Tag archives: Debris flow
With more, albeit mild, rain on the way, the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District continues to clear our local debris basins following several strong storms earlier this month. This week County crews began utilizing Goleta Beach to dump beach compatible rocks and sediment, following the beach disposal at Carpinteria Beach at Ash Avenue that […]
A Non-Scientific View Last week, Montecito Journal’s front-page photo of the Romero debris catch basin filled with tons of rocks, coupled with your words stating Montecito had fared the last major storm “very well,” left me wondering why you are still writing about the installation of several steel nets. If what we have in our […]
A succession of winter storms has dropped four to six inches of intense rainfall on Montecito, and so far, cleaned-out debris basins, combined with wider creek channels, have saved the day. Now is an ideal time to pause and reflect on how you as an individual can help to make the Montecito community a safer […]
Last Friday, February 1, nearly 1,500 residents were evacuated in anticipation of a predicted storm that was forecasted to exceed debris flow rain threshold rates in the foothills above Montecito. The storm, which produced the most rain in the early morning hours of Saturday, did indeed hit threshold levels estimated at 1 inch per hour, […]
Over the course of the past week, the Santa Barbara area received anywhere from four to eight inches of rain, possibly even a little more at what local weather people like to call “the higher elevations.” Montecito was blessed with a good amount of precipitation too (Jameson Lake is now filled and spilling over Juncal […]
Last weekend, Santa Barbara marked the 50th anniversary of the famous oil spill that befouled local beaches and, through inspiring Earth Day and the creation the EPA, basically birthed the environmental movement. Earlier in the month, Montecito marked the one-year anniversary of the devastating debris flows that killed 23 people and caused millions in damages. […]
On Tuesday, January 22, over 100 Montecito residents gathered at Montecito Union School to hear from the Partnership for Resilient Communities, the group of private citizens who have set out to move forward with installing environmentally-friendly Swiss-made steel nets, which catch debris as it comes down the hillsides. “When the events of last year happened, […]
If you do nothing else this week, pull out your pen and write a check to the Partnership for Resilient Communities, or go to the website (partnershipsb.org) to make a tax-deductible donation through the Santa Barbara Foundation. Contributions can be as low as $10 or as high as $250,000. The future of Montecito may depend […]
Screenwriter/Builder/Designer Les Firestein and former city fire chief Pat McElroy, founders of Partnership for Resilient Communities in Santa Barbara County, established after the Thomas Fire and the catastrophic mudslides a year ago, got priceless publicity, not to mention a $20,000 check, when they appeared on Montecito TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres‘s eponymous Los Angeles […]
After over two years of extensive renovations, Lotusland has announced the opening of its Japanese Garden, which was originally created in the 1960s and is the only remaining post-World War II Japanese Garden that is open to the public on the central coast between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Construction began in February 2017, […]
Montecito TV titan Oprah Winfrey, Kenny Loggins, and actor Rob Lowe paid tribute to the 23 people who lost their lives and many who lost everything a year ago, as our tony enclave was ravaged by catastrophic mudslides. Oprah, 64, was among hundreds of local residents taking part in the first anniversary vigil, walking from […]
On the first anniversary of its formation, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade hosted a Montecito Rising bash at the Procore warehouse in Carpinteria for 500 guests. As darkening rain clouds loomed, the VIP reception, scheduled to be outside, was rapidly moved inside prior to the dinner prepared by a host of local eateries, including the […]
Last Wednesday, January 9, on the one-year anniversary of the 1/9 debris flow that devastated our community in 2018, nearly 1,500 residents turned out to mark the occasion with a gathering in Lower Manning Park followed by a candlelit walk down San Ysidro Road, culminating at All Saints-by-the-Sea Church. As community members began gathering in […]
Is the drought over for a while?None of us knows.Is water security important?Of course. Is this security worth having your monthly water bills increase a quarter to a third more? If your average monthly water bill is $150, how happy will you feel if it goes to $200 a month, especially during normal rain times […]
This is being written as much of Montecito is under a Mandatory Evacuation Notice. Tuesday, January 15, at 10 am sharp, Montecito Inn hotel guests were required to check out, as were Four Seasons Biltmore guests. Traffic continued to move along critical roadways for a while, but many of those roads began to be closed […]
The Day The Hill Came Down First, of course, there was the fire. The Thomas Fire, so named because it began on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula before devouring nearly 300,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara County along with nearly one thousand homes and/or structures. Following California’s cycle of cataclysms, […]
Referencing Dick Shaikewitz‘s letter to the editor (“Ethics in Journalism,” MJ # 24/51), it is apparent that former Montecito Water District (MWD) Director Shaikewitz and I have a difference of opinion over how to provide water security for the residents of Montecito and Summerland. He believes that, contrary to state law, a written strategic plan […]
Next Wednesday, January 16, the Partnership for Resilient Communities and Montecito Union School’s superintendent Anthony Ranii will host an informational community meeting to discuss realistic opportunities to mitigate future debris flows. In late December, the Partnership received emergency permits to proceed with the installation of 11 debris flow control nets in San Ysidro, Buena Vista, […]
Tuesday, January 8, 2019 was the 71st annual Montecito Association meeting, marking the retirement of directors Frank Abatemarco, Frank Blue, Barbara Matthews, and Michelle Saltoun. Outgoing president Charlene Nagel thanked the board for their service during her two-year tenure as president, noting the achievements of the Association in the last year, including several successful events, […]
While most of us in Montecito were making merry over the holiday season, former City of Santa Barbara Fire Chief, Pat McElroy, who is now Executive Director of the Partnership (Partnership for Resilient Communities), was pounding the halls of government, along with Montecito land use attorney Joe Cole, permitting guru Suzanne Elledge, and local government […]
