Group wants to split Santa Barbara County

[question everything]

By The Associated Press

If voters approve a county split and creation of a new Mission County in 2006, the Mission County seat should be Santa Maria, officials studying the split said.

The Mission County Formation Commission, which is examining the fiscal viability of a new county, suggested during its meeting Monday that voters consider putting the county seat in the northern community of approximately 100,000 residents.

Voters will decide in March 2006 whether the state’s first new county in almost a century is a good idea. If they agree, voters will cast ballots the following November for a board of supervisors and other elected officials.

More..

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/regstate/nmwebsbcounty.html

[evworldeditor]

1. Makes Sense to Me...

Looking at it from a geographic perspective, there's a mountain range and river between the coastal part of Santa Barbara county and the areas north towards Santa Maria. I like the name, Mission County. Seems apt, but I am sure there are arguments on the other side of the issue.

[autorank]

2. A third county would do in this area

I graduated from UC Santa Barbara in the early '70's. It makes sense to have Santa Maria and Santa Barbara in separate counties; salt-of-the-earth versus the mega elite effete. They should carve out a third county - Isla Vista - where UCSB stands. It would be solid Democrat and join Santa Cruz as a nuclear free zone.