••• “The final push is underway to renovate an iconic site in Santa Barbara’s waterfront, and community support can put the project over the top. The last effort is for about $50,000 to help bring back the Plaza del Mar band shell where it sits in the Pershing Park area.” I still think Sonos should pony up, but surely some of the many successful musicians who call Santa Barbara home could also help. —KEYT
••• “Four Montecito property owners are taking legal action against Santa Barbara County over the government’s attempt to create up to 62 parking spaces for access to the Hot Springs Trail on East Mountain Drive. […] The county contends that private homeowners have deliberately blocked public access to the Hot Springs Trail by placing boulders, walls, landscaping, illegal ‘No Parking’ signs and other unpermitted private encroachments in the county road rights-of-way that otherwise would be available for parking.” The attorneys for the homeowners cite environmental concerns, but clearly that’s not the real issue here. —Noozhawk
••• “Santa Barbara Airport, Amtrak, MTD Buses End Mask Mandate After Federal Court Ruling […] The CDC and public health departments continue to highly recommend wearing masks in crowded, indoor settings.” —Noozhawk
••• I finally got my mitts on a copy of the Montecito Journal’s new spinoff magazine, The Riv (not online, and not to be confused with the “adult boutique” on upper State). I’ll admit I was envious when I saw Bruce Heavin on the cover, but the story is less of a grand reveal of the jaw-dropping house that he and Lynda Weinman are building on Pepper Hill—we’ll have to wait for that, or, if we’re really lucky, an invitation—than about how it came to be. More to my taste were the articles on a Winick Architects project on Shoreline Drive (with the regrettable title of “Sanctuary State”), Alex Rasmussen’s artistry with metal, and interior designer Timothy Corrigan’s repeated involvement with a fabulous 1933 Chester Carjola house in the Hedgerow.
••• “Carpinteria Skate Park Project Set to Open Early 2023 […] City Council Approves Construction of 30,000-Square-Foot Skate Park Near City Hall.” —Independent
••• “FAA Revokes License of Pilot Who Crashed Plane in Santa Barbara Backcountry […] Agency alleges Trevor Jacob bailed out of small aircraft ‘solely so you could record the footage of the crash.'” —Noozhawk
••• “Gary Fuller, the only Montecito Sanitary District boardmember who has publicly opposed a future merger with the Montecito Water District, resigned last Thursday, citing the board’s failure to address what he believed to be violations of the state Brown Act, the ‘sunshine’ law for transparency in local government, by the sanitary board’s president and vice president.” —Independent
••• From a press release on Edhat: “The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara will receive almost $19 million to acquire and rehabilitate the 60-unit Super 8 Motel in Old Town Goleta into permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness, chronic homelessness and homeless youth or youth at risk of homelessness. The project located at 6021 Hollister Avenue will provide on-site wrap-around supportive services and ample space for indoor and outdoor community services.”
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“environmental” my a**. Classism showing it’s ugly face, yet again.
AWKWARD THAT 20 million is being spent to buy a place to get people off of the street and provide them with room for outdoor activities, yet the outdoor activities built into nature are being prevented from people accessing them.
Maybe combo the Hobo Habitat for 60 with parking for 62 ( not many homeless have cars!)- and you get 60 ON SITE workers= keep the trails clean, keep the weeds down, on-site interpretive hosts!
Thats how the cookie crumbles I guess