Teamwork Makes the Dream Work by Montecito Journal

Kicking Ash 1 - 8 April 2021 Vol 27 Issue 14

SERVING MONTECITO AND SUMMERLAND

Through fires, mudslides, and a pandemic, One805 continues to raise funds to aid the community, page 8

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work Should Montecito’s Water Board and Sanitary Board remain separate districts or consolidate? (Story begins on page 5)

Real Estate

It took a pandemic and Royal family to highlight what we’ve known all along: this is a very special place, page 40

School Situation

Restraining order filed on behalf of three employees against parent at Cold Spring School, page 6

Lights, Camera, Action!

36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicks off with oceanfront drivein movies and virtual events, page 11

MONTECITO JOURNAL

1 – 8 April 2021

Montecito's B

5 B E D R O O M S / 5 B AT H R O O M S / 1 A C R E L I S T E D AT $ 8 , 5 0 0 , 0 0 0

DANA ZERTUCHE 805.403.5520 dana@danazertuche.com | danazertuche.com | CalRE #01465425 LORI CLARIDGE BOWLES 805.452.3884 lori@loribowles.com | loribowles.com | CalRE #01961570 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Affiliated real estate agents are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2021 Coldwell Banker. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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Inside This Issue 5

Guest Editorial

On the Record

The Giving List

Tide Chart On Entertainment

The time has come for both the Montecito Sanitary and Montecito Water boards to work together on short- and long-term solutions, says Bob Hazard A restraining order unveils a hot mess at Cold Spring School; Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo talks second term goals One805 is well known for its relief efforts during the Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow, using that momentum to continue to help the community 10 Letters to the Editor A collection of communications from readers Bryan Rosen, Hesu Whitten, Matt McLaughlin, Jean von Wittenburg, Kimball Shinkoskey, Jeff Havlik, and Steven Marko The 36th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicks off with hybrid events including drive-in movies and virtual screenings

12 Village Beat

Montecito Country Mart’s Read ‘N Post to close after nearly 40 years in business, and more local news

14 Montecito Miscellany

The Magic Castle Cabaret will be no more in Montecito; Meghan’s dad pays a visit to Oprah looking to tell his story

16 Calla’s Corner

Cellist John Sant’Ambrogio performs free concerts around town for small groups of local residents

22 Seen Around Town

Dinosaurs return to Museum of Natural History; VNA Health at the drive-in

24 Ernie’s World

Touring the high seas at Warp Speed in search of gray whales is one way to celebrate the wife’s birthday

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Brilliant Thoughts

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26 Library Mojo

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The Montecito Library is back! Limited hours return, much to the community’s relief.

28 PERSPECTIVES by Rinaldo S. Brutoco

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The Optimist Daily

Grassroots renewable energy organization HEET is powered by local moms

40 Real Estate

Four properties on the market worth considering, all in that prime Montecito range of $5 to $8 million

42 Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles by Peter Muller and Andrew White 44 Our Town

Mariposa at Ellwood Shores

Independent & Assisted Living

Joanne Calitri talks lockdown and the arts with Paint Jam USA’s Jana Goldbloom Brody

48 Senior Portrait

Joanne Rapp reflects on the childhood friends, committee companions, and the interwoven Knowlwood families that have enriched her life in Montecito

50 Far Flung Travel

Chuck Graham catches a glimpse of the “Cache Kings” of Santa Cruz Island: the endemic island scrub jay

52 Nosh Town

Claudia’s day is brightened with a slice of lemon polenta cake, which she savors in the YMCA parking lot

54 Classified Advertising

Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads, in which sellers offer everything from summer rentals to estate sales

55 Local Business Directory

Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need what those businesses offer

“If I had a dime for everytime that I was wrong, I’d be broke.” – Stephen Colbert

1 – 8 April 2021

Guest Editorial

by Bob Hazard

Can Water and Sanitary Work Together to Shape the Future of Montecito?

recent series of letters in the Montecito Journal has questioned the wisdom of the Montecito Water Board and the Montecito Sanitary Board’s studying the issue of consolidation. Jeff Kerns, a respected former Sanitary Director, has raised an important issue. He suggests that the first step is to define the problem you want to solve; only after that, can you identify the appropriate organizational structure to solve the identified problems. I cannot agree with Jeff more. This past week both the Water and Sanitary Boards opened discussion on this important topic. Whether the Montecito Water District and the Montecito Sanitary District should remain separate districts or consolidate into a single district depends upon the answers to the following questions: (1) What is this community’s common vision for the future of water security and water recycling in Montecito and Summerland? And then, (2) How can our community best accomplish that vision? As the Mad Hatter advised Alice in Wonderland. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

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End the Dumping of Treated Wastewater into the Ocean

Montecito residents seem to agree that it is environmentally irresponsible and insensitive to continue to dump over 500,000 gallons per day of treated wastewater into the ocean off Butterfly Beach, a practice that has continued for the last 30 years. Recycling nearly all of the Montecito Sanitary’s annual 600 acre-feet of wastewater could end ocean outflow through the injection of treated wastewater into suitable groundwater basins for final conversion into potable water. This solution could satisfy more than 15% of Montecito Water’s annual water usage. According to Heal the Ocean’s James Hawkins’ Inventory of Municipal Wastewater Discharges to California Coastal Waters, “417 billion gallons of treated municipal wastewater were discharged from 57 wastewater treatment plants directly into California coastal waters in the 2015 calendar year.” Says Hawkins, “If an aggressive 85% of municipal wastewater effluent from coastal treatment plants were recycled and used to offset or supplement drinking water supplies, 28.61% of urban water use in California’s coastal regions could have been supplied.” The five wastewater treatment plants along our local beaches from Goleta to Carpinteria discharge nearly 5 billion gallons of treated wastewater into the ocean every year. The city of Santa Barbara dumps nearly 6 million gallons per day; Goleta Sanitary dumps some 3.3 million; Carpinteria Sanitary dumps 2.5 million gallons; Montecito Sanitary dumps 0.5 million gallons; and tiny Summerland Sanitary dumps 125,000 gallons per day. Together, these five plants within 13 miles (or less) of each other dump 12.4 million gallons per day of treated wastewater onto our beaches, an environmental nightmare. If we don’t stop dumping treated wastewater into the ocean, the state will soon mandate that we do so.

Local Water Banking

Future climate change and the threat of sustained drought make it mandatory that we develop a strategy to bank excess water in wet years in local under-

1 – 8 April 2021

Guest Editorial Page 254 • The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

On the Record

In lieu of payment, a donation was made to Simon �idston’s charity of choice.

by Nicholas Schou

Nicholas Schou is an award-winning investigative journalist and author of several books, including Orange Sunshine and Kill the Messenger. If you have tips or stories about Montecito, please email him at newseditor@ montecitojournal.net

A Restraining Order Unveils a Hot Mess at Cold Spring School

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

n the already dramatic annals of parental engagement, one particular case threatens to break the mold. To most outside observers, the drama began on March 10, 2021, when Greg Rolen, a lawyer for Montecito’s Cold Spring School District, filed a restraining order on behalf of three employees purportedly in physical danger from a parent at the school, Amanda Rowan. Rowan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and CEO of the Therapist Development Center. Specifically, the order claimed, Rowan’s behavior posed the risk of “further hostile, aggressive, and threatening communications that make the employees fear for their safety” causing a disruption that would “interfere with the School’s ability to function.” On behalf of his clients, Rolen requested that Rowan stay at least 100 yards away from both the employees named in the complaint as well as the school itself. “Ms Rowan has a history of threatening and aggressive behavior that escalates with slight or no provocation,” the order states. “She is currently engaged in a campaign against various members of the Cold Spring Elementary School District staff and Board of Trustees. The employees and Trustees of Cold Spring Elementary School District feared that giving Ms Rowan five days’ notice of the hearing on this restraining order would cause her to retaliate with further threatening and harassing behavior.” Attached to the request were several personal declarations, including one by Dr. Amy Alzina, the principal of the school and superintendent of the Cold Spring School District, all of which describe Rowan allegedly verbally confronting various staff in ways that made them feel unsafe, a pattern of behavior that seems to have escalated following a dispute involving her child, a current student at the school. “Currently, Ms Rowan is engaged in a legal battle with the School regarding a recent minor issue with her child,” the declaration reads. “Ms Rowan has made threats, sent egregious demands to the school, filed harassing complaints, bombarded the school with requests for records and preservation of documents, and now is sending malicious, aggressive, threatening, and accusatory communications to the teachers, staff, and myself.” Interviewed by the Montecito Journal

“There’s an old saying about those who forget history. I don’t remember it, but it’s good.” – Stephen Colbert

Amanda Rowan

this week, Alzina said she couldn’t comment on the nature of the dispute involving Rowan’s child because of confidentiality reasons. However, she portrayed the restraining order as an unfortunate outcome of a long running battle with the school going back years and stretching over successive administrations, the main point of contention being the school’s handling of a pair of bond measures aimed at upgrading the campus, the most recent one being Measure L, which asked local property owners to foot the bill for construction costs that hadn’t been covered by a previous bond measure. “She was threatening my staff, not just my teachers, and they didn’t want to come to work,” Alzina said. “They felt it was unsafe for them and the teachers union wrote a letter to me saying, ‘Please protect us,’ so the day after I got the letter I filed the restraining order.” According to Alzina, the teachers who felt threatened asked for a police officer to be present on campus. “So I ensured that and have done everything I can to make sure our teachers and staff felt safe because we are here to serve our kiddos and I need them to come to school,” said Alzina. “I hope this will just stop.” The incident that led to the restraining order against Rowan began in September 2020, in the months leading up to Cold Spring School District’s effort in November of that year to urge local taxpayers to pass Measure L, a bond measure aiming to rehabilitate facilities at the campus. Rowan’s daughter, whom the Journal is refraining from naming because she is a minor, was suspended for a day because she had impersonated Alzina during a remote class via Zoom, using a picture of her pet dog,

On The Record Page 204 204 1 – 8 April 2021

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A Tour of France •

Exploring the Secret Wines of Italy •

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• The Voice of the Village •

2/3/21 12:46 PM MONTECITO JOURNAL

The Giving List by Steven Libowitz

One805 Four Years Later, Nonprofit Continues to Kick Ash

verybody in town likely knows about One805. Sure, they’re the organization who three years ago created the “Kick Ash Bash,” mounting the massive benefit concert as a way of thanking both the firefighters whose brave stand against the Thomas Fire in December 2017 saved untold homes in Montecito, as well as honoring the already weary first responders who had barely had a break before having to jump once more into the fray to help rescue many Montecito neighbors when a 100year storm flooded the burnt hillside resulting in the devastating debris flow a few weeks later. The day-night celebration in late February brought out the Goletaborn/Montecito resident turned international pop star Katy Perry and a whole host of other celebrities with connections to the area. Brief speeches from the likes of Montecito residents Dennis Miller,

Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Connors, and Jane Seymour, plus fire chiefs and other first responders delivered during set changes for musical performances by Kenny Loggins, Alan Parsons, Katharine McPhee, Richard Marx, Wilson Phillips, Glen Phillips, Dishwalla, David Foster, and more. The evening “After Bash” was hosted by Academy Award-winning actor Michael Keaton and featured David Crosby and the Sky Trails joined by Iration, Robby Krieger of the Doors, the Caverns, and others. But the Bash also had another benefit that went beyond gratitude: raising funds to better equip the first responders to meet natural disasters, as well as offering counseling services and victim relief. So, while scenes from that stirring event still reverberate in our collective memories, what also has had a lingering impact around town is the three custom mobile command units One805 purchased from

The Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow in 2018 brought about the need for One805, which continues to raise funds to aid the community with its various needs

$2 million in proceeds to donate to the police, fire, and sheriff departments. It wasn’t just the gifts that have made a difference, though, explained Angela Binetti Schmidt, the nonprofit’s executive director. “The different departments said, this is amazing that we’re all talking and we’re collaborating, and learning from each other,” she said. “They told us they wished it could continue because it makes it easier for all of us to do our jobs better.” That cemented the idea of turning One805 into an ongoing nonprofit that

officially became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in late 2019, founded by executive committee members Richard WestonSmith, Eric Phillips, and John J. Thyne. The trio meet periodically with an advisory council consisting of the 11 department heads to field funding requests and collaborate on the decisions of what to allocate. Its first full-year grant awards in 2019 included a tactical robot to be shared between the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Team and the city police

