Tag archives: Rinaldo Brutoco
I look forward to reading the studies that the Montecito Water and Montecito Sanitary districts have jointly commissioned, one by Carollo Engineers to evaluate recycling options and the other by Raftelis to explore the pros and cons of a business case for district consolidation. The need for recycled water supplies is rather self-evident. The self-evident case […]
On April 14, this column introduced the concept of “Freedom Fuel.” It outlined the potential unlocked by shifting from a planetary fuel system based on fossil fuels to a system based on the wide availability of hydrogen created by electrolyzing water with renewable energy (so called “Green Hydrogen”) at prices below fossil fuel. As that […]
Most folks are feeling significant pain at the gas pump and the grocery store these days. Remarkably, the cause for that “pain” is the same for both – inflation. The question is, should we all be worried about that issue in isolation, or should we focus on the economic fundamentals that underlie this spurt of […]
1,000,000,000 = 1 billion Euros ($110 billion in U.S. dollars) per day. That’s what Europe sends to Russia in cash every single day. At that rate Russia can finance a war for a very long time. At that rate, Russia can commit unlimited atrocities. And, even though some are afraid to call what Russia is […]
Forest fires, cyber warfare, sabotage, and plain old utility company incompetence, greed, and malfeasance have brought us to the point where we must abandon the electrical grid. It isn’t safe. It does cause a significant percentage of forest fires here in California, it supports a utility (PG&E) that has been convicted of multiple felonies for […]
A great many things about the Russian invasion of Ukraine bother us, as well they should: the genocide, the war crimes, the images of starving children intermingled with dead bodies and urban wreckage that hasn’t been seen in Europe since the bombing of Dresden. Through it all, we in the U.S. have imagined ourselves tucked […]
On Thursday morning (March 10, 2022) the reservoir on upper Hot Springs Road was empty so no water was going to the estates below. This was because the main pipe had been disconnected for days on end, and the hot springs water that normally flowed into the reservoir poured onto Hot Springs Trail. Will the […]
We must do more! What more can we do? These twin phrases have become a refrain throughout western civilization. We are profoundly aware that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine on a genocidal scale. We are tormented by a desire to do something “more” but uncertain what that could be. Or how “something more” […]
The first battle of the Greco-Persian wars occurred in 490 B.C. in the town of Marathon, Greece. With Persians attacking cities all along the Greek mainland, and as Athenians braced for their own attack, Athenian General Miltiades took command of a civilian army and marched to Marathon to meet the Persian army. Using superior battle […]
His essay last week on the oppressive travesty of the California Utilities’ profit-grab to punish small-scale solar adopters is incisive, intensely angry, and wholly alarming. Not to mention using a great metaphor in “Jabberwocky!” (English majors always appreciate an apt literary reference to make a mockery of something so absurd as this “plan.”) So, thank […]
One of Santa Barbara’s premier tourist attractions, the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, every Sunday along Cabrillo Boulevard at the beach for more than 50 years, has had a facelift. Besides the recent remodeling of the bridge and sidewalks, the show is now integrated, no longer separating the arts from the crafts. Now is […]
Dear Mr. Brutoco, You certainly are an inventive person. You begin your “perspectives” column early by whining that the defense counsel for acquitted shooter Kyle Rittenhouse was “allowed” to refer to the two men killed by Mr. Rittenhouse as “rioters and looters,” and then claim, “they weren’t.” Do you have some secret knowledge as to […]
On Rinaldo Brutoco’s essay this week on the idea of red states and blue states: I like how he analyzed the question. The only problem with whole states going red or blue: every state has a ratio of each. Would such a divide then require that all “blue” persons living in a “red” state move […]
What a joy to return in late summer to my home in Montecito and discover the newly constructed, protected walking path along Hot Springs Road. Twenty years ago, when my husband and I first came, we often walked cautiously up to East Valley Road and back, hoping for safety from passing vehicles. Thanks now to […]
I am reading Bob Hazard’s series on our water crisis with great interest. He is a strong writer and does his research, but I think there are instances in which he is cherry-picking the data. In his first piece, he mentions that 5% of California water is used for outdoor residential purposes. That may be […]
Am I the only one noticing the dangerous speeds that e-bikes and riders who push them to their limits pose to drivers and themselves in and around Montecito? They seem to zip around as fast as motorcycles, yet no special license is required. It’s great that more people are getting outdoors and traveling farther afield […]
On April 8, the telecom industry, in the person of Crown Castle Rep. Jerry Ambrose, attempted to pull the wool over the Montecito Architectural Board of Review. He told them he needed to put a new cell antenna on a pole at 75 Eucalyptus Lane. The reason? “Capacity gap.” Yet, if you take a walk […]
We are deeply dismayed to learn that Das Williams is seeking an appointment to the California Coastal Commission for the Central Coast. A controversial supervisor synonymous with Santa Barbara’s much-contested cannabis ordinance, Williams was barely able to retain his position in 2020 (even with the political and financial muscle of the cannabis industry). Indeed, there […]
There’ve been two letters in the past two weeks concerning the possibly inappropriate influence that Bob Hazard might be trying to exercise over water policy in our village, specifically his amateur hydrological agenda that includes a risible proposal to merge the boards of the Montecito Water Authority (MWA) and the Montecito Sanitary District (MSD). For […]
It takes a good interviewer and writer and selection of a worthy subject to produce a meaningful and touching article. Leslie A. Westbrook achieved all three for her piece, “At Home with Lou” (August 21-28, 2021). She focused on interviews with the prize-winning, former senior White House Correspondent for The Washington Post, Lou Cannon, and […]
