Author: KEYT

Mina Wahab

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps’ Office says roughly one third of county employees commute dozens of miles just to get to work in the morning. And that has some negative ripple effects not just for worker retention and the environment, but also the economy and private-industry workers. Laura Capps is excited to see the County Probation building in downtown Santa Barbara fully transform into affordable workforce housing available to everyone. “It’s an experiment. I believe it’s going to go really well. We just put out a request for proposals to help us develop this so that this will be about 60, 70 units,” said Capps. From one story buildings to partially-vacant parking lots, Capps is starting a new initiative to collaborate with developers to turn parcels of county-owned land into housing. “I mean, someone who lived here and worked at the county or worked at a public school, they could walk to restaurants, they could walk to their doctor’s appointments.” said Capps. The county has identified 21 parcels of land that could be viable starting points for housing development, including sites in Santa Maria and the County Administration building in Santa Barbara.  Community Services Department Director Jesús Armas says the Administration building would be an even bigger project than the Probation building “We potentially could see somewhere in the in the range of 100 units here. And being able to leverage a county facility or a county asset to produce housing that’s desperately needed. Pretty impressive step for a public agency,” said Armas.  Supervisor Capps says once the County Probation building housing project gets off the ground it’s likely that future developments like the County Admin building will gain more traction. 

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Renovictions refer to all kinds of renovations leading to evictions.

Some renters see them as an excuse to evict and raise rents.

The Santa Barbara City Council approved three extra provisions or amendments to a tenant protection ordinance approved last year.

When this debate started the makeup of the council was different.

Only four council members are attending the meeting in person today.

Eric Friedman is out for health reasons until May.

Meagan Harman and Oscar Gutierrez voted virtually.

They joined Wendy Santamaria and Kristen Snedden by voting yes.

“What we did today is that we have closed a loophole to no longer allow a claim an unverified claim of renovations as a reason to evict a Tenant,” said Santamaria, “What we have done is we have helped secure families and local workers to be able to have some stability in their home.”

Mayor Randy Rowse said he didn’t consider is a loophole and that putting a thumb on the scales of the rental market can have negative impacts.

“It pits one side against another,” said Rowse.

Mike Jordan who represents the area that includes the 215 Bath Street apartment also voted no.

The sections approved include letting tenants recover possessions before completion of renovations, a change that states the ordinance protecting portions of the plan will not be impacted by other portions declared unconstitutional.

Another amendment states that the ordinance does not require environmental review.

Corina Svacina has rented at the Bath St. property for 7 years.

“It is really my home where I have become an adult, my friends and neighbors and family, it is where I call home and it is awful to live in a place that is not peaceful and that is that we want back is a peaceful for all use,” said Svacina.

She asked the council to regulate multimillionaire developers who she said are buying up big properties worth tens of millions of dollars.

The item was the last one on Tuesday’s agenda.

A large number of residents speak during public comments.

Rick Lang said he rents but understands how landlords and property owner feel.

“When people buy property they expect to get market rent for market expenses,” said Lang.

He would like to see people paying large rents buy property but admits more affordable homes need to be built.

The council also directed staff to research an appeals process and return with a proposal at a later date.

Councilmember Santamaria said there will be a final reading of what they voted on next week and then the changes will take affect in 30 days.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – 55 years after the first Earth Day, changes continue to take place for governments and citizens in many areas of the world, but it started in the Santa Barbara area with a tragedy.

The 1969 offshore oil blowout from Platform A off the Santa Barbara-Summerland coast was the key event to start the Earth Day movement with the help of Congressional leaders a year later.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970 there have been major strides in air and land ecology.

These days it is common to see solar panels in parking lots and schools, charging stations for electric vehicles, e-bikes next to those with pedal power, community cleanups, recycling and countless environmentally related non-profit groups.

On Saturday and Sunday Santa Barbara will hold its Community Environmental Council Earth Day events at Alameda Park with numerous demonstrations, earth-friendly vendors, awards and forward-looking information. There will also be a green-car display and test rides of e bikes.

In Goleta, the city’s sustainability department has recently opened a public electric vehicle charging station at City Hall. It also offers has reusable utensils and cups that are given out at community outreach events to encourage the public to buy these items for themselves or families.

Goleta Sustainability Manager Dana Murray says, “we want to walk the talk. If we want to see more people  to put renewable energy at their homes and businesses,  we want to do that right here at City Hall, solar, battery storage or  EV chargers.  “

She has seen schools embracing the reusable utensils. “In fact there’s been whole schools that the parents liked them so much they’ve done fundraisers for the whole school  so they can all go reusable.”

Murray is encouraged by what she sees going forward even with a growing population and many challenges. “Part of the main reason we all live here is the beaches, the creeks, the mountains and we don’t want to leave our liter there. I think kids get the reason. It makes me hopeful for the future.”

Artist Brad Nack remembers the spill and how it shaped his environmental decisions. “The waves couldn’t break because they were covered in tar so it was like watching jello wobble and to really see something as a kid go so wrong leaves a big impact. “

These days he says, ” I’ll be very conscious about recycling but if you go out to the dump and see all the stuff that is being thrown away… ” He said there is still work to do. He handles his leftover paints with a carefully planned environmental disposal plan.

