Clarification About MarBorg’s New Contract With Santa Barbara

••• My husband’s aunt was in town, and she has a thing for apes, so we went to the Gibbon Conservation Center in Santa Clarita. The acrobatic gibbons are a delight to watch, and the organization is clearly admirable. The experience is also sad, however, because the animals are endangered and, due to their territorial nature, they can’t all be in one large enclosure. I’m not sure what the endgame is—a Noah’s Ark–style spaceship taking every species to Mars?—but I suppose it’s better than letting them die out.

••• Which segues nicely to this: Tonight and tomorrow afternoon, Ensemble Theatre Company is livestreaming its final performances of The Children, a play by Lucy Kirkwood starring Michael Butler, Linda Purl, and Nancy Travis: “Set at a remote cottage on the coast of Britain after a tsunami wreaks havoc on a nuclear reactor, a married couple’s lives are further disrupted by the mysterious appearance of a long-lost colleague, who confronts them with a stunning moral dilemma: what does the older generation owe to those who are young?” Tickets are $49, and “starting one hour after the performance concludes, you can watch it on demand for the following 20 hours.”

••• Clare Swan announced that she’s taking over Carpinteria Cotton Co.:

After nearly two decades, Janet Boyle of Carpinteria Cotton Co. on Wullbrandt Way is retiring. On May 1, Clare Swan will take the reign as the new owner. Swan is no stranger to retail as she has flourished in Montecito’s Upper Village for over 25 years. Operating first as a luggage and travel store, Swan’s expansion into classic and essential clothing has allowed for a unique niche.

At the Cotton Co., Swan will continue with the boutique favorites like Avalin sweaters, Alashan cashmere, Kleen, Flax, and Cut Loose. But stay tuned as she puts her own spin on merchandising and brings in updated offerings.

Swan has been a Carpinteria resident for over 20 years and her daughter will start the local high school in the fall. As for Montecito, Swan’s cousin Molly, will continue to manage that location and Clare will split her time between the two boutiques.

••• I overheard someone in line at Oat Bakery mention that she had used HotelTonight to get a great weeknight rate at the Skyview in Los Alamos. I hadn’t realize that the app—which has last-minute deals on hotels—had expanded into the Santa Ynez Valley, but sure enough, when I checked on Wednesday, the Skyview ($127) was sold out, but there were rooms at the Genevieve ($287), the Landsby ($202), and the Ynez ($189). Even with the dreaded “resort fee,” those are good deals; for an upcoming Wednesday, the Skyview starts at $209 to $399, depending on the room type.

••• This sign in the window of Anacapa Body Shop got me curious, so I called, and they said that it dates from many decades ago, when stables were at that site. You can read more about Rancheros Vistadores—”a men’s club centered around horseback riding [to] salute the ranching lifestyle”—here.

••• Last week, I linked to the Independent‘s article about the city of Santa Barbara’s new contract with MarBorg Industries, which stated that non-curbside service would be $90 per month, as it is now in unincorporated parts of the county. But the city says that the $90 part was wrong. Here’s the explanation:

It is correct that the City will be adopting a curbside collection service using wheeled carts. Official rollout and outreach for this program will begin in July of 2024, although residents will probably not see a change out of containers until closer to January 1, 2025, with a restructuring of the customer rates expected to take place July 1, 2025, once the container transition is fully completed. Before any transition, there will be plenty of information sent to residents to prepare them for the program change, fees, and qualified exemptions (individuals with a disability or age of 80 years or older).

Solid Waste rates are approved annually by City Council and the “In-Place” service fee will be presented for approval by City Council during the budget process that will take place this time next year. All rate payers are notified annually of proposed rate changes via a Prop 218 Notice. The current monthly fee for residential accounts serving 1-4 dwelling units for In-Place Service of wheeled carts is $40.92, which is proposed to change to $41.21 for the period from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. We expect that the cost will remain similar for the period from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. If you are currently receiving in-place service of non-wheeled cans at no additional cost, there will not be a change for in-place service added this year.

Beginning July 1, 2025, contract requires that the City not set in-place charges to less than MarBorg’s cost of providing that service, so that there is not a specific situation where MarBorg is providing service at a loss. We do not yet have the in-place/on-premise charge for July 1, 2025 until a cost analysis is done but we expect the fee to be close to what it is now.

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