The Giving List Page 304

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

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1 – 8 April 2021

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1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Letters to the Editor

If you have something you think Montecito should know about, or wish to respond to something you read in the Journal, we want to hear from you. Please send all such correspondence to: Montecito Journal, Letters to the Editor, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA. 93108. You can also FAX such mail to: (805) 969-6654, or E-mail to letters@montecitojournal.net

Freedoms Taken Away at Hot Springs Trailhead

n Saturday, March 28, 2021 at about 5:30 pm, I took my bicycle to the Hot Springs Trailhead, which is about a 10-minute ride from where I live. A vehicle which had printed on it “Hillcrest Security” had stopped on Mountain Drive next to the trailhead parking lot. I asked the driver, Mark, what he was doing. He replied he was taking photos of the license plates in the parking lot. Who’s paying this security company to do this surveillance? This is not the first time the parking lot has been patrolled. For some months in late 2017 this parking lot was closed in the evenings. Cones were placed right out to the edge of the pavement of Mountain Drive. Quite a few hikers returning from the hot springs witnessed this. On December 4, 2017, wanting to find out what this was about, I approached the parking lot and cones. A security guard working for Mission Security and Patrol approached me and told me the parking lot was private property. He beckoned me to some barely noticeable handwritten cardboard signs on the chain link fence behind the lot stating that cars parked after 10 pm would be towed. I responded to him that it was a publicly owned parking lot that the public has been using for many years. When I refused to leave the parking lot, he called the Sheriff’s Office, and grabbed hold of my bicycle so I couldn’t leave. When two officers arrived on the scene – Deputy Scherubarth and his partner – he was still holding onto my bicycle. Deputy

Scherubarth encouraged me to do some research, which I did. It took a while but eventually l went to the County Assessor’s Office and found out it was indeed public property. I got in touch with Brian Yanez, then Deputy Parks Director for the county. He contacted Mission Security and responded to me on August 16, 2018: “Thanks Bryan. I spoke with the security company and they stated that they never put out cones blocking the parking lot. Did you actually see this company doing this? Regardless, I told the security company that they can’t block off the public right of way and they understood that...” After the trailhead parking lot was decimated by mudslides in January 2018, the patrols ceased. It’s been a while, but now another security company is patrolling. Is the party responsible for closing off the parking area in 2017 the same one hiring the security company now? Other changes have occurred at the trailhead parking lot. The county parks department, now under the supervision of Jeff Lindgren, has recently placed signs on the chain link fence behind the lot. One sign states that parking is limited to two hours between 9 am and 6 pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. These signs don’t even make sense as most hikes are longer than two hours – for example, going to the top of the mountain and back takes at least four hours. Also, people can easily park on Riven Rock Drive, a few steps away, where there is no

time limit. There’s been no limitation on parking at this trailhead until recently, and this I know as I’ve been visiting it for many years. People have even left their cars as they departed on more extensive backpacking trips. Another sign states that the park hours are from 8 am to sunset. Quite a few people start their early morning hikes or constitutionals near the crack of dawn. Some come back after dusk. And there is no park – this is a trail leading to the Los Padres National Forest. People have been walking up Hot Springs Canyon for many years at all times of the day, going back to 1801 when a Native American, Camacho of the Najalayegua tribe, was said to have discovered the hot springs. He lived halfway up Hot Springs Canyon (source: Montecito and Santa Barbara, From Farms to Estates, Volume One, David Myrick). But now, after all this time of use, the parks department wants to limit access without even holding a public hearing. Bryan Rosen

Vaccine Passport: One-way Ticket to the Dark Ages

A brief response is in order to the recent jubilant essay by Rinaldo Brutoco, a local businessman, on the concept of vaccine passports. What the pandemic has shown us is that humans are all too happy, when triggered by fear, to sacrifice liberty in exchange for perceived security. We gladly throw out our “unalienable rights,” once treasured in the Declaration of Independence, like yesterday’s news. We would rather create a two-class Apartheid system (until vaccines can legally be forced on the public) than risk catching cooties from a stranger that has ventured into our 6-foot bubble. One of the world’s most respected vaccine scientists and developers, Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, recently wrote that this vaccine will destroy

our innate immune system’s natural antibodies (NK cells), which are naturally able to destroy any variant that comes along. He explains how “we are currently turning the vaccinated into asymptomatic carriers shedding infectious variants.” The vaccine-induced antibodies, however, are only able to neutralize the original strain, and they dominate our more versatile NK cells, rendering the vaccinated helpless to the variants. Moreover, the vaccinated are not protected from acquiring or transmitting the virus, so this vaccine gets us no closer to herd immunity. Also, we have no idea if the vaccine’s benefits will last beyond three months, while natural immunity from similar viruses has been shown to robustly last 60-90 years. Additionally, by vaccinating in the middle of the pandemic, Dr. Bossche notes, we are putting evolutionary pressure on the virus to mutate, much like antibiotics that cause bacteria to develop resistant strains. SARS virus disappeared in two years without a vaccine and did not produce variants, so history has shown the best policy is to keep our immunity strong and wait it out. Just this past week we heard 13 states had rising rates of COVID, 11 of which had state vaccination rates above the national average. Adding to the picture, Pfizer is profiting $15 billion this year on their COVID vaccine; there have already been thousands of deaths reported shortly following the vaccine; death rates in UK care homes tripled in the two weeks following the onset of vaccination; and pharma has zero liability for damages. If this vaccine is so safe, then why do we allow pharma to refuse liability? Truth is, they only tested safety for two months and then they vaccinated the placebo group so there would be no way to measure long term safety! That is not science. So how does an immunity passport make sense if the vaccinated people

Letters Page 294

Montecito Tide Guide

10 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Day

Low

Hgt High

Hgt Low

Wed, March 31

6:21 AM -0.5 12:34 PM 4

Hgt High

Hgt Low

05:56 PM

1.1

Hgt

Thurs, April 1

12:19 AM 5.7

7:22 AM

-0.4

01:44 PM

3.4

06:33 PM 1.9

Fri, April 2

1:05 AM

5.4

8:35 AM

-0.2

03:23 PM

07:20 PM 2.5

Sat, April 3

2:05 AM

5.1

10:04 AM

-0.1

05:40 PM

08:51 PM 3

Sun, April 4

3:30 AM

4.7

11:33 AM

-0.2

07:05 PM

3.4

011:13 PM 3

Mon, April 5

5:09 AM

4.6

12:42 PM

-0.4

07:49 PM

3.8

Tues, April 6

12:43 AM 2.5

6:29 AM

4.7

01:34 PM

-0.5

08:22 PM

4.1

Wed, April 7

1:40 AM 2

7:30 AM

4.9

02:15 PM

-0.5

08:49 PM

4.4

Thurs, April 8

2:24 AM 1.5

8:18 AM

4.9

02:49 PM

-0.4

09:13 PM

4.6

“Agnostics are just atheists without balls.” – Stephen Colbert

1 – 8 April 2021

On Entertainment

by Steven Libowitz

SBIFF is Here: Roll Out the Wheels

hat does one say to welcome filmmakers, stars, and guests to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year, the 36th, which holds the strange honor of being the first-ever hybrid event in SBIFF’s history? While movies, tributes, and filmmaker Q&As will all stream online from April 1-10, the only live interaction between people from outside your own household will actually only be between the cars at SBIFF’s makeshift drive-ins at SBCC. So, the standard “Roll out the red carpet!” is clearly out, because not only will none of those receiving tributes coming to town to be interviewed and honored will be in person, but even the filmmakers who live outside of regular driving distance are being actively discouraged from showing up. “Roll up your windows?” Too anachronistic. “Gentlemen, start your engines?” Too sexist. “Follow the friendly staff member through the traffic cones to your park-

ing spot?” Or, for those staying home, “Dust off your devices, find the Apple TV remote, and make sure your WiFi is working well?” “See you in your cars” rather than the perennial oxymoron “See you in the dark”? Uh, maybe not. Whatever the right words, what’s really welcome is the fact that somehow SBIFF has managed to pull off a festival at all, as Roger Durling and staff are still doing their thing by offering a full slate of about 100 films, half the normal fare but still pretty impressive. They’re all available for viewing on demand during the 10-day span while all 50-plus, full-length films receive at least one time slot in SBIFF’s special, high-tech double drive-in theaters down by the beach that are available for free. Each screen will show four films a day and accommodate 50 cars for viewings on giant LED screens that are easy to see day or night. That includes all the Santa Barbara

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On Entertainment Page 344 344

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

Village Beat

by Kelly Mahan Herrick Kelly has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond. She is also a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, and is a member of Montecito and Santa Barbara’s top real estate team, Calcagno & Hamilton.

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ate last week customers at Read ‘N Post were surprised to learn that the Montecito retail landmark, located in Montecito Country Mart, shared plans to close at the end of April. In business in Montecito for nearly 40 years, Read ‘N Post is a favorite among locals who go to peruse the extensive collection of greeting cards, magazines, newspapers, wrapping supplies, gifts, and more. It’s also a full-service post office, and a convenient spot in the Mart to send a package, mail a letter, buy shipping supplies, and stock up on stamps. The shop was originally located in Coast Village Walk next to Starbucks before moving to Montecito Country Mart in 2012. Owners Jan Hendrickson and John Deveraux report that the store is no longer economically feasible, thanks to recent hardships from the pandemic, the Thomas Fire, and the 1/9 Debris Flow. Greeting cards, gifts, office supplies, and more are currently on sale at the store through Saturday, April 24, when the store will close its doors. We’ll have much more on the closure, as well as the shop’s legacy and longtime employees, in next week’s Our Town column. Montecito Country Mart reps tell us the post office will remain open while the vacant space undergoes a makeover to make way for a new business, Montecito Mercantile. Set to be managed and overseen by longtime retailer and merchandiser Kelly Finefrock, the Mercantile will feature a selection of high quality items including

“If God hadn’t wanted us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them so darn tasty.” – Stephen Colbert

Retailer Kelly Finefrock is overseeing the opening of Montecito Mercantile, which will open in the Read ‘N Post space in early summer

home décor, men and women’s clothing, magazines, books, gifts, kitchen and tabletop items, apothecary, and a handful of pantry items. “It’s everyday items made exceptionally well,” said Finefrock, who Mart shoppers will remember from Hudson Grace, which she managed before moving to the James Perse store at the Miramar. “I missed the Mart so much, and I’m happy to be back. This is truly home for me,” she said, adding that she is looking forward to helping curate this new store, which is owned in part by a local couple with much retail experience. “They always knew they wanted to open a store here, and I’m happy to help make it happen,” she said. We’ll have more on Montecito Mercantile as the space comes together, which is expected by Memorial

Village Beat Page 494 494 1 – 8 April 2021

P A R T

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R I S

sage-cottage.com

AT E

V I L L A G E P R O P E RT I E S R E A LT O R S

RISKIN PARTNERS ESTATE GROUP

G R

license #01954177 s a n t a b a r b a r a ’s n u m b e r o n e r e a l e s t a t e t e a m DINA LANDI 1 – 8 April 2021

SARAH HANACEK

JASMINE TENNIS

• The Voice of the Village •

ROBERT RISKIN

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Monte ito Miscellany by Richard Mineards

Richard covered the Royal Family for Britain’s Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, and was an editor on New York Magazine. He was also a national anchor on CBS, a commentator on ABC Network News, gossip on The Joan Rivers Show and Geraldo Rivera, host on E! TV, a correspondent on the syndicated show Extra, a commentator on the KTLA Morning News and Entertainment Tonight. He moved to Montecito 14 years ago.

