Here are 4 easy steps to make your voice heard:

1. Click “Sign Petition” below and join the campaign:

2. Click below to send an email to the Santa Barbara City Council:

3. Click below to email to all of your friends and family telling them to visit our web site and make their voices heard too!

4. You can also join our Facebook page and follow the happenings through Twitter.

In the end, it is up to you, the Target shopper: make your voice heard!

You can help bring Target to Santa Barbara:

In September 2003, December 2006 and again in May 2009, Target Corporation submitted offers in May 2009 to lease a 15 acre property owned by the City of Santa Barbara located at 6100 Hollister Avenue, Santa Barbara, CA. (Map link)

Located on the north side of Hollister Avenue, across from the Elephant Bar, this property has laid fallow for over 14 years while the City of Santa Barbara has sought to develop office and R&D buildings. Despite their good intentions, the site remains a blight to our community. And the City of Santa Barbara continues to refuse to consider Target’s offers to lease the property.

This is the only viable site available on the South Coast not zoned for housing or agricultural use. And neither Sears nor Kmart plan to close their stores anytime in the near or distant future.

Target has offered to pay reasonable ground rent for the property; rent that will support SB Airport services. In addition, a Target center will generate sales taxes that can be shared by the City of Santa Barbara and the City of Goleta through a sales tax revenue sharing agreement. Each City will receive millions of dollars in sales tax revenue during the lease term that can be used to offset budget deficits, fund general services and provide community wide improvements benefitting the entire South Coast community. Moreover, a local Target store will keep our sales tax dollars in our community, support local businesses by reducing sale leakage and save you time and money driving to Ventura or Santa Maria.

We need to tell the Santa Barbara City Council that they should consider Target’s offer and allow Target to submit an application for community review. And like any conscientious property owner, the City of Santa Barbara should consult with its neighbor, the City of Goleta, to assure that any impacts affecting the City of Goleta are fully mitigated and that both cities benefit from having a Target anchored retail center at 6100 Hollister Avenue.

In the end, it is up to you . . . the voters and taxpayers: If the citizens of Santa Barbara and Goleta want a local Target store, YOU need to make your voice heard . . . . .

Target is committed to profitable growth, but they’re also committed to the social, environmental and economic health of the communities that their guests, team members and shareholders call home. Their 2008 Corporate Responsibility Report can be found below:

http://sites.target.com/images/corporate/about/responsibility_report/2008/full_report.pdf?ref=sr_shorturl_responsibilityreport2008

Target

This web site is sponsored by Target supporters like you; Target Corporation is not affiliated with, or a sponsor of, this web site or the content contained herein.