The Santa Barbara community is mourning the loss of Hal Conklin, the city’s former mayor and a beloved community activist for decades up and down the South Coast.
There are two particularly bad bills wending through the legislature, proposed by Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins (Senate District 39, San Diego) and Scott Wiener (Senate District 11, San Francisco). They are determined to fulfill Governor Newsom’s pledge to build 3.5 million units of housing in California. Prior attempts that have failed to date: –Wiener’s […]
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It’s sometimes said that Santa Barbara, with its powerful full-time city administrator overseeing more than 1,000 city employees in ten different agencies, tends to leave the mayor as a figurehead, not much more than a glorified seventh city councilmember who happens to represent all constituents rather than those in one district. But don’t tell that […]
The Montecito Association will host our Annual Members Meeting next Tuesday, February 9 at 4 pm via Zoom. We say goodbye to departing directors Peter van Duinwyk and Dorinne Lee Johnson, and welcome our newly elected board directors. We also appoint our officers at this meeting. Last year, we hosted California state Senator Hannah- Beth […]
Four years ago, James Joyce III began an ambitious project called “Coffee With a Black Guy.” The idea was simple: Using a combination of wit, humor, and blunt honesty, Joyce sought to help Santa Barbara residents engage in a frank dialogue about issues relating to race and politics, both in our community and nationwide. The […]
Hannah-Beth Jackson may have run out of time as State Senator, but she never ran out of the fierce will that got her to Sacramento. She looks back on a legacy of fighting for disaster relief and equal rights for all. Q. Which superhero do you visualize yourself as? A. “I love Wonder Woman – […]
On Tuesday, October 20, a few dozen teenagers held a protest outside the Santa Barbara Unified School District’s headquarters on Santa Barbara Street. Carrying signs bearing messages such as “We Want to Go Back to School” and “Give Us a Choice,” the group had a clear message for local school officials: After more than a […]
The results for the Santa Barbara County Election are trickling in! Click the links below to be in the know. Nationally, the race to the presidency has yet to be called. Mail-in ballots in crucial states are still being counted to determine our next president, which may take some time to complete. But in the […]
On October 7, in a 3-2 vote, our County Board of Supervisors voted to give themselves an optional 3% pay raise. Supervisor Joan Hartmann justified her vote by explaining that “this job is a very demanding one with a lot of responsibilities that are very diverse.” Das Williams and Steve Lavagnino expressed similar justifications for […]
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This November, three candidates are running for Carpinteria’s five-member city council: Mayor Wade Nomura, a former professional skateboarder; Mark McIntire, a former Santa Barbara City College philosophy professor; and Natalia Alarcon, a nonprofit program manager and clinical psychologist. Of the trio, Nomura, an incumbent, is the only candidate with any experience in city politics. McIntire, […]
This week I’m taking the opportunity to sound off from my soapbox, since the lead item on the Summerland’s popularity vote “yea” or “nay” for a cannabis dispensary in town, which ran a few weeks ago, created quite a little stir that resulted in three letters to the editor printed over three issues. First, I […]
Andy Caldwell’s mother was an immigrant from Austria and his father was a Bataan Death March survivor. Andy was born on an Air Force base in Jacksonville, Arkansas. After his father got out of the Air Force, they moved to Kingsburg, California, just south of Fresno. His dad passed away when Andy was nine years […]
Hard to believe there are only 40-plus days until the November election – which will (God-willing) be decided before 2020 happily rides off into the sunset. Judges like to say that ignorance of the law is not a defense. We believe the same goes for elections. The following is meant to provide you with relevant […]
Most of us take voting as a right, which we may (or may not) choose to exercise. To me, voting is a privilege that I cherish and use in every primary and election. How else can I – together with my fellow citizens – put leaders in place with the authority to govern us wisely […]