Poof! The Magic Castle Cabaret is Gone

Milt and Arlene Larsen selling the Magic Castle Cabaret (photo by Priscilla)

wo years after it opened, the owners of Montecito’s Magic Castle Cabaret Milt and Arlene Larsen are moving on, I can exclusively reveal. “The Cabaret has been closed for a long year and we are not getting any younger,” laments Arlene. “When we started, we seemed a lot younger. “After talking it over for many weeks we have come to the conclusion that we just don’t have the energy to train a new crew, work all day and party all night like we did just a year ago. We have decided that we would look for someone younger that might wish to purchase the place and pick up where we have left off. After all, the Cabaret looks great and has proven to be a great place to entertain.” The dynamic duo also owns the legendary Magic Castle in Hollywood, founded in 1963, which has 5,000 members, half of them magicians, which I used to visit on occasion when I was a commentator of the KTLA-TV morning show and lived nearby in Hancock Park. Members of the Montecito branch, which sits a tiara’s toss from the Andree Clark Bird Refuge in the restaurant location formerly known as Cafe del Sol, include Steve Martin, Jeff Bridges, and Alan Parsons, with initiation fees and annual membership costing $1,500. “Even with the arduous process of complying with all the rules and permits, we have had a fantastic time putting the cabaret and club together and, best of all, enjoying all the wonderful evenings with fantastic friends,” adds Arlene. “What we did not anticipate was fires, floods, mudslides, and the current pandemic.

14 MONTECITO JOURNAL

“In April, Milt will be celebrating his 90th birthday and I’m no longer a teenager, so it’s time for the two of us to relax and smell the roses.” The 4,000-square-foot property is being marketed by realtor Joe Parker of Berkshire Hathaway in Montecito for around $4,250,000. I wish Milt and Arlene, longtime friends, all the best in their well-deserved retirement.

another road trip. Robert, a former colleague when I was a columnist at the Santa Barbara News-Press, follows up on his other road books, Motional Blur in 2016 and Last Flight Out two years ago, using the device of a journey to tell a riveting tale about believable and appealing characters whose travails illustrate some larger truths concerning the human condition. The trip in question is taken by an elderly once-famous writer as a promotional tour for his first novel in three decades. Using a scenic coastal route from the Big Orange to Seattle, a series of misfortunes overtake the writer providing insights into a dysfunctional legal system, a declining publishing industry, and the inanity of political correctness. Robert has gone on myriad literary pilgrimages in his career, including a homage to Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Florida, and Sun Valley, Idaho, as well as Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore and Boston. He says about his latest work: “It’s a road novel. An author is being driven on a book tour. Along the way they encounter a real book drive.” He will be launching the tome with a bustling bash at Tecolote in the Upper Village in due course.

Ellen DeGeneres rushes wife Portia de Rossi to hospital (photo by Angela George)

Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Zappos founder Nick Swinmurn is the latest billionaire to Markle, hand delivered a letter to come to Montecito Zappos shoe tycoon Nick Swinmurn Oprah Winfrey’s Montecito estate asking her to interview him about his is our latest billionaire resident. The English-born American entrerelationship with his estranged former preneur left the company in 2006 to actress daughter. The former lighting designer, 76, look for fresh startup challenges. The traveled from his home in Mexico to company was sold to Amazon for $1.2 the former TV talk show host’s East billion. Since then, Swinmurn, 48, has Valley Road home and handed the letter to a masked security guard, founded or co-founded a whole host according to a friend, James Beal, of companies with varying degrees of Los Angeles correspondent for Rupert successes. He studied film at UCSB and started Murdoch’s London Sun. “Thomas watched the interview Zappos in 1999. Swinmurn paid $8.6 million for his and feels he deserves a chance to have 5,133-square-footer with five bedhis say,” says a friend. Whether Thomas, ex-husband of rooms, five and half bathrooms, on Doria Ragland, tried to also make 1.82 acres in Montecito. He also has a sumptuous estate in contact with Meghan, 39, at her Riven Rock estate with Prince Harry just the prestigious Silicon Valley enclave a five-minute drive from Oprah’s of Hillsborough acquired in 2017 for $6.8 million. sprawling property, is unknown. Stay tuned...

Montecito author Robert Eringer has just completed his latest novel, Book Drive, taking his readers on yet

A Scare for Portia

Olé, olé, olé! Gaucho Comes Home

Special Delivery

The Road Frequently Followed

in the U.K. The interview with the Montecito couple, which got boffo ratings around the world, was initially three hours and 20 minutes trimmed down to 85 minutes when it was finally broadcast in 68 countries. While a handful of extra clips were revealed on CBS This Morning, co-hosted by Oprah’s good friend Gayle King, it still leaves 90 minutes of the interview not seen or heard, which is reportedly alarming Buckingham Palace. Now ITV, which paid $1.5 million for the U.K. broadcast rights, is keen to air the rest of the footage after more than 12 million watched the initial TV special. ITV is reportedly hoping to make a deal with Oprah’s Harpo Productions, which supposedly earned between $7 and $9 million from CBS for the initial rights, for the unseen footage. “Showing more of it will be a guaranteed ratings winner,” says one source. Buckingham Palace is undoubtedly battening down the hatches. Stay tuned...

A Battle Royale

As if her two-hour interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wasn’t incendiary enough, previously unseen footage taped by Oprah Winfrey may soon be shown

“They say the only people who tell the truth are drunkards and children. Guess which one I am.” – Stephen Colbert

My thoughts are with Portia de Rossi, wife of Montecito TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who is recovering from emergency surgery for appendicitis. The 48-year-old actress is “doing well” after being rushed to hospital by Ellen, 63, herself after complaining about being in a lot of pain.” “It was a scare at first, but all good now,” a friend of the dynamic duo told People.

Simply Dreamy

Language of Dreams, a short documentary about Santa Barbara’s Dream Foundation by award-winning director Peter Sasowsky, makes its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The film captures the spirit of humanity that is uniquely present as those who have end-of-life dreams and those who seek to fulfill them come together, says Kisa Heyer, the foundation’s CEO, who was also a producer on the film. “I hope to shed light on what these

Miscellany Page 374 1 – 8 April 2021

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© 2021 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC. BHHS and the BHHS symbol are registered service marks of Columbia Insurance Company, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. BHH Affiliates LLC and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that information. CalDRE#: 00976141

1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Calla’s Corner

Timing is Everything

f you saw John Sant’Ambrogio walking down Coast Village Road, you might mistake him for Larry David. On the other hand, if you saw Larry David walking down Coast Village Road, you might mistake him for John Sant’Ambrogio, the world renowned cellist. That is, if you’ve been the beneficiary of a private birthday concert given by the enchanting virtuoso, who happens to be a parttime resident of Montecito and is now giving free spring concerts to residents of Montecito and Santa Barbara. Timing is everything. When my good friend Glenn Dorfman happened to bump into the cellist while walking near Westmont College – where Sant’Ambrogio taught until recently – they started exchanging life stories. Glenn, a retired attorney and a people person, found out that John is a cellist who has played the instrument for over 50 years. He has performed more than 10,000 concerts with major orchestras worldwide and served as principal cellist with the Casals Festival Orchestra and was the principal cellist with the

by Calla Jones

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for 37 years. You could say that John is also a people person, a musical bon vivant and humanist who leaves a trail of thoughtful insights that resonates through the strings his bow glides over with masterful grace. He has written three books with humor, drama, and suspense. He knows how to weave true, as well as imaginary, tales with the deftness of a natural storyteller. “Before I made symphonic music performances my life work, I always thought of this noble and sublime occupation as being devoid of humor. After all, classical music is often called serious music,” writes John in The Day I almost Destroyed the Boston Symphony and Other Stories. The book became a best seller upon publication in 2010. One reviewer wrote: “The stories he tells in this book are hilarious, like the time he pitched his tent over a rattlesnake pit when he was playing for the Seventh Army Symphony, had a “sword” fight with bows with another cellist, the time when he got lost when he was supposed to be leading his sec-

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Are You Kidding? is John Sant’Ambrogio’s most recent book

Cellist John Sant’Ambrogio performs free concerts around town for small groups of local residents

tion of The Boston Symphony” (hence the title). Sant’Ambrogio would agree that timing is everything. If the book has a message it’s an inspirational one: that if he could make it, against all odds, anyone can, especially young people. Women Rising, which came out in 2017, has a fantasy plot, based on things that happened to women he knows, until the reader realizes it’s a dream with an overarching message about how much men need women. A meteor-like sphere circles the earth affecting only women at first, causing them to grow more than two feet taller and incredibly strong in a short span of time. A unique organization, Men, Women Together (MWT), evolves to help humanity deal with the changes. Unfortunately, TG (Tough Guys) and the underworld are trying to make sure the old ways survive while attempting to destroy MWT. A struggle ensues. Sara Anne Fox, a Hollywood writer, has written a screenplay from the book and Sant’Ambrogio is hoping he can interest a filmmaker in telling the riveting, highly imaginative story. Are You Kidding? published in 2019, is Sant’Ambrogio’s most recent book. It tells of four friends in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a mountain town known for its natural beauty, its snow packed slopes, and its wild flowered fields of summer. As the friendship grows and their questions of life thread through the paths they explore together, they find themselves thrust into a menacing confrontation that tests the limit and depth of their relationships and, finally, tests their outlook on life, love, and their most cherished understanding of why we are here. The short (107 pages) and short chaptered tale, illustrated with

the cellist’s sublime photos, is also being made into a screen play by Sara Anne Fox, that the author hopes to also have made into a film. Sant’Ambrogio moved to Steamboat Springs in 2005 to pursue his love of skiing, hiking, cycling, and photography. Sant’Ambrogio is founder and artistic director of the Arts for the Soul Summer Vacation Retreat in Steamboat Springs. He was the originator of the film, Eroica, which was shown on PBS 400 times in December 2003. The cellist’s daughter, Sara, is considered one of the world’s leading female cellists and is featured in the film as it follows the trio – cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio, violinist Adela Peña, and pianist Erika Nickrenz – through one eventful year. The three women, friends since they were young prodigies at music camps and then as students at Juilliard, lead extraordinarily full lives, traveling internationally and giving over 100 performances a year as well as handling the business of their music, marriage, and motherhood. What binds them together is a fiercely loyal friendship and an uncompromising work ethic that insists they give nothing but their absolute best for every performance. His daughter, Stephanie, is a violinist. If they need another cello for a trio, he is happy to join his daughters. For the moment, he’s happy giving small solo concerts. His son Michael is a lawyer. For my birthday concert, held on our deck in Montecito, I invited eight close friends, including Glenn and his wife, Irene. John enchanted us with his divine musical and storytelling gifts. His message was simple: Let’s treat each other with respect, knowing that there is God in us all, especially in music. Anyone interested in a free concert for a small group of friends in an outdoor space may contact John at jsant@ zirkel.us or 314-308-3831. The cellist’s books are available on Amazon. •MJ 1 – 8 April 2021

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1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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1 – 8 April 2021

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PERKINSGROUPRE.COM The Perkins Group Real Estate | +1 805.265.0786 | team@perkinsgroupre.com | DRE: 01106512 ©2021 Compass is a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdraw without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. Exact dimensions can be obtained by retaining the services of an architect or engineer. This is not intended to solicit property already listed.

1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

On The Record (Continued from page 6) Mr. Peanut Butter. Following the one-day suspension, Rowan claims that Alzina pulled her daughter out of class several times, apparently in an effort to get her to divulge information about her effort to get the school district to share information. According to a November 13, 2020 cease and desist letter Rowan filed against the school, her daughter’s suspension was retribution for her own involvement in activism against the school’s fundraising effort. “It has been brought to our attention that . . . Alzina has been removing [Rowan’s daughter] from her classes on an almost daily basis since the bond… failed… and requiring [her] to come, sometimes alone, and sometimes with another student, to engage in some type of counseling or therapy,” the complaint stated. A charge which Alzina categorically denies. According to Alzina, “that claim was investigated and determined to be unfounded.” Of particular note in this story is the school district’s contention that Rowan has “bombarded” the school district with an unreasonable amount of public record requests concerning past expenditures and other topics, all of which is allegedly an attempt to bankrupt the school district with costly legal fees. “This is really a concerted

effort to make us spend money,” Rolen told the Journal. “Rowan’s net worth is ten times the budget of the school and she thinks if she can make us spend enough money we will capitulate. It’s just sad.” Attorney Tim Carey represents Rowan in her battle against the school district. “My client has complained to the school district that her daughter was unjustly and unfairly suspended,” he stated. Carey acknowledged that he’s filed numerous public record act requests on behalf of Rowan. He finds a special irony in the fact that the school is complaining that his requests for information go back ten years. The only public records act request that goes that far back, said Carey, is one that asked for any records about other students who were suspended over that time frame. “The attorney for the school district has confirmed that their daughter was the only student suspended in the period from 2010 to 2020,” he said. “They put it in her cumulative student file.” Reached for comment by the Journal, Rowan stated that she’s never threatened any school employee. However, she does admit having had numerous conversations with various school officials regarding what she considers to be a cover-up regarding how the school has expended cash raised

through bond measures. She’s not backing down in her effort to get to the bottom of what the school has done with the cash it’s raised in its last two bond measures and welcomes the public scrutiny that comes with the school’s restraining order against her. “It’s clear that the district is trying as hard as they can to shut me up,” said Rowan. “I’ve never realized that asking questions was considered violent, but I guess this is what qualifies for news in Montecito.”

