Santa Barbara

A remote fishing village of 140,000, with an exclusive, nouveau-riche mentality reeking of entitlement. It is a simultaneously right & left wing post Judeo-Christian enclave where parades range from Historic to the Absurd. It was a center of Chumash Indian Culture. Ronald Reagan later gleefully told his wife, 'Those oil rigs out there look just like Christmas Trees to me, Nancy!' Most of the real-estate purchased just a few decades ago for mere tens of thousands now sell for over a million dollars. After the housing bubble hit the beach, people held on due to its prime location on a Pacific Coast & resultant climate, in spite of the cost of property taxes & rents. It is also home to about five major colleges, students & staff. Its major import is Tourism. The dichotomy: Severely handicapped, mentally ill, parolees & homeless visit & often remain there because of the weather & the fact they sometimes get disability checks; medication or have doctor's appointments in the area & therefore also call it 'home'. Like other cities across the country there is a mission (not the pretty one on the hill) & a few help outreaches but almost no affordable housing. The Section-8 Housing list, although not perpetually closed like other major nearby cities such as LA & San Francisco; is reputedly seven-thousand miles long, (each year representing a thousand miles to be walked) with most applicants dying before they reach the top.