In addition to air and water issues, Kelli Osajima said, “I think the biggest thing for me is clothing.  I try to thrift and upcycle and push that  with my friends alot.”

Montecito resident Maude Feil says she juices often and wants to step up her efforts to compost. “You know I don’t do as much as I should with used vegetables and stuff.”

Many events throughout the year including the California Avocado Festival in Carpinteria have been able to collect and sort waste on-site, and even with 100,000 visitors over three days, it is a zero-waste event.

For more information go to: Goleta Sustainabilty, Santa Barbara Sustainability, Carpinteria Sustainability

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Allan Hancock College and Cuesta College will be collaborating on a new cybersecurity degree program.

Funding is coming from the state via the “Uplift Central Coast’s Catalyst Pre-Development Grant”.

“We’re going to be able to partner with Cuesta and work with them to create a shared curriculum that’s going to create a pathway for a two year cybersecurity degree,” says Chris McGuinness, Allan Hancock College’s public information analyst.

High Tech Hubs: Diversifying Careers Through Education seeks to fill in some crucial workforce gaps by preparing the next generation of skilled technicians in high demand industries such as aerospace engineering and cybersecurity.

“It’s an expansion. And that’s going to actually be a degree for transfer, which means students can then use that to transfer to a university,” says McGuinness.

This will be an opportunity for students across the region with interest in cybersecurity careers.

“While Allan Hancock may have the capacity for a cybersecurity program, they may not have enough students to fill that program. And so this is our opportunity to maybe feed some of our students who have that interest,” says Jason Curtis, Cuesta College’s vice president of instruction.

The program is one part of a broader $9 million initiative that spans six counties, all supporting work development and economic growth.

“Cuesta College has programs in criminal justice or administration of justice. Those programs here at Cuesta focus mainly on forensics. We haven’t really stuck our toe in the waters of cyber security very much. And so this is an opportunity for our students in administration of justice, who might also have computer interests to develop those interests further through the partnership with Alan Hancock,” says Curtis.

The two colleges are busy hammering out the details of the collaboration, with the aim of getting a degree program going in about 2 years.

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Tracy Lehr

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – An artist known for his mural outside a local market is being mourned.

Danny Meza painted the mural featuring a famous quote by Nelson Mandela on the side of Brownie’s Market years ago.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite,” said Mandela, who, along with South African politician F.W. de Klerk, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for working to end apartheid in South Africa.

Meza is also remembered as a talented tattoo artist.

Friends shared stories about him during a candlelight vigil held Monday night at the corner of De La Vina and Haley Streets.

Details surrounding his death in San Diego last week have not been released.

Danny Meza was 35.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – It was a Royal luncheon at Harry’s.

San Marcos Royals Austin Downing and Liv Plourde were honored for their big performances in rivalry action.

Downing was awarded the Male Athlete of the Week after leading San Marcos boys golf to wins over rivals Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos.

The sophomore Downing fired a 1-under par 69 versus the Dons and a 1-over par 73 against DP as San Marcos stayed undefeated in the Channel League.

Lacrosse standout Liv Ploude is the Female Athlete of the Week after racking up 8 goals in two wins.

Her 4 goal, 5 assist performance against Dos Pueblos was also an historic game as the senior set a new program record for career goals.

Ploude broke the old mark of 105 and now has 108 goals and counting.

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Mike Klan

GOLETA, Calif. – Dos Pueblos kept up with Oxnard for the first couple of innings but the Yellowjackets showed why they are 10-0 in the Channel League with a 13-4 victory.

Oxnard scored 3 runs in the top of the first inning as Destinee Herrera slugged a 2-run homer to right field.

But DP answered right back with 4 runs in the bottom of the first scoring all the runs with two outs.

Juliana Brunner singled in two runs as did Vereniki Maniadi to make it 4-3 Chargers after one.

But the Yellowjackets grabbed the lead for good with a 3-run third inning and put the game away in the sixth with five more runs.

There were 30 total hits in the game.

Dos Pueblos had 12 hits which included Vereniki Maniadi going 3-4 with 2 rbi on the day, Anastasia Brunner went 3-3 and Zella Cassidy and Juliana Brunner each went 2-4, with Brunner getting 2 RBI.

Oxnard’s offensive highlights include:

Layla Mukul-2/2, 2RunsKayla Lorona 2/3, 2RunsNatalie Rodarte 3/5,3RRaelene Rangel 2/4, 2R HR,4RBIDestinee Herrera 3/5 2R HR,3RBI,SRachel Godoy 4/4, 5RBI, WP

The same two teams meet on Wednesday in Oxnard.

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Evan Vega

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – A color run was held at the Elks Event Center in Santa Maria on Saturday.

The event combined fitness, community, and vibrant colors for participating runners.

Bright colored dyes were thrown in the air as people ran the 5k event.

It was hosted by the Guadalupe Kiwanis and Children’s Resource and Referral of Santa Barbra County.

It was open to all ages and fitness levels.

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