Murillo Talks Second Term Goals

Readers of this column may have noticed that the Montecito Journal has in the past few months published a series of stories highlighting three candidates running for the office of Mayor of Santa Barbara: James Joyce, Deborah Schwartz, and last week, Randy Rowse. Noticeably absent on that list is the mayor herself, Cathy Murillo, who on March 30 answered our questions about her reelection campaign as well as her policy plans for a second term should voters choose her this November. For those that don’t already know Murillo’s background, she grew up in East Los Angeles, raised by both her mother and grandmother while

Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo

her father, a gang member, was serving hard time in prison for selling drugs. Above anyone, Murillo credits her grandmother, Maria Hurtado Delgadillo, a Mexican immigrant who became a U.S. citizen and lifelong voter, as playing a vital role in her upbringing. “One of the things that shaped my values was the fact that my grandmother registered us all to vote, not just me, but the neighborhood kids as well, as soon as we were eligible,” Murillo says. “She was also a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, a seamstress in the L.A. Garment District, who helped unionize her shop. I come from a union family and that’s the backstory of my connection to the labor movement.” After arriving in Santa Barbara to pursue a major in dramatic arts at UC Santa Barbara, Murillo taught theater classes to local children before becoming a print and radio journalist, a

On The Record Page 504 504

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Seen Around Town Dinosaurs in Santa Barbara

by Lynda Millner

Dinosaurs on display at the Museum of Natural History

hose things that go “bump” in the night! They could be caused by five dinosaurs that now reside at the Museum of Natural History, permanently, along with some babies. After the summer of 2019 when the electronic dinosaurs visited and were then shipped onto the next place, the kids have been asking for them. One plea came from a two-anda-half-year-old named Rosie saying, “Dinosaurs, come back!” Director of Exhibits & Education Frank Hein, M.S. and President & CEO Luke J. Swetland felt the same and negotiations started. The dinosaurs returned in January, 2021 and so began the tedious process of installation of the heavy animatronics. They move and roar all day long in the

Ms Millner is the author of The Magic Makeover, Tricks for Looking Thinner, Younger and More Confident – Instantly. If you have an event that belongs in this column, you are invited to call Lynda at 969-6164.

woods behind the museum across Mission Creek. They are amazingly real looking. I heard that Walt Disney always said that kids like to be scared. Big kids too, maybe. The new occupants are a Tyrannosaurus rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Parasaurolophus, and Euoplocephalus. Besides fun memories there are plaques created by

The dinosaurs roar and move

More scary creatures at the Museum of Natural History

22 MONTECITO JOURNAL

experts Jonathan Hoffman, Ph.D. and paleobiologist Jenna. J Rolle, M.S. so the kids learn that paleontology is a dynamic field with constant researchers updating their findings. There’s ongoing speculation whether T. rex ever had feathers throughout his life or only as a baby. Temporarily, the museum has another exhibit: “Dinorama: Miniatures Through the Mesozoic” in the Sprague Pavilion which runs through April 25. Dinorama is a curated landscape of mini dioramas populated by painted and posed figurines of ancient creatures. These small reptiles are especially good for very young visitors. The exhibit shows their evolutionary paths. If you haven’t been to the Natural History Museum lately, now’s the time. Lions, and tigers and bears, oh, my! No, just a few dinosaurs. Enjoy the prehistoric forest.

VNA Health Glen Campbell’s wife, Kim, at the VNA Health symposium

Instead of a ballroom like usual, VNA Health held their annual health and safety PHorum at the West Wind Drive-in Theatre watching a movie. It was a special documentary produced by Emmy Award winning actress Jane Seymour about guitarist Glen Campbell and his battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Executive Director Lynda Tanner says, “It is important for VNA Health to bring PHorum to our community even during a pandemic to help each of us live well through education and empowerment. PHorum is our healthcare symposium where national, regional, and local healthcare leaders share and discuss relevant issues that impact the health and well-being of our communities. This year’s PHorum takes an important look at Alzheimer’s Disease from the perspective of music.” The Alzheimer ’s Association indicates that more than five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s. It is projected that number will rise to nearly 14 million. It affects families as well, as there are more than 16 million Americans providing care for Alzheimer’s patients and it is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. Their medical director Dr. Michael Bordofsky tells us, “People with Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia have become the largest group of patients we care for at VNA Health.”

“If you’re wondering whether you’re in a cult, the answer is yes.” – Stephen Colbert

VNA Health Executive Director Lynda Tanner at the West Wind Drive-in Theatre

Dr. Kenneth Kosik was on the panel for VNA Health

One of the life enrichment programs VNA Health offers is music therapy, which integrates with other services they offer. Music therapy offers emotional support for patients and their families and provides an outlet for reflection and expression of feelings. Because of generous donors, it is free of charge. Interestingly, the disease does not seem to affect music memory. At the drive-in we watched the movie I’ll Be Me about Campbell’s last tour after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2011. It shows the progression of the disease from the beginning to the middle and his abilities. What started as a five-week tour, ended in almost two years on the road. It was the last chance to see the Rhinestone Cowboy we all remember. Glen’s wife of 34 years, Kim, who lives here in Santa Barbara, said what a blessing that time was to have with Glen. He wasn’t always cognizant, but when the music started playing he was. It brought him back. It was like a miracle. He died in 2017 at age 81. Research is showing that music can be helpful in the final stages of the disease, even if Alzheimer’s patients can’t verbally communicate. Hearing their favorite song can still bring on a smile. Co-director of the UCSB Neuroscience Research Institute Dr. Kenneth Kosik has found, “Music can trigger responses even in the most advanced stages. Music is a different pathway in the brain that is independent of language and many other brain functions.” VNA Health has been using music for over ten years. Kim Campbell published a memoir titled Gentle On My Mind which covers not only the Alzheimer’s years but overcoming alcoholism and drug addiction as well. Our evening ended with a panel discussion led by Dr. Bordofsky featuring Jane Seymour, Kim Campbell, and Dr. Kenneth Kosik. “Until there is a cure, we will provide care,” so vows Lynda. For more information, call 805-690-6218 or visit www.vnahealth.com. •MJ 1 – 8 April 2021

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Brilliant Thoughts

Ernie’s World

by Ernie Witham

Ernie has been writing humor for more than 20 years. He is the author of three humor books and is the humor workshop leader at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

A Gray and Common Day

“O

h man! There are thousands of them.” “What species are they?” “They are Delphinus delphis,” the captain said. Seems like during every Star Trek movie there comes a scene where they hit the dashboard button that says WARP SPEED. Then they can only hope that the coordinates they set don’t deliver them into the middle of an asteroid belt or a raging galactic battle. “We will be slowing down the ship. Everyone get ready,” the captain said. I grabbed my trusty shooter. “Let’s head to the front,” I said to my wife. Our ship was only half-full for this journey, which made maneuvering through the other passengers easier. Soon we were in position. “Looks like a mega pod,” the captain said. I took aim. “So beautiful!” said Pat. Okay, so we weren’t in a galactic battle or trapped in an asteroid belt. Instead we were surrounded by common dolphins (Delphinus) in the middle of the Santa Barbara Channel. It was Pat’s birthday and my first attempt at a gift flopped: “How about an appetizing selection of cheesy snacks and a four-hour Battlestar Galactica marathon?” Pat thought a four-hour whale watching trip sounded more fun. So, we headed south to Ventura and got on the Island Packers boat. There was a chill in the air and the water was a bit choppy on the way to the channel, which made drinking beer and eating sandwiches challenging. But when the going gets rough, the rough get going. “Ouch. Did you shave today?” Pat asked, as I offered her a birthday smooch. “No way. I’ve got my seaman’s beard going. It’s a New England tradition.” “Were there a lot of ‘Old Salts’ in Laconia, New Hampshire?” Before I could conjure up a clever rejoinder, the captain had spotted the boiling sea ahead. “Looks like we have three different pods of common dolphins working. They team up to bring fish to the surface to feast on. Dolphins must consume about fifteen pounds of food a day or about five percent of their body weight.” “Wow, who knew that mammals could eat like that,” I said between

24 MONTECITO JOURNAL

bites. “It’s amazing,” Pat said, brushing crumbs from my sandwich off her lap. “We have a resident population of about twenty thousand common dolphins,” the captain said, slowing the boat further, so collectively the fifty or so of us onboard could take 1,100 photos. Then the captain increased our speed. The common dolphins chased the boat as long as they could, but the captain hit WARP SPEED again and headed for Anacapa Island in search of bigger game. Pat and I went inside to get out of the wind and to see if they had any ice cream. “Ice cream? Seriously?” “I was thinking coffee ice cream so we could stay alert.” Pat mumbled something about some mammals being more intelligent than others. “The gray whales stay close to the Channel Islands on their way south from Alaska to give birth in Mexico, a twelve-thousand-mile round trip,” the captain informed us. “That is so amazing,” said Pat. “That they can find their way there and back year after year.” “Maybe they have built-in whale GPS or something: ‘In five hundred miles, take the exit toward Seattle. Merge onto coastal route south. Traffic is light. You should be there in a month or so.’” Anacapa Island is about as rustic as you can get. It has a lighthouse and a few other buildings and about a million seagulls. We passed the famous arch and went along the south side of the Island, the captain pointing out a group of sunbathing sea lions. “Spouts!” the captain said. I left my ice cream and headed for the front again. “They can stay down for quite a while,” he told us. We never saw them again. “Must have missed their offramp,” I whispered. A short time later, the captain said they spotted another Gray and this one surfaced several times to appreciative oohs and aahs and dozens of upheld iPhones. Then the captain hit WARP SPEED again and we headed back to the harbor, pausing briefly at the dolphin belt for a final look. “Thanks for a great birthday,” Pat said. “You bet. Say, are you as hungry as I am?” •MJ

by Ashleigh Brilliant Born London, 1933. Mother Canadian. Father a British civil servant. World War II childhood spent mostly in Toronto and Washington, D.C. Berkeley PhD. in American History, 1964. Living in Santa Barbara since 1973. No children. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots”, now a series of 10,000. Email ashleigh@west.net or visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com

No Bones About It

thought it was a big deal, about three decades ago, when I got my first broken bone – after falling off my bike. But it was only the collarbone (clavicle), and only a “hairline fracture.” This, I knew, was one of the easiest bones to break, and one most likely to heal quickly, which it did. But I made up for this “lucky break” in later years, with broken leg and arm bones, requiring much more elaborate care and treatment. One remarkable thing about bones is that, not only do we all have them, but we all have the same ones, with the same names. This is a boon for medical students. They only have to learn one set of bones – and the number is not overwhelming – only 206 in the normal adult human – and, like plants, they all have Latin names. Evel Knievel, the amazing stunt man, must have become quite familiar with some of those Latin terms, since by the time he retired in 1975, he had suffered 433 fractures. The Bible has many references to bones – but the most famous single Biblical bone did not come from a person, but was the jawbone of an ass (or donkey). This apparently made a formidable weapon in the hands of the Hebrew super-hero, Samson, who claimed to have slain a thousand Philistines with it. Another animal bone celebrated in our culture is the FURCULA, or “wishbone,” which is found in birds, but not in people. As you probably know, we not only subject innocent poultry to the indignity of being raised just to be eaten, but we further dishonor them by playing a game in which two people pull this bone apart and pretend that whoever gets the larger piece will have a wish come true. But, going back to the Bible, there’s also the sublime vision of the Prophet Ezekiel, concerning a “Valley of Dry Bones,” in which he saw individual human bones re-connecting into skeletons, then acquiring flesh, and forming a new Israelite multitude. This passage inspired a spiritual rendering you may remember hearing, which begins “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones . . . Now hear de word of de Lord,” then lists in detail the connections between all the different bones, e.g: “ The hip bones connected to the back bone, The back bones connected to the shoulder bone . . .” And so on, going all the way up and down the body.

