Category: keyt-local-news

Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Santa Barbara County Board Of Supervisors received an update on homelessness during yesterday’s monthly meeting in Santa Maria.

Recent statistics show what’s working and what’s not.

The prevalence of people experiencing homelessness over the last 2 years appears to be sustaining at levels improved from 3 to 5 years previous.

“It’s not growing and it’s, you know, it’s not dropping as quickly as we’d like,” says Joe Dzvonik, Santa Barbara County’s Housing And Community Development director. “It’s kind of stable, not only overall but even regionally.”

Homelessness saw peak levels during the 2023 studies.

“During the pandemic, emergency funding and eviction moratoriums acted as a dam, keeping vulnerable households stabilized,” said Jett Black-Maertz, with Santa Barbara County Homeless Assistance, from the podium on Tuesday. “When those supports ended, there was an influx of people falling out of housing and entering the system for the first time.”

Then in 2024, governor Newsom ordered encampments to be cleaned out statewide.

“We got homelessness stabilized to a certain extent, perhaps we’ve hit a plateau, so to speak,” says Dzvonik.

The data presented at Tuesday’s meeting reflects mentionable improvements in the homelessness response system, and notes areas where improvements are still needed.

“It’s an annual update,” says Dzvonik. “We try to basically update the board on like multiple issues dealing to kind of deal with homelessness from a variety of viewpoints.”

The subject of vehicular homelessness received significant discussion at Tuesday’s meeting acknowledging that, while strictly prohibited in Santa Barbara County, many are choosing to live in their cars due to unaffordable housing.

“The folks that answered the question, ‘Do you want to get into housing again?’ Some of them said, ‘No, I am fully committed to just remaining in my vehicle because I’ve adjusted to it.’” says Dzvonik. “We’re not equipped to handle that answer.”

Future efforts are being centralized under the county’s new Homelessness Alliance: Response And Prevention (HARP) initiative.

“We just wanted to kind of get a sense of, do they think we were heading in the right direction with something like HARP, and I think the answer was resoundingly yes,” says Dzvonik. “We’re just determined to make sure that we don’t meet a status quo, you know, that we’re satisfied with. We know there’s a lower level of homelessness in our community that we can reach. It just hasn’t occurred to us how to do that yet. But it’s starting to.”

HARP is developing a centralized data hub so separate agencies and departments can better coordinate homelessness response.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – As temperatures climb across Santa Barbara County, local doctors are encouraging residents to take the heat seriously before it leads to a medical emergency.

Cottage Health is reminding people to watch for early signs of heat-related illness, including dizziness, heavy sweating, nausea, muscle cramps and confusion. Medical experts will explain the difference between heat exhaustion and the more dangerous heat stroke, along with the warning signs that require immediate medical attention.

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – A major donation is helping expand access to mental health and substance use treatment in Santa Barbara County.

Sanctuary Centers has received a $2 million gift to support construction of its new facility, one of the largest donations in the organization’s history. Leaders and the donor will highlight how the funding will help create additional space for treatment programs and allow the non-profit to serve more people in need.

The expansion is designed to strengthen access to behavioral health services while meeting the growing demand for care across the community.

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Andie Lopez Bornet

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Lobsterboys are fourth-generation lobstermen who are redefining the future of the oceans and redefining the importance of how to source, harvest and deliver lobsters in pure form.

Coming from the East coast, the two brothers work to follow strict sustainability practices when it comes to harvesting lobster and business.

Their lobsters are free of mercury and heavy metals and the only lobster that is third-party tested.

Lobsterboys Justin and Travis Maderia join your News Channel for a fun segment on lobster education, tutorial on how to crack open a lobster, and a fun show-and-tell at the end.

You can order lobsters on their website and learn more about Lobsterboys.

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Mike Klan

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Addison Klepsch blasted a 2-run homer in a 3-run fifth inning to lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 5-4 win at the San Luis Obispo Blues.

