityhood Campaign
Over 3,000 people voted in the November 1982 Isla Vista Community Council (IVCC) election and plebiscite on local government options, a much larger turnout than anyone familiar with Isla Vista at that time thought possible. More surprisingly, a slate of candidates supporting a combined city with Goleta was defeated by candidates supporting an independent City of Isla Vista.
Then-IVCC Executive Director John Buttny and County Supervisor Bill Wallace were the leaders of the strong campaign for the slate supporting a combined city with Goleta. Buttny resigned shortly after the election, taking a similar position with the Rochdale Housing Co-op. He later became WallaceÍs top aide.
Several people who would go on to become important leaders in Isla Vista were elected to the IVCC in that momentous election. Glenn Lazof and Marc Borgman were the leaders of the pro-Isla Vista Cityhood campaign. Lazof went on to become the general manager of the Isla Vista Recreation & Park District, while Borgman relocated to Santa Rosa, Calif. Mike Boyd, currently on the Isla Vista Park Board, was also elected to the IVCC in 1983. He later ran unsuccessfully against Wallace for county Supervisor in 1988. Mitch Stockton and Diane Conn, who would later win seats on the Park Board, also were on the winning slate in the 1983 IVCC election.
The 1983-84 IVCC prepared a new incorporation proposal to submit to the Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), the county unit in charge of deciding whether cityhood could be placed on an official ballot. The proposal was accompanied by a petition containing the signatures of 25% of Isla VistaÍs registered voters, although only a 5%-petition was required.
LAFCO demanded an Environmental Impact Report on the proposal as a way to study the finances of the proposed city. County Supervisors required that IVCC pay $3,400 of the $13,400 cost of the EIR. The money was collected in a series of fundraisers and solicitations.
The results of the EIR indicated that, with an $18-per-year per-resident tax increase, a City of Isla Vista could roughly triple the current level of municipal-type services supplied by the County, and still have over $10 million in the bank at the end of its first decade.
The UCSB Administration again opposed the plan, announcing their opposition several months before they put up $26,000 for a San Francisco consultant to do a hatchet job on the proposal. The UC Regents supported the local administration, except for the Student Regent who followed the UCSB Associated StudentsÍ endorsement of an independent City of Isla Vista.
LAFCO turned down the proposal 4-1, with Wallace the only positive vote. However, he mounted no series effort to gain the support of other LAFCO members, at least two of who were his allies on countywide environmental issues.
-CL
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