“Wikipedia is the first place I go when I’m looking for knowledge... or when I want to create some.” – Stephen Colbert

But the real bone-heroes of today are the archaeologists, who can now tell us so much about those whose remains are uncovered. Not that I personally have ever liked the idea of digging up people who were so lovingly buried so long ago, often together with the things which were so precious to them in life. Then there’s the proverb, which, no doubt, many children suffering taunts or bullying still learn from their parents, declaring that “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” Strangely enough, I often think of this, in the course of my walks, when I come upon some sticks or stones on the sidewalk, and clear them out of the way, thinking thereby possibly to save somebody from tripping (and who knows? breaking a bone).

As for being called names, a name like Ashleigh can unfortunately be turned into very vulgar variants As for being called names, a name like Ashleigh can unfortunately be turned into very vulgar variants. But, to return to my own bones, it wasn’t until I was 77 years old that they suffered their first real catastrophe, when, as a pedestrian, I was hit by a car in a crosswalk near my house, and my lower left leg was shattered. The surgeon who patched me up inserted a steel “plate” – but for some reason this proved ineffective. All I know is that I still have it as a permanent souvenir, but may regard it, according to the jocular orthopedist, as “jewelry.” Other breakages have been more my own fault, or at least have left me with no one to sue. But on this subject of “bones,” we must give Shakespeare the last word – and for good reason – because, if we can assume that it was he himself who wrote the words inscribed on his grave at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-on-Avon, that was indeed his very last word: “Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forebear To dig the dust enclosed here; Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.” •MJ

1 – 8 April 2021

Guest Editorial (Continued from page 5) ground water banks on this side of the mountain for use in dry years. Water banked underground is not subject to evaporation, nor fish releases, nor spills nor rainfall. Regional banking will become the norm despite efforts in Carpinteria and Goleta to go it alone. Advanced water research and technology, plus legal and political pressure, will accelerate efforts to bank water locally. Potential banking sites for long-term water storage include Slippery Rock in Goleta, Carpinteria, the existing basin beneath the Bradbury Dam at Lake Cachuma, or other possible locations on this side of the mountain. Underground water banking of a five-year supply of community water is an idea whose time is coming.

End Dependence on State Water System

California receives 75% of its rain and snow in the watersheds north of Sacramento. However, 80% of California’s water demand comes from the southern two-thirds of the state. The State Water System is over-promised and under-delivered to farmers, environmentalists, and urban users. Designed for a maximum of 25 million users in the 1960s and 1970s, the State Water System now attempts to serve 40 million people. It is an aging, unreliable, relic of a once-trusted water system to transport snow melt from the high Sierras to San Diego. To ignore its higher costs and lower reliability is a mistake no responsible Water or Sanitary Board should make.

Groundwater Sustainability

Dry years are occurring more frequently while rising temperatures make droughts more intense. The Montecito Water District has formed a Groundwater Sustainability Agency to replenish and manage a limited Montecito groundwater system that is hideously vulnerable to depletion during periods of extended drought. Should severe depletion of Montecito groundwater become a reality, as many as 1,000 well owners with dry wells in Montecito would suddenly turn to Montecito Water as new users, skyrocketing demand for local water. Directors from both water and sanitary recognize that threat and realize that properly treated wastewater stored underground in water banks for withdrawal in periods of severe drought, could offer an additional layer of added water protection. Some water directors feel strongly that well owners with straws inserted into the Montecito aquifers are not paying their fair share of the district’s fixed water costs, and that current water district ratepayers are being asked to pay for the entire cost of replenishing and maintaining those aquifers, and for importing new water if those aquifers run dry.

opted for its own treatment plant. The penalty for this missed opportunity has been that Montecito has lost all planning jurisdiction over Coast Village Road, and lost control over the $2 million in taxes that now flow into city of Santa Barbara coffers. More recently, Montecito Water became the only water district in California out of 537 districts to adopt water rationing. The approximately 600 AFY of treated wastewater that Montecito Sanitary dumps into the Pacific Ocean could have supplied more than 15% of Montecito’s drought needs – a perfect example of inadequate planning, too little, too late – a missed opportunity.

Where Do We Go from Here?

There is an old Chinese proverb that is applicable to today’s water situation: “Do not always follow where the path has been. Go where there is no path and leave a new trail.” What is needed now is a community with an open mind; one that demands that both its Water and Sanitary District directors collect and analyze relevant data, define mutual objectives and work together to explore and cost, sustainable solution options. To argue that both districts should close the door on consolidation because consolidation rules are too complicated; or that funding could be diverted from a district pet project, such as building a $6 million office complex for four people; or that legal costs are too high; is madness. As Water District Director Ken Coates noted at last week’s Water Board meeting, “We cannot close the door on consolidation. At the last election, voters looked to both boards to work together to address problems on both the Water and Sanitary side.” Water Director Floyd Wicks added, “For decades, not years, the two boards haven’t been able to work together. That will not change until we change the structure. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do the right thing for our community.” Sanitary Board President Dorinne Lee Johnson scheduled a Special Sanitary Board meeting to address the issue of consolidation. Water Board President Tobe Plough noted that County Supervisors have indicated a willingness to support consolidation, if the two boards agree among themselves, and that once each board has defined its planning priorities independently, the two boards need to come together to define mutual issues for joint cooperation and plot a pathway forward. •MJ

Dysfunctional Districts

Symbiotic cooperation and trust between the water and sanitary districts is absolutely key to meeting our community’s future water needs. Unfortunately, for the last 10 years, successive boards have tried their best to resolve a totally dysfunctional relationship where each district blames the other for lack of understanding. Last year, water directors supported a slate of candidates for the Sanitary Board under a common banner that the two boards share community concerns and need to work together on planning and funding common issues. Long-term supporters of the Sanitary District like Hillary Hauser blame the actions of past water board members as the primary cause of the dysfunction; the truth is that both boards are equally at fault for failure to work together. The Sanitary District is required to treat wastewater but is not allowed to sell water, while the Water District cannot treat wastewater but has sole responsibility for all water sales in the district. It is dangerous to assume that conceptual agreement on recycling alone can ensure cooperation on projects, where implementation and funding require both districts to work together as closely as two halves of a zipper. Interestingly, of the 127 members of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies, 65 members are now districts or cities with combined water and sanitary responsibilities.

Planning for the Future

Water Board Director Cori Hayman warned her colleagues last year: “Our constituents fully expect us to continue working on critical initiatives (like recycling). We were elected to do a job, and we must fulfill our obligations. If anything, current conditions show us that we must continue to move swiftly and put resilient plans in place for the district’s future water needs. This community knows that things can change overnight, and we must be prepared.” Lack of local foresight has caused problems in the past. In 1960, Coast Village Road (CVR) business owners on septic tanks were frustrated by locals who were reluctant to fund a Montecito Sanitary treatment plant. In desperation, CVR residents and businesses agreed to be annexed to the city of Santa Barbara in return for a sewage system. A year after CVR annexation, Montecito Sanitary 1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Library Mojo

Young library patrons enjoying Storywalk at Lower Manning Park

by Kim Crail

Kim is the Branch Lead of the Montecito Library. Questions or comments? Contact her: kcrail@santabarbaraca.gov

And… We’re Back!

s of March 24, Montecito Library has returned to its pre-pandemic staffing and we are overjoyed to be together again! It has been an entire year since the stay-at-home order resulted in the closure of Montecito’s charming and beloved library building. Like most, we had no idea that absolutely everything would change so drastically. Our normal went from library services and programs to nothing. Santa Barbara Central Library staff began offering books by mail to adapt services during this time and I shifted duties to mutual aid with the County. In July, Montecito Library started offering Sidewalk Service, getting library materials to you again, right here in the parking lot. December 3 ushered in a new era of Grab-n-Go service, cautiously inviting folks into the library, one household at a time, while maintaining our popular curbside option. We are still in this phase of limited hours, Tuesdays from 2 to

5 pm and Thursdays from 10 am to 1 pm, with plans to expand hours and services in the near future.

Storywalk for Kids & Families

Engaging our youngest patrons and their families is something that we have missed most and is foundational to public library service. Fortunately, we were able to hold our first in-person children’s program this month. Storywalk® is an outreach program that brings early literacy, family time, and fun to the outdoors. It works perfectly during COVID, too, as the elements of the story and related activities can be spread out to allow for households to safely distance. Come join us for our next Storywalk® on Wednesday, April 28 at Lower Manning Park from 2 to 3:30 pm. No need to register. Just show up and be ready to read a picture book with your child by following a path of printed standing signs. When you’re finished, take home a free activity

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kit while supplies last. Masks are required, of course.

Book to Action

Santa Barbara Public Library is partnering with local organizations and leaders as part of the library’s Book to Action programming, designed to inspire the community to read and discuss a book around important themes, then take action to address community issues. This year’s featured title is The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom. Winner of the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction, The Yellow House invites readers into a social history of a place and a family. Broom brings forward the individual experiences of herself, her family, and her neighbors to provide a beautiful and poignant narrative of the Black experience in America. This year’s Book to Action Keynote will be on Tuesday, April 6 at 5:30 pm and features a conversation with Drs. Stephanie Batiste and Felice Blake from the UCSB English Department. Free community copies of The Yellow House will be available on a first come,

We’re feeling some of the fog lift and are even a bit, dare we say, hopeful. Through all of this, it has been such a privilege to serve this quirky and delightful library community. Thank you for everything this past year. All of the conversations, kindness, humor, and sweet gestures meant a lot. See you at the library! •MJ

Radhule Weininger, PhD, MD, is a local in Montecito offering individualized, and customized meditation teaching, using mindfulness, compassion and advanced awareness practices to help you cultivate inner calm, awakeness and freedom as well as emotional balance. Dr. Weininger uses her training as psychologist as well as her 40 years of intensive Meditation training to help you upgrade your life, your relationships and your sense of meaning.

Books:

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first served basis for those who register for this event. On a personal note, set in New Orleans East, Broom’s memoir covers her family’s experience of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on their home, which made it resonate even more deeply for me. If you are interested in the ebook, you can get it through the library on Hoopla or Libby.