Cole Chamberlain had 2 RBI for the Foresters who trailed the Blues 4-2 after three innings.

The Foresters are now 23-5-1 on the year and they play at the OC Riptide on Thursday.

The Blues (25-11) scored all four of their runs in the third inning, with 3 of them coming on a bases-clearing double by Brendan Comerford.

The Foresters bullpen pitched four innings of shutout ball after started and winner Jack Folwer exited the game after five innings.

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Mike Klan

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Kellan Montgomery is headed to pro baseball.

The Dos Pueblos High School alum and UCSB right-handed pitcher signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Guardians organization.

Montgomery had a solid senior year for the Gauchos this past season as he racked up an 8-4 record in 16 starts on the mound. It was his lone season pitching for his hometown school after transferring to UCSB from Long Beach State.

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Caleb Nguyen

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Santa Barbara Police arrested a 48-year-old woman after she threatened a family member with a knife around 3:00 p.m. Tuesday.

SBPD officers received word the woman used the knife to threaten a family member at the 700 block of California Street.

SBPD officers established a safety perimeter and used its Crisis Negotiation Team to safely resolve the issue.

SBPD officers later arrested the woman on several felony offenses after two and a half hours.

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Tracy Lehr

GOLETA, Calif. (KEYT) – Public Safety Power Shutoff warnings are coming on the heals of heat warnings for first responders.

They often go together.

“We expect high and very dry vegetation in some areas of Santa Barbara County on Wednesday and Thursday that means we might have to call Public Safety Power Shutoffs, we understand these outages can be a hardship but we must do them to keep communities safe,” said Southern California Edison’s Spokesperson and Senior Manager of Corporate Communications spokesperson, David Eisenhauer.

SCE wants customers to be prepared.

One of the areas impacted is near Glen Annie and Sespe Lane in Goleta.

Many neighbors including ranchers in the area said they have experience and have generators just in case.

“We work year around to harden our grid, to minimize how often we have to do these outages, in the meantime if you see a downed power line stay at least 100 feet away and call 911,” said Eisenhauer.

Downed power lines could spark wildfires.

SCE has an interactive outage map where customers can just plug in their address.

Goleta City Spokesperson Kelly Hoover said the city wants to remind everyone about the potential for PSPS s we move through the warmer months.

Pacific Gas & Electric held a news conference on Tuesday to spread the word.

In San Luis Obispo, PG&E has alerted customers in Lake Nacimiento and Heritage Ranch that a PSPS could last from noon on 7/15 to 9 p.m. on 7/16.

SLO resident may sign up for alerts by visiting: https://www.readyslo.org/emergency

For SBC residents may sign up for alerts by visiting https://readysbc.org

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Dave Alley

BUELLTON, Calif. (KEYT) – The demolition of the iconic Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant has moved forward after a recent decision made by the Buellton City Council.

Last week, council members removed a historical designation on the closed business that clears the way for the property owner to tear down a portion of the vacant building.

“In order to in order to allow the demolition, we needed to remove the historic landmark designation,said Scott Wolfe, Buellton City Manager. “In removing the designation, the City Council also put in place a number of requirements that have to be met for the demolition permit to to be issued, and those requirements will be memorialized in an agreement that will be signed by the developer and the city prior to a demolition permit being issued.”

The famous restaurant first opened in Buellton in 1924 and for decades was a popular destination for both travelers and locals alike.

However, the restaurant closed in 2024 just months before its 100th anniversary and since then the main building and adjacent structures have fallen badly into disrepair.

All of the buildings and surrounding parking lots have become a squalid sight, with broken windows, overgrown weeds and trash strewn around the property.

For the past two years, it’s been a common area for trespassing, unauthorized occupation, as well as illegal activities such as vandalism, drug use and drinking

“It’s a disaster,” said Wolfe. “It’s become increasingly difficult to secure the building. It’s constantly being broken into by vandals and it’s just a matter of time before someone gets injured or somebody gets killed in the building.. There’s very little of the inside that is still remaining and there’s not a whole lot we can do to save the building at this point. It is beyond hope. This is painful. This is a this is something that’s been around for as long as anyone who’s still living here can remember, but it’s it’s clear that it has to go.”

