Tag archives: Das Williams
In the four months between December 2017 and March 2018, Montecito was evacuated five times; 23 people lost their lives; 170 homes were destroyed and more than 350 others were severely damaged. We are currently a community under siege, trapped between a strong desire to rebuild and the uncomfortable realization that we are about to […]
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. […]
At last week’s Montecito Planning Commission hearing, the commissioners were briefed on the rebuilding efforts in Montecito by director of recovery Matt Pontes, First District chief of staff Darcel Elliott, and County planning staff. The County has been working the last few weeks to assign property owners to case managers and launched a new interactive […]
Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management held both a press conference and a community meeting on February 8, to unveil a new interactive map and revised evacuation plans for future storms, nearly one month after 21 people were killed – two others remain missing – in the mud flow event of January 9. “This […]
Last week, thousands of displaced Montecito residents were allowed to go back to their homes, after being mandatorily evacuated for more than two weeks following the mudflow event on January 9. The majority of Montecito residents and business owners are slowly getting back to their day-to-day routine, as others have spent the last week removing […]
At this week’s SB Board of Supervisors hearing on Tuesday, December 5, First District supervisor Das Williams reappointed Montecito Planning commissioners (MPC) J’Amy Brown and Susan Keller to the MPC, each for another two-year term. The reappointment marks Brown’s eighth year on the commission and Keller’s third. More changes are in store for MPC in […]
At this month’s Montecito Planning Commission (MPC) hearing, former commissioner Jack Overall was recognized for his decade of service on the commission; he stepped away from his post earlier this year and was named Montecito Association’s Citizen of the Year earlier this month. “Jack has given great service to the community of Montecito and the […]
What is needed to make Montecito better?Last week my wife and I had lunch with our Congressman and former 1st District Supervisor, Salud Carbajal. Although we are on different sides of the political spectrum, Salud gets my vote and my financial support because of his sincere commitment to the Montecito community, his dedication to constituent […]