Radhule WeiningeR, Foreword by Jack Kornfield

m d, P h d

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1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Perspectives

by Rinaldo S. Brutoco

Rinaldo S. Brutoco is the Founding President and CEO of the Santa Barbara-based World Business Academy and a co-founder of JUST Capital. He’s a serial entrepreneur, executive, author, radio host, and futurist who’s published on the role of business in relation to pressing moral, environmental, and social concerns for over 35 years

Electric Cars: Look What’s Coming Cars Without Fossil Fuels or Batteries!

esla led the world in electric vehicle (“EV”) sales during 2020 with a total of 499,511 (pure electric vehicles) followed by Volkswagen at 424,729 (if you count plug-in electrics) sold. The three closest competitors after that, all legacy car manufacturers, were in the low 200,000 to 250,000 range of units sold. In the U.S., the numbers are even more intriguing. Here, Tesla sold 201,769 units while the mighty GM sold a humble 20,807, followed by Volkswagen, Toyota, and Hyundai. Taken together, however, those global and domestic electric totals represent only four percent of the global market, and an even smaller two percent of the U.S. market. You can safely conclude three things from these numbers and the acceleration curve we’ve seen in EV sales: a) at only four percent globally today, future EV sales have enormous upside market potential and will see dramatic, compounding growth starting in 2021 and stretching to 2035 as we convert off of fossil fuel Internal Combustion Engines (“ICE” engines); b) the race to sell the most EVs is heating up and the legacy manufacturers will take an increasingly larger share of new EV sales; and c) even the press is unaware of how to properly analyze the rapidly evolving EV market, let alone tell us what we need to know about it. For starters, look at the fact that plug-in hybrids are counted as EVs. That is surprising because, as GM discovered with its technically superior and very popular “Volt,” the market is moving away from all ICE engines. Counting Volkswagen plug-in hybrids as an EV is like counting the declining sales of horse-drawn buggies as part of the alternative vehicle fleet – they’re not. Plugin hybrids will not have a meaningful share of the future car market, so from now on, let’s all agree the term EV means electric propulsion vehicles without any fossil fuel assist. Volkswagen is acutely aware of this and is pinning its hopes on its ability to mass-produce the “D” Series of all electric vehicles it has developed and will be bringing to market in upcoming model years. Now that we’re clear on the horizon for EVs, there is an even more important factor to consider: there are presently only two viable ways to create electricity to power our electric car fleet. Almost all observers assume that the tens of millions of EVs that will be produced in years to come will be battery-powered (“BEV”s). That is one way to get “juice” to the engine. The other is by using electricity from fuel cells powered by hydrogen. Should you care which technology wins out? “Yes,” for collective social reasons. And “Yes,” for individual financial gain. Lithium is the main ingredient in present-day batteries. It is a very “dirty” mineral to mine which takes as much as 500,000 gallons of water per ton of lithium extracted. Unfortunately, most of today’s lithium comes from areas where water is scarce and indigenous communities are fearful for continued access to clean water when lithium is mined so aggressively. Lithium is also toxic to humans if released from its containment vessel (e.g., like a car crash can do). Making matters worse, lithium mining in the developing world releases about 15 tons of CO2 for every ton of lithium recovered. A recent Forbes article predicted that the amount of lithium required by 2025 to service the battery market will increase five-fold to 1.3 million metric tonnes (1 metric “tonne” = 2,205 pounds). Fortunately, there are several promising new technologies to extract and refine lithium from geothermal sources, as well as proposed new PEM stack type filtration systems, and equally promising on-going research into solid state batteries that won’t use concentrated lithium. Unfortunately, no one knows if and how these new approaches will work, and no one yet knows how we’re going to avoid massive environmental damage in the meantime from the burgeoning lithium mining industry. Making matters worse, endof-life disposal of highly toxic lithium creates its own environmental disaster which will grow exponentially as more and more batteries are removed from primary and secondary service. There are several other drawbacks to battery electric vehicles (“BEV”s) including: 1) the limited range which averages about 200+ miles across the fleet, and drops precipitously if the vehicle has to climb a hill or mountain; 2) the number of charging stations that will have to be built in the millions, and for which you’ll have to get in line as the vehicle production outstrips

28 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Innovating Infrastructure

This grassroots renewable energy organization is powered by local moms

ne by one, cities like San Francisco and Ojai are banning natural gas in new construction projects. One grassroots organization leading the transition to fully renewable in Cambridge, Massachusetts is HEET, the Home Energy Efficiency Team. HEET advocates for replacing old gas infrastructure with geothermal micro districts using ground-source heat pumps. The organization is spearheaded not by engineers or scientists, but by a group of local moms who want to create a more sustainable future for their children. HEET was started by author Audrey Schulman, who says that motherhood inspired her to take action on climate issues. Along with fellow neighborhood parents, like Zeyneb Magavi, Schulman decided to tackle plugging natural gas leaks from corroded pipes. After publishing a map of the city’s leaks and urging public officials to take action, Schulman and Magavi moved on to the larger root of the problem: natural gas as a whole. HEET’s proposed ground-source heat pumps draw heat from several hundred feet underground, where the temperature remains a relatively constant 54 degrees, to heat and cool buildings. It’s considered one of the most eco-friendly heating and cooling options out there, but its upfront costs have discouraged cities from adopting it. Unfortunately, it can cost up to $45,000 to install the technology in a single building. However, converting entire neighborhoods at once significantly reduces this cost, so HEET set to work convincing Cambridge to embrace the idea. HEET’s proposal is gaining momentum. The organization has partnered with some city officials and even local gas companies to bring their idea to scale. A feasibility study found that the transition to ground-source heat pumps would slash emissions by 60 percent, reduce strain on the grid, and save residents money on electricity bills. The concept is being tested at two sites in the community and HEET hopes that if those trials go well, the concept can be proposed for city-wide adoption. Schulman and Magavi recognize that it will be an uphill battle to overhaul the air conditioning of an entire city, but they’re determined to build a better world for their children, so they’re not giving up anytime soon. We will continue to follow this story as well as ground-source heat pump experiments elsewhere and provide updates. •MJ charging stations; 3) the amount of time even a rapid charge takes that still takes a minimum of 40 minutes; and 4) the certainty that we do not have enough extra grid capacity to provide electricity to charge that vastly increasing fleet of BEVs (MIT estimates the grid would need to carry 25 percent more electricity). By contrast, a Fuel Cell EV (“FCEV”) which is an electric car powered by a fuel cell consuming gaseous hydrogen, is superior to a BEV because: 1) range is already in excess of 350 miles and could go higher by simply adding a larger fuel tank; 2) charging stations are not required as an FCEV fuels up at a hydrogen gas station the same way your ICE vehicle does; 3) it only takes about five minutes or less to re-fuel an FCEV; and 4) we don’t need to pull more electricity through an already strained electrical grid which is vulnerable to all sorts of dangers including terrorism – in fact FCEVs can be used to add power to your home as a mobile power plant that can power your house at night instead of draining power. Best of all, there are ZERO negative aspects from creating green hydrogen (it is made from renewable resources), ZERO negative aspects from consuming hydrogen in a fuel cell (no lithium to mine or figure out how to discard at end of life). H2O, pure water vapor, is the only byproduct. Having driven the hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai for more than three years, I can personally attest to its reliability, functionality, ease of use, and being able to effortlessly create a pleasant way to “do my part” for my carbon footprint. Honda has a great hydrogen car, but I believe we’ll all see a surge in recently re-tooled Toyota Mirai sales by the last half of this year. If you haven’t had a test drive, you’re missing out on the financially superior, smoothest riding, environmentally “correct” car of the 22nd century. Stay tuned to this space for several updates on the amazing, rapidly emerging, Hydrogen Economy. •MJ

“Folks, I don’t trust children. They’re here to replace us.” – Stephen Colbert

1 – 8 April 2021

Letters (Continued from page 10) can still transmit? We would be creating a two-class society for exactly no benefit! Since 99.9% of people under 70 survive the virus, how do you imagine the vaccine will improve that? It has never been proven to reduce the death rate. What we should be talking about is strengthening the immune system. Studies have shown that when the infection is treated within the first five days, using things like nebulized 0.1% hydrogen peroxide and Vit. D, no one gets “long-haulers COVID.” How about we further this discussion before we allow our fear to throw out our democracy entirely? Hesu Whitten (Sources: https://tinyurl.com/ Passport93108)

A Different Take

I didn’t like Jeffrey Stewart’s editorial. It’s made to sound as if Blacks had the monopoly on being victims in British society. But American style discussion of race, at all costs, must be discussed in an air-tight vacuum for it to trigger certain heartstrings, and not others. Britain’s Alien Laws were a snare to an array of ethnicities and most definitely were not limited to racial bias. More obvious, if Queen Elizabeth II minded diverse children would she have OK’d the marriage? And if the Queen didn’t approve of the marriage, Meghan would be waiting for casting calls and Harry would still be running around with his royal scepter in his hand. Matt McLaughlin

Going to Miss the Read ‘n Post

Sadly, I just learned that our wonderful Read ‘n Post will be leaving our ‘Village’ next month. For the many years we’ve lived in Montecito we have thoroughly enjoyed going there to the Post Office but primarily for all the wonderful assortment of ‘goodies’ to buy and treasure as well as chatting with the friendly staff! Glad we were able to enjoy the Montecito of the good old days… it is definitely changing and to me, not for the better. Jean von Wittenburg

A ‘Pretend Constitution’

What about an Equal Rights Amendment for women? Well, the whole concept seems almost passe today after a big effort in the 1970s failed. One of the obstacles to a 21st century ERA is that men, especially those in positions of financial and political power, seem to be slipping backward. They like women as servants, not as equals or superiors. 1 – 8 April 2021

But there is an even bigger obstacle. The Constitution, with all its guarantees of democratic equality, is basically only so much paper today. There are huge swaths of foundational language that have been trashed by presidents, congresses, and the courts. Today, our pretend Constitution effectively allows any political thug to do whatever he can get away with. And you, Ms. America, don’t give a damn. Besides, how are you going to get equal pay or equal power in today’s speedily declining America? Remember when Rome went from a democracy to a monarchy? That didn’t help women. Rome’s emperors forevermore were men. Ladies, if you want real power, you must bring back real democracy. Kimball Shinkoskey

Follow the Rules, Not Feelings

Please forgive me, but I must admit that when I read about the City Council’s recent consternation with the Historic Lands Commission my first reaction was, “welcome to the real world.” For decades business and property owners have been suffering under the egotistical lash of city planning and permitting departments, plus review committees. There is no way of knowing how many proposed businesses have been crushed by that permit process before ever opening their doors, but we all know the number is significant. Who can forget the kerfuffle over the small fluorescent “open” sign requested by the wine shop on State Street? Or the withholding of the final permit for Chick-fil-A because some permit functionary disagreed with the owner’s religious values? High-profile events like that, combined with the thousands of property owners who have been subjected to the overbearing, expensive and often

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capricious permit process are what turns a population against its own local government. On top of all that, look how city permit, zoning, and planning management reacted to the Auxiliary Dwelling Unit rules proposed by the state. Rather than cooperating in the least, those management groups chose to fight and waste taxpayer dollars. In return, the state has basically crushed them and removed their permitting powers regarding ADUs. The city council has the power to reign the planning and permitting groups in. I’m not asking for them to be destroyed, only that they be required to issued permits based on the rules, rather than their feelings. Jeff Havlik

Common Sense Must Win Out

For as long as I can remember I thought as long as there were more good people than bad the world would be fine. As of November 8, 2016, I started to question my premise. After watching the election results, tears rolled down my face. How could a person involved in some 4,000 lawsuits to his credit and a proven misogynist by his own admission, as well as speaking like a bully in a schoolyard, attain the highest power in our country? Were there really more bad people

than good? Or were there more bad voters than good? Or did he outwork Mrs. Clinton? Mr. Trump by no means is all bad. Clearly some of his legacy is that some good things happened during his watch. For example, shutting down travel from China, mildly improving the lives of minorities, moving the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. He was also strong leader and took out a powerful enemy in ISIS. We all know the mean and horrible things he’s said and done. Too many to mention but I must do so to be fair. Hurling insults at a war hero. Insulting a Gold Star family and, of course, saying he had the ability to grab a woman anywhere he wanted to because of his fame. Not to mention making fun of someone because they have a disability or questioning a judge’s decision-making process because he thought he was Mexican. I can’t help but think it is a beautiful thing that there are more good people than bad. But what this world really depends on for its survival is using common sense. It makes no sense to elect someone to our highest office that can poison our young into thinking they can lie, cheat, and bully all the way to the top. Steven Marko •MJ

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The Giving List (Continued from page 8) SWAT team, as well as a modem for the County Fire Chief’s Association Incident Management Team. Three QRET Helicopter Harnesses for the County Sheriff/Fire Air Operations Unit were the biggest items in the 2020 grant awards in February, all meant to fill in the spaces where needed equipment projects can fall through the cracks due to arduous budget processes or other issues. “Technology moves so fast, and it’s important that our departments have the equipment and technology to protect public safety,” she said. “And even if they had all the funding in the world, it’s like molasses to get things passed through the budget, which takes a year just to apply. So, if we donate it, they can get it immediately.” Which leads us to the current grant requests that the One805 board approved in February: a rescue rope system for $3,700; various drones to assist in remote rescues and other emergency situations at a cost of $14,000; purchase of the Rosetta Stone language development program to assist first responders in communicating with non-English speakers for $1,890; the aforementioned face shields and helmets to be used during larger group events involving protests for $5,500; four rescue struts that assist in extrication from vehicles and struc-

tures for $11,000; advanced technological products to assist with criminal investigations for $14,500; and a portion of the costs for the helicopter that supports the county first responder agencies for $35,000.

