Meet Your Government
The Isla Vista Community Services District is the local government to serve the Isla Vista community. Welcome!
Our Story
The Isla Vista Community Services District is the most unique local government in California.
After extensive community input, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 3 in 2015, which empowered Isla Vista to directly vote to create a CSD. Isla Vista overwhelmingly passed Measure E in 2016, founding the IVCSD and granting it a broad mandate to serve the needs of its over 15,000 residents. Two years later, the community approved Measure R with over 82% of the vote, establishing a utility-user tax to empower the IVCSD with its own source of revenue - now raising funds for local services. Since then, the IVCSD expanded services, hired staff, and continued to work with local institutions to serve the community.
Our Vision, Mission & Values
Vision: A Voice for Isla Vista, By Isla Vista, Building the Community We Deserve.
Mission: The Isla Vista Community Services District aims to improve the resources available to the community, ensure a high quality of life and level of public safety, and provide a local voice to the people of Isla Vista. The District will work to prioritize community engagement as it delivers localized public services and maximizes the resources available to the community.
Values:
- Community engagement and transparent decision making
- Efficient and innovative use of public tax dollars
- Pursuit of ambitious change for our community
- Social justice centered while putting people first
- Constituent service and education
- Safety, wellbeing, and enjoyment for all in Isla Vista
- Celebrating diverse perspectives and ideas
FAQs
The Isla Vista Community Services District is your local government here in Isla Vista. The CSD is here to provide governance, support, and resources to residents of Isla Vista. We are made up of a Board of Directors (5 members elected by community, 1 member appointed by UC Santa Barbara, and 1 member appointed by the county of Santa Barbara)
We serve all residents of Isla Vista. That includes families, students, long-term residents, etc from the 65 block that touches the University all the way to where the 68 block meets Sands beach. This is a map of our service area!
Our mission is to offer our community as many services and resources that we can. We are currently working on improving public safety, expanding lighting, offering community programs, and continuing to work with community members to keep IV the beautiful community that it is. We hold Board meetings on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 6pm to discuss future improvements to the community. For more information and current projects, please contact us directly.
If you are a resident of Isla Vista, part of your monthly utility bill goes towards funding the CSD. Those funds are then directed towards the services provided by the CSD, and funding the everyday functions of the CSD. For a more detailed breakdown, visit the District Finance page.
Please visit the How We Got Here page to learn more about how the IVCSD was founded. A more thorough history can be found in Carmen Lodise’s “Isla Vista: A Citizen’s History.”
The Isla Vista Tree was a landmark in Isla Vista as a symbol of self-governance. During IV’s first attempts at creating its own local government, the tree was used as the symbol of their campaign. While the tree fell in 1983, it continues to be the symbol of IV and its history of community-based action. With the IVCSD being the first local governing body in Isla Vista, it seemed fitting to utilize the symbol of self-governance for IV’s first local government.
