Tag archives: Thomas Fire
As Montecito residents recover from their fifth mandatory evacuation since the start of the Thomas Wildfire, there is a growing frustration that the future fate of Montecito will not be resolved by a “Montecito Strong” community visioning plan of our own making, but by external forces outside this community’s span of control. Fifteen weeks have […]
I thought our community might like to see how other Montecito residents are coping with our recent disasters. Like many others, my wife, Nancy, and I were suffering from evacuation fatigue after the Thomas Fire and decided when authorities ordered a second evacuation for a winter storm, that our home was far enough away from […]
Two weeks ago, we reported on the opening of the Montecito Center for Preparedness, Recovery, and Rebuilding, in the Orfalea building on Coast Village Circle. Last week, the newly-formed “805 Conservation Collective” set up shop at the center, adding another resource for mudslide victims to access in the heart of Montecito. “The work is both […]
There are four women responsible for the attractive, busy, and critical resource center known as the Recovery Free Store, dedicated to victims and first responders of the Thomas Fire and Montecito debris slide. They are Berna Keiler, Cathy Link, Heather Sage, and Susan St. John. The store, currently parked directly across from Vons in the […]
Montecito documentary maker Harry Rabin‘s latest work, The Night It Rained Boulders, about the recent fire, flash floods, and mudslides in our rarefied enclave, has been showing on The Weather Channel. The 44-minute film took two months to come to fruition with Harry, 64, starting shooting December 4 with the outbreak of the Thomas Fire, […]
Next Friday, March 23, Crane students will take part in a Spirit Day and “Respond-A-Thon”, an all-school jog-a-thon to raise money for organizations that supported Santa Barbara and Montecito during the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow. The school has a goal of raising $5,000, and a generous donor is offering to match up to $10,000 […]
On Tuesday, March 13, it was announced that singer Katy Perry will hold a concert to benefit the community recovering from the Thomas Fire and mudslide, which includes Cold Spring School and its music program. The concert will be at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Saturday, May 19, at 7 pm. Locals-only presale tickets will […]
The Hollywood crowd must be asking why the Oscar’s ratings continued to decline again this year? Why is it that more people don’t want to watch a bunch of glitzy starlets with boob jobs and drunk on their own self-importance trying to impress each other? Could it be that they can’t help themselves from using […]
Last week, Montecito Water District (MWD) officials released a statement and visual chart clarifying the contribution of released water during the 1/9 debris flow event. It had been widely reported that damage to the District’s infrastructure contributed millions of gallons of water to the flooding and debris flow that damaged hundreds of homes and took […]
As Montecito residents struggle to absorb the unwelcome financial burden of removing public mud and debris that flowed onto private property, it has become more important than ever to rebuild our community and return it to normalcy in the shortest possible timeframe with generous assistance from the County and FEMA. A heartwarming example of rallying […]
Recovery Project is new community support group that was born out of the recent doubleheader disasters that have hit our rarefied enclave. Founder Berna Kieler, a Montecito resident since the 1980s, describes it as “grass-roots, neighbors helping neighbors” being carried along by people dedicated to seeing the community and its residents recover. “I was in […]
On Thursday, March 8, Santa Barbara County will open a dedicated space in Montecito to continue working with members of the Montecito community during the recovery and rebuilding process. The Montecito Center for Preparedness, Recovery, and Rebuilding – dubbed “the Montecito Center” – will provide information and guidance following the closing of the Local Assistance […]
It looks like our “New Normal” is to be the evacuation of upwards of 30,000 residents who live below the Thomas Fire boundary from Carpinteria to Goleta, where the now bare soil has been completely upended and exposed to drying winds and constant desiccating sunshine. Every time a hint of precipitation shows up on a […]
It was third time lucky for Montecito society doyenne Beverley Jackson when she threw her annual firefighters benefit bash. Because of the Thomas Fire and the devastating mudslides, bubbly Beverley had to cancel two other dates at her oceanside home, but more than 80 guests turned up with toys for needy children at the hastily […]
The last couple of months have been, well, to put it mildly, a massive challenge. As a result of the Thomas Fire, some of us have been impacted by loss, many others by smoke inhalation or voluntary and mandatory evacuations, along with ensuing respiratory issues. Then, within a few days, tragedy struck again with the […]
Los Angeles-based boutique coffee shop Caffe Luxxe has announced plans to open in Montecito County Mart, in a portion of the space once occupied by Xanadu Bakery near Vons. The European-style café was founded in 2006 by friends Mark Wain and Gary Chau, who both left corporate jobs to pursue their dream of opening a […]
More than 300,000 people descended on Bella Vista, the sprawling Summerland estate of polo playing hotel magnate Pat Nesbitt and his wife, Ursula, for One805’s Kick Ash Bash to honor first responders while raising much-needed funds for emergency equipment and relief efforts in the wake of the Thomas Fire and the devastating January mudslides. The […]
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 […]
I believe you are off on this one (“Who Should Pay?” MJ #24/7). Most of the merchants I spoke with were paying their workers at least part of their wages. You might want to call around. After all these years, you would think a business could protect workers from their losses. I don’t want to […]
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 […]
