Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow worked well as a title for a 1990s greatest hits album by Santa Barbara’s still thriving singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, and no reason why it shouldn’t serve superbly as a way to celebrate the Granada Theater’s big anniversary over a single weekend April 12-14. Looking back at the iconic venue’s history, pausing to […]
The members of the Music Academy’s SING! children’s choir were part of the two triumphant performances of La bohème at the Granada Theatre last weekend. This Sunday afternoon, they’ll be back downtown as the stars of the show at the Lobero Theatre, once again joining forces with the Young People’s Chorus (YPC) of New York […]
John Daly was in his mid-60s and had already enjoyed a highly successful career as an international event producer who advised his Fortune 100 corporate clients on proper protocols at the Olympics and World Cup and other such events around the world. But his awareness that the overwhelming need for more civility and social skills […]
In the wake of the Montecito Mudslide, most property owners first turned to their insurance companies for funds, and most of the insurers have responded well. A few have not, and some others are still trying to figure out how to handle the claims. In some cases, insurance adjusters from other states have landed in […]
“It was an act of God,” is a phrase I hear from time to time. Not from preachers but from landowners, and sometimes their insurance adjusters, trying to avoid liability for injury caused by a natural condition on their land to neighbors. The question arises: Does a landowner have the duty to remedy a natural […]
Our home in Glen Oaks wasn’t destroyed in the January Montecito mudslides, but others within a cat’s prowl lost theirs. This article about measuring “just compensation” in an inverse condemnation case is for my less lucky neighbors and friends. This involves real estate appraisal, which, like poker, is not very interesting unless played for money. […]
The awesome mountains above us still precariously harbor massive boulders, reminding us daily of our lost friends, neighbors, and family. Some of the 12-foot high boulders that traveled all the way down the mountain, past East Valley Road, sit like monuments to the enduring power of nature. What does the law have to say about […]
On March 22 at 5:19 a.m., Santa Barbara County officials issued emergency phone alerts and calls to evacuate Montecito residents. “Flash flood watch in effect for SB County. Leave now if you are still in evac/burn areas.” The County sent the alert as soon as rains started pummeling Southern California. They used a federal emergency […]
A few days before the mudslide, my neighbor Curtis Skene moved his 104-year old mother out of their home on East Valley Lane. Around 4 am on the day of the mudslide, he heard crashing sounds, looked out the bedroom window, and saw giant boulders fly by. He hopped out of bed and ran outside. […]
Remember Frank Galvin from Sidney Lumet’s 1982 film, The Verdict? Paul Newman played Galvin, an ambulance-chasing attorney who reads the obituaries to get clients. When we first meet Galvin in the movie, he is bribing funeral directors to let him pass his business cards to the bereaved. Galvin’s ghosts have been trolling for business in […]
When I returned to Glen Oaks after the evacuation, I was still stunned by the physical and emotional devastation as neighbors mourn the loss of friends, relatives, their homes, and nature itself. Even as we begin to pick up the pieces, the weather forecast promised rain which turned out to be sprinkles not a storm. […]
In last week’s issue of The Montecito Journal, I explained that if the facts show a fire, covered by a typical homeowners’ insurance policy, was the “efficient proximate cause” of a later mudslide, then mudslide damage could be covered under a homeowners’ insurance policy. On January 29, California insurance commissioner Dave Jones adopted the same […]
Chris Wilkinson and his son, Kai, filled their truck with emergency supplies and radio equipment. They are members of the Montecito Emergency Response and Recovery Action Group known as MERRAG. It was January 8. KEYT had warned of heavy rainfall. As a third-generation Montecitoan who has lived in the same Glen Oaks home since 1963, […]
I live on Glen Oaks Drive, 200 yards from San Ysidro Creek. On January 9, a torrent of mud and giant boulders tore through my neighborhood and destroyed dozens of homes. Tragically, three of my immediate neighbors lost their lives, and after staying through the week my family and I followed the mandatory evacuation order. […]