“And even if they had all the funding in the world, it’s like molasses to get things passed through the budget, which takes a year just to apply. So, if we donate it, they can get it immediately.” – Angela Binetti Schmidt, One805 executive director.

Nothing terribly glamorous. But things don’t have to be monumental or cost mega-bucks in order to matter. “We have to be conservative because we weren’t able to do our fundraiser in 2020 because of the pandemic, and we wanted to respect the other nonprofits and what’s going on with

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Katy Perry aided in One805’s “Kick Ash Bash” in 2018

a lot of donors who have diverted their funds to coronavirus relief,” said Binetti Schmidt. “So, it is pretty small, but these things are really impactful. When first responders are interacting with the general public, there’s some language barriers where the program could really make a difference. We found out the face shields matter during the George Floyd protests that turned violent in Santa Maria last summer. And those tech products really help because you can’t have the bad guys having better equipment and better technology than our departments.” What makes the current list even more exciting, Binetti Schmidt said, is that the requested items speak to one of One805’s tenets. “Collaboration and efficiency really meet our goal of wanting things that we donate to be fully utilized and shared,” she said. Take note that One805 is not dormant in between considering the equipment requests from first responder organizations. In fact, in times of crisis, the nonprofit can be something of a first responder itself. That’s what happened when COVID came to town. Within a few days of the first lockdown orders in March 2020, One805 – knowing that the official first responders were once again serving on the front lines while the rest of us sheltered at home – immediately began seeking donations of critical supplies including masks, gloves, liquid hand sanitizer, and protective medical clothing to distribute to medical and police, fire and other public safety departments throughout the county. Later they purchased and distributed 45 electronic defoggers for all the departments in the county to help sanitize public spaces and indoor environments to fight COVID. “As an emergency response organization, we’re on the forefront in collaborating with the departments all

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Just make sure you thrust upward through his ribcage.” – Stephen Colbert

over the county because that’s exactly what happened after the debris flow,” said Binetti Schmidt, explaining that having family in Washington State, where the virus first showed up, helped her to know what was coming. “That’s why we were created. There are always a lot of missing pieces in bringing the community together and quickly responding.” The nascent nonprofit’s nimbleness comes from the experience of its founders – each of whom had spent time previously on the boards of many nonprofits while Binetti Schmidt is the organization’s only paid employee. “We brought what we’d learned before into One805,” she explained. “And even before the virus, we were operating mostly virtually.” Now, as increased vaccinations are bringing hope of an eventual end to the pandemic, One805 would love to stage another big benefit event for the community, perhaps in the late summer or early fall, Binetti Schmidt. But in the meantime, there’s the $85,000 in approved requests to fulfil. “We’re just hoping this article speaks to people and that they are willing to help,” she said. “Maybe they want to underwrite one of the specific requests. Or they have a lead where we can get drones at cost, for example.” A large donor taking care of all of this year’s latest requests would be dandy. But the gestures don’t have to be grand. In keeping with its mission to unite the community, One805’s memberships start at just $25, and come with swag you can wear proudly around town — or rather will be able to show off in public as the pandemic restrictions continue to ease. But no matter what happens with COVID or whatever nature has in mind for us next, One805 will be ready to support our first responders in keeping us safe, Binetti Schimdt said. “If there’s a need that arises, we want to do what we can.” •MJ 1 – 8 April 2021

This is a moment that calls for Optimism, Resilience, Courage and Vision. Santa Barbara needs Hope, and Arts & Lectures is uniquely positioned to respond. Our 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE initiative will inspire our community with shared experiences – online, outdoors, in the schools, in theaters and in alternative spaces. By engaging thought-leaders, creative problem-solvers and arts visionaries, CREATING HOPE programs will strengthen human connection, bridge our partisan divides, promote emotional well-being, joy and compassion, and envision positive change. Jane Goodall

Allyson Felix

Bryan Stevenson

Book Giveaways

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Join us this spring, and beyond!

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(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu 1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

April & May

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Spring Virtual Pack $60 (Includes the seven virtual events slated for Apr - May)

Leading activists, creatives and thinkers confront racism in America, guiding us towards racial equality.

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Dr. Robert Bullard

Apr 15 / 5 PM Pacific

Allyson Felix

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Advocacy and Equality in Sports and in Life

Gullah Music of the Carolina Coast

The Quest for Environmental and Racial Justice

May 4 / 5 PM Pacific

Heather McGhee

Apr 30 / 5 PM Pacific Apr 29 / 5 PM Pacific

Theaster Gates

Artist and Social Innovator

Bryan Stevenson

American Injustice: Mercy, Humanity and Making a Difference

May 12 / 5 PM Pacific

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The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Dialogue

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Gevirtz Graduate School of Education Graduate Division Bren School for Environmental Science & Management College of Creative Studies College of Engineering MultiCultural Center

Bryan Stevenson Event Sponsors: Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli Allyson Felix presented in association with UCSB Athletics

Carsey-Wolf Center The Program in Latin American and Iberian Studies UCSB Library | UCSB Reads Office of the Chancellor Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor

Dr. Robert Bullard presented in association with the Central Coast Climate Justice Network, Community Environmental Council, UCSB Bren School for Environmental Science & Management and UCSB Environmental Studies Patrisse Cullors presented as part of UCSB Reads, sponsored by the UCSB Library and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor with additional support from UCSB Arts & Lectures and a variety of campus and community partners Special Thanks:

(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

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1 – 8 April 2021

Just Added Virtual Events for April & May

Intimate, interactive online events you won’t find anywhere else.

Jane Goodall

Hope Fuels a Better World Sat, Apr 10 / 11 AM Pacific (Note new time) Event Sponsors: Betsy Atwater & Tim Eaton, and Susan & Bruce Worster

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Additional support provided by Forces of Nature series sponsor Audrey & Timothy O. Fisher in memory of J. Brooks Fisher Dance Series Sponsors: Annette & Dr. Richard Caleel, Margo Cohen-Feinberg & Bob Feinberg, Irma & Morrie Jurkowitz, Barbara Stupay, and Sheila Wald Speaking with Pico Series Sponsors: Dori Pierson Carter & Chris Carter, Martha Gabbert, and Laura Shelburne & Kevin O’Connor Ephrat Asherie Dance presented in partnership with The Joyce Theater and Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech, and in association with the UCSB Department of Theater and Dance Mira Nair presented in association with the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara

House Calls - Spring 2021: $70 (Includes the seven virtual events slated for Apr-May)

Community Partners:

Single tickets start at $10 UCSB students: FREE! (Registration required). Special Thanks:

(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu 1 – 8 April 2021

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

On Entertainment (Continued from page 11 11)) local films, which in previous years have elicited some questions about second-class treatment. Not this year. “I did some renegotiating and moving things around and we were able to at least get them at least one screening,” said SBIFF senior programmer Mickey Duzdevich. “It was important, perhaps even more so this year, that they be a part of the [in-car portion of the] festival because they’re coming from the community. They belong in the bigger picture.” What’s more, every single one of the 40 full-length films is either a world premiere, U.S. premiere or, in rare cases, a special presentation, meaning the SBIFF programmers deemed it worthy of our attention, meaning everything fresh after a year when almost nothing has been. Even more astonishing, SBIFF is still covering several of its perennial categories and genres while at least touching on the rest, a goal Duzdevich said was important even as the fest had to do a version of the squeeze play. “What we came up with was to focus on our eight competition sections, and once we mapped that out and saved room for the local features, I wanted to make sure that the rest of our programs didn’t go by the way-

side,” he said. “We normally have our sidebars on nature films, screen cuisine, music, surfing, and all that. So, I made sure that we chose movies and sprinkled in premieres that could fit into those categories as well so we would still feel the presence of the main festival. I didn’t want to take away anything. It seems to work out, I may have missed a few sidebars, but for the most part we got it covered.” Hence, for example, Daughters of the Waves, entered in the Documentary Competition, also covers surfing; The Conservation Game, vying for the Social Justice award, touches on the natural world; Bulgaria’s Fear and Lithuania’s The Flood Won’t Come, both up for the Jeffrey C. Barbakow International award, could qualify for the Eastern European sidebar; the Iranian-Afghani doc The Forbidden Strings surely covers music; Israeli doc Four Mothers, in which the title characters who created a female-driven, grassroots group confronting the military establishment and a patriarchal society, helped to bring about an end to the war in southern Lebanon, would fall squarely in the Kolnoa sidebar; and so on. SBIFF also made it a point to bring back a couple of award winners from previous festivals, booking the psy-

chological thriller Cinema of Sleep, directed by Jeffrey St. Jules, whose film Bang Bang Baby won the SBIFF’s top prize, the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema, in 2015. Meanwhile, Johnny Sweet, director of Last Call: The Shutdown of NYC Bars, who was an Emmy Award-winning feature producer at ESPN for 10 years before turning to documentaries, earned SBIFF’s doc competition just two years ago for Quiet Storm, about the life of Ron Artest. (See more about Last Call below.) Alas, while the Santa Barbara feature-length films and docs made the cut to be included in the SBIFF drivein, the shorts programming, 75-something films strong, isn’t part of the outdoor schedule, available only virtually, save for the local documentary shorts, which will close the festival when they screen at both beachside locations, and also online, on Saturday, April 10. But maybe that’s a blessing in disguise, Duzdevich said. “I think the shorts will get watched even more online because those are always so popular, we have to turn people away,” Duzdevich said. “That’s especially true for the Santa Barbara one, because everybody has so many crew members and friends, so they always sell out. Now everybody can see them, and friends and

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family and anyone else can just hop online and watch a whole bunch – animated, comedy, what have you, for just ten bucks.” What you also won’t see at the drive-ins are the filmmaker Q&A sessions that followed many screenings at the theaters, but that too might also be a boon to devotees, as all filmmakers were offered a chance to pre-record a talk with Duzdevich and his team that will be available to watch online at the end of each on-demand viewing of the films. Of course, you won’t be able to actually ask a question, unless the filmmakers in question show up on SBIFF’s chat site that is already up and running. Down at the drive-ins, the actors and directors who do show up will get to pose for official pictures with the SBIFF logo and maybe say a few words beforehand before getting back in their cars to watch the movie along with everyone else. Turning back to the tribute honorees – actors, directors, and other celebrities – it does come as something of a surprise that SBIFF has also been able to pull off its full complement, as a lot of big-name stars and more recent year-end award winners or nominees are coming to town, if only virtually,

On Entertainment Page 364 364

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Advice for what matters most, when you need it most Congratulations to Steve Hepp for being named to the Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Advisors” 2021 list. As your life evolves, Merrill can provide personalized advice and guidance to help you stay on track to pursue your goals.

The JJD Group Steve Hepp, CIMA® Senior Vice President Wealth Management Advisor Portfolio Manager

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Source: The Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Advisors” list, February 11, 2021. Data provided by SHOOK™ Research, LLC. Data as of June 30, 2020. The Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Advisors” ranking was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person and telephone due diligence meetings to evaluate each advisor qualitatively, a major component of a ranking algorithm that includes: client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, including: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC and not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Rankings and recognition from Forbes are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a current or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance results, and such rankings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK Research receives compensation in exchange for placement on the ranking. Forbes is a trademark of Forbes Media LLC. All rights reserved. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (also referred to as “MLPF&S” or “Merrill”) makes available certain investment products sponsored, managed, distributed or provided by companies that are affiliates of Bank of America Corporation (“BofA Corp.”). MLPF&S is a registered broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, Member SIPC and a wholly owned subsidiary of BofA Corp.

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Montecito Fire Department ~ Via Zoom As a Community Member, we all have a responsibility to learn: • About the types of and key elements of disasters; potential impacts on infrastructure • About the community alerts and warnings, evacuation routes, and how to obtain critical information • About training in preparedness, first aid, and response skills • How to practice skills and personal plans through periodic drills at home and in your neighborhood • How to network and be able to help others; be aware of suspicious activity • How to participate in community feedback opportunities • How to volunteer

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MERRAG is a 501(c)(3) organization- donations may be sent to 595 San Ysidro Rd., Montecito, CA 93108 or www.merrag.org 1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

On Entertainment (Continued from page 34 34)) for live evening programs. As always, they’ll include film clips and interviews with each of the guests, perennially one of the most popular parts of the festival. Joining the actors covered in last week’s issue are directors, who get their own evening tribute this year featuring four of the five Academy Award hopefuls: Chloé Zhao of Nomadland, Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell, Lee Isaac Chung of Minari, and Thomas Vinterberg, who helmed Another Round. (Missing is David Fincher of Mank.) Participants in the writers, producers, and women’s panels had yet to be announced as of this writing, but you can expect a high percentage of Academy Award hopefuls. SBIFF even kept alive a more recent addition to the slate in the The Artisans Award which celebrates the important, but rarely spotlighted, contributors in terms of editing, sound, costumes, design, and makeup. True to its ways, SBIFF has invited a roster that are not only Oscar nominees, but the consensus frontrunners in each of their categories, from Joshua James Richards (cinematography) of Nomadland to Mia Neal (hair/makeup) of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, as well as Alan Baumgarten (editing) of The Trial of the Chicago 7, Donald

Graham Burt and Jan Pascale (production design) of Mank and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who are holding the top two slots for Mank and Soul. Unlike the films, the tributes will only be available to stream in real time – but is that really all that different for those who were sitting more than 25 rows back in the Arlington, where the video projections were much more compelling that squinting or squirming to see the stars in direct line of sight? “Those will be amazing because that’s a whole new realm that we’re going into with switching cameras back and forth much like any awards season event this year that you’ve seen on TV,” Duzdevich said. “But we’re trying to hone it in so there’s no hiccups, but we don’t control everybody’s Internet. So hopefully it all goes to plan.” Keep your fingers crossed. That’s a tall order in our zoned-out Zoomified present reality. Seems like a good time for escaping to the movies. (Visit www.sbiff.org for more details, synopsis, and info on each of the films, instruction on how to purchase passes and film tickets, a rundown of the film schedule at the SBCC drive-in screenings and info about reserving a spot.)

Jeremy Stone has joined Price, Postel & Parma as an associate attorney. Mr. Stone’s practice focuses on public agency, litigation, environmental, education, and employment law. Mr. Stone supports the firm’s education law practice by providing general counsel services to public employees, school districts, and county offices of education. He also has a broad litigation practice. Mr. Stone has practiced civil litigation from pre-litigation consultation to resolution. Mr. Stone’s background in civil defense gives him an advantage spotting issues early as well as the skills to resolve these issues efficiently. Having served in the Office of Chief Counsel for the State Water Resources Control Board, in-house for a real estate development company, and as a law clerk in the office of the California Attorney General, Mr. Stone is uniquely qualified to represent both public and private entities. Mr. Stone received his J.D. (with Great Distinction, Environmental Law Concentration) in 2018 from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. PP&P has a wide array of practice areas. We are committed to understanding its client’s needs and successfully navigating the ever-changing legal and regulatory environment. Look us up on the web at ppplaw.com

Price, Postel & Parma LLP

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36 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Neil Myers wrote and directed Climb to document his experiences after a near-fatal bicycle crash on Gibraltar Road

Rock of Gibraltar

Cyclist ‘Climbs’ back into the (bike) saddle

It was just 31 months ago that Neil Myers was nearly killed in a bikeversus-truck accident near the top of Gibraltar Road above Montecito, where the triathlete loved to train by undergoing grueling climbs up the mountain pass road. He followed the uphill treks with lightning-fast descents at speeds of more than 30 mph, far too fast to react to a truck veering into his lane, which is how he landed in the hospital on that fateful day in August 2017. Getting airlifted to the Level 1 trauma center at Cottage Hospital saved his life – Myers broke 11 bones including both wrists, one of his legs, his nose, and an astounding seven ribs as well as suffering deep lacerations and a brain bleed. Myers’ arduous path back to health – which included hurting so much at night that getting any sleep became “handto-hand combat” – informs Climb, the movie that Myers, a marketing company owner, also wrote and directed to document his experiences. (Be forewarned: The first still shot of his face in the hospital just shy of the six-minute mark comes as a gut punch on the screen).

The film is also a love letter to his family, the community, Santa Barbara’s beauty, his tri-team, and, not in the least, the doctors and other health professionals that enabled him to return to racing just four months after the accident. Myers shared some insights from his home office over Zoom last week. Q. Why did you want to turn your harrowing experience and difficult recovery into a film? A. The real question is what made me change my mind. I was vehemently against doing it at first even though I knew it was a good story. It just seemed cringe-worthy to make a movie about myself. But six months after the accident I was at the Cottage Hospital Tiara Ball where they were thanking the generous donors here in town who helped build the trauma center. They showed a five-minute promotional video of my story and I watched these people and how they were overcome realizing that something they built actually helped the community. It took me 45 minutes to get out of the building because everyone wanted to talk and tell me

On Entertainment Page 384 384

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1 – 8 April 2021

Miscellany (Continued from page 14)

moments can offer,” says Sasowsky. “Such moments aren’t about death. Rather, they are about an appreciation for life from a perspective that eschews sympathy in favor of understanding.” The documentary features many voices, including those of Dream Foundation ambassador Rob Lowe and Broadway star Teal Wicks, along with heartfelt personal accounts from families of dream recipients and people who help make the dreams come true. Since its founding in 1994 the organization has fulfilled more than 32,000 dreams across the nation.

“The recognition definitely helped propel and legitimize the work of Access Theatre, which four years later created and produced the critically acclaimed STORM READING which was just launched earlier this month as part of the Luke Theatre Virtual Series,” adds Rod. “In the first four days of its launch we have had over 20,000 views of the work.”

ing thud. Katy gasped and clutched her face as TV crew members rushed to Lagoke’s aid. Medics took her away by stretcher and she was treated for dehydration, given stitches and released. She is scheduled to return for this week’s Showstopper round, but it will be difficult to eclipse her real showstopper from last week.

The Future is Here

Poetic Perspective

Michael J. Fox is latest Montecito celebrity (photo: Paul Hudson)

Tracy K. Smith brings her poetic perspective to Music Academy of the West

Trip Down Memory Lane

Rod Lathim with Prince Albert and Princess Stephanie of Monaco

My item last week on the proposed documentary on the scandal-ridden royal family of Monaco, the Grimaldis, brought back memories galore for Santa Barbara producer Rod Lathim, who received a Princess Grace Foundation award grant during a celebrity-filled Beverly Hills bash in 1985 celebrating its U.S. launch. “It was a life- and career-changing experience for me with coverage of the multiple days of events from the fashion show with Pierre Cardin at the Beverly Hills Hotel, a rooftop concert with Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore, culminating with the award ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel,” says Rod, a leading supporter of the Marjorie Luke Theatre. “I was given my award in front of just about everyone in the industry that loved and worked with Grace Kelly. Prince Albert, Princess Stephanie, and Frank Sinatra presented my award. I explained my work with Access Theatre in Santa Barbara. I had the great honor of meeting Lucille Ball, Gregory Peck, Johnny Carson, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and a host of others. As an award recipient I had VIP access to all events.” Rod says he stayed in touch with the foundation and Frank and Barbara Sinatra for years and visited the Princess Grace Foundation USA offices in Manhattan where he was delighted to see a large print of a photograph of him with the Sinatras and the late Prince Rainier in the lobby. 1 – 8 April 2021

It’s not so much back to the future for actor Michael J. Fox, but back to the past after becoming our rarefied enclave’s latest celebrity resident with his actress wife, Tracy Pollan. The tony twosome sold their 72-acre estate in the charming community of Sharon, Connecticut, where I used to weekend years back, for $4.25 million, as well as their six-bedroom Hampton’s hideaway for $6.3 million in Quogue, to move to the Left Coast last fall. Five-time Emmy winner Michael, 59, and Tracy, 60, who he married in 1988, have four children, Sam, 31, twins Schuyler and Aquinnah, 25, and Esme, 18, join his former Back to the Future co-star Christopher Lloyd in living in our Eden by the Beach, as well as Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis, 68, who directed all three films in the trilogy between 1985 and 1990. Michael, a Canadian, retired from his successful acting career last year because of deteriorating health after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at the age of 29. In 2000, he founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation and has advocated for research and finding a cure. By coincidence I used to work with Tracy’s mother, Corky Pollan, when she edited the Best Bets column on New York Magazine, while I toiled as an editor of the weekly’s Intelligencer column in the ‘80s. A small world...

A Shocking Turn

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry got the shock of her life when judging the latest episode of ABC’s American Idol. One of the talented hopefuls being judged by Katy, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan, Funke Lagoke, who was teamed up with Ronda Felton singing “Tell Him” by Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand, collapsed, landing face down on the stage with a sicken-

Annie Leonard is the latest CEC hero award winner

in the climate race – meaning both state and regional organizations like the CEC have a huge responsibility in moving the world forward. Leonard joins an esteemed list of heroes including activist Paul Hawken, U.S. Congress members Lois Capps and Salud Carbajal, Titanic film director James Cameron, science educator Bill Nye, actress Daryl Hannah, and Tesla Motors magnate Elon Musk.

What’s in the Box? Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former two-term U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith has been appointed to the Music Academy of the West’s national advisory council. She joins current advisors Marcy Carsey, Jeremy Geffen, Gregg Gleasner, Ara Guzelimian, Mark Newbanks, and Chad Smith. “Tracy’s perspective as a writer and educator who collaborates with musicians will ignite creative thinking,” says Scott Reed, president and CEO. “She will inspire and challenge our community to connect in meaningful ways, as well as to reach new heights in cross-disciplinary arts.” Her association with the Miraflores campus dates back to 2015 when MAW joined forces with the Town Hall Seattle to commission composer, cellist, and alumnus Joshua Roman to set poems from Tracy’s Life on Mars in a song cycle for vocalist and chamber ensemble. She is also chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.

She’s Our Hero

Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA, is the recipient of the Santa Barbara’s Community Environmental Council’s 2021 Environmental Hero Award. “Her work exemplifies what it means to build the broad, boots-onthe-ground base of activism that we need to go all in together on the climate crisis,” says the CEC executive director Sigrid Wright, who will present the award at the Earth Day Festival in April along with UCSB’s Dehlsen chair of environmental studies David Pellow. Leonard is also the founder of The Story of Stuff and previously spent two decades working on international sustainability as well as environmental and health issues. She says California is the “pace car”

• The Voice of the Village •

An extremely large cardboard package arrived at Maison Mineards Montecito bearing the coats of arms of both Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales. It contained a capacious wicker picnic basket full of goodies, including champagne truffles, fruit cake, Queen Anne tea, and clotted cream biscuits, from the royal grocers, Fortnum & Mason in London, founded in 1707, and based on Piccadilly, a tiara’s toss from the esteemed Royal Academy, where I used to attend the annual summer ball, one of the highlights of the English social season. A beautifully engraved card revealed the sender as Barbara McMahon, the Los Angeles correspondent of the London Daily Mail, where I used to work in the ‘70s on Nigel Dempster’s Diary and covering the Royal Family, particularly in the Silver Jubilee year in 1977, for my help on stories on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It’s nice to be appreciated...

Rest in Peace, Emilie

On a personal note, I mark the passing of Emilie Sears, wife of Cafe del Sol owner, Jack Sears, who died in San Diego at 88. Bubbly Emilie had a colorful eclectic career in retail fashion and management before morphing successfully into real estate in Santa Barbara and Montecito. She married Jack, who left us in January 2019, in 1998. The couple sold their popular eatery next to the Andree Clark Bird Refuge in 2013. A charming lady who always reminded me her first name was spelt with an “ie” rather than a “y.” How could I forget? Sightings will return in due course now that Governor Gavin Newsom has lifted