While the City Council has given clearance to the demolition of the building, not all of the structure will be taken down.

“One of the largest pieces of the historic landmark that’s still on the site is a portion of the building which was prior to it being part of Pea Soup Andersen’s was part of an old hotel called the Bueltmore Hotel that is eligible for listing by the state as a historic landmark,” said Wolfe. “That part of the building that faces the parking lot right now, that part of the building will remain, but everything beyond that and all the outbuildings and such will be brought to the ground and removed.”

Wolfe did not give a timetable when any demolition would take place and added its unknown what the future plans are for the site that is owned by local developer Ed St. George.

“The future plans are up in the air,” said Wolfe. “We don’t know. The specific plan for the Avenue of the Flags gives a number of different alternatives. It could include retail. It could include office. It could include some residential, or any combination of those three. We have seen some preliminary plans in the past, but those have all been retracted.”

As for whatever eventually replaces Pea Soup Andersen’s, Wolfe stressed it will need to be something unique and special.

“This is one of the gateways to our city,” said Wolfe. “We don’t want to see something very generic being put in there, but we’ll have to wait and see. In the end, the City doesn’t get to pick exactly what gets built, but the City Council has a lot of influence and the Planning Commission, have a lot of influence over what some new facility might look like, and so we’ll be looking carefully at that.”

To help make sure the once historic restaurant is memorialized and its memory kept alive in the future, St. George is looking at ways to retain some of the components of the building so that a potential future monument may be created and displayed.

“What has to happen before that demolition can take place, is the the property owner needs to coordinate the removal of any artifacts that still remain that could be salvaged and preserved, said Wolfe. “We will work with the developer to ensure that some sort of appropriate monument, either on site, or in very close proximity to the site, takes place. We don’t know what that will look like yet. We hope that depending upon the architecture, some aspects of that building could be used in either the exterior architecture of the building or something inside the building, but certainly some sort of monument outside of the building would be important as well.”

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Jarrod Zinn

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – A one-month nomination period is open for three Santa Maria City Council seats.

There are steps potential candidates must follow.

Gloria Soto represents District 3 and Maribel Aguilera represents District 4, and their current terms end this December.

“Voters will elect one city council member for district one to serve the remainder of an unexpired term ending in November of 2028,” says Jane Teh, administrative analyst for the City Of Santa Maria.

Richard Batalla was appointed as Santa Maria’s interim District 1 representative after Carlos Escobedo vacated the seat in March.

He says he intends to campaign for election this November to serve the remainder of the term.

“And the city council members for districts three and four to serve full four year terms,” says Teh.

Aguilera is campaigning for Santa Barbara County Board Of Supervisors’ District 5 seat.

“Voters will also consider our Ballot Measure C,” says Teh.

To be nominated, you must be over 18, a resident and registered voter of the district you intend to represent.

“In the event an incumbent does not file nomination papers by August 7th, the last date to file the nomination for that office will be extended to Wednesday, August 12th,” says Teh.

Anyone who wants to campaign for a council seat must visit the city clerk’s office and declare their intent to run, then obtain 20 to 30 registered voter signatures from their district.

“City council members are responsible for establishing city policies, adopting the city’s budget, approving local ordinances and resolutions, and making decisions that affect city services, infrastructure, public safety, economic development, and the overall quality of life for residents,” Teh explains.

After the nomination month is over, the applications are processed and all candidates who meet qualifications will appear on the November ballots.

From late August through October, qualifying candidates campaign for voter support.

“Serving on the City Council is an opportunity to contribute to the future of Santa Maria,” says Teh. “Council members play an important role in shaping local policy and helping address the needs and priorities of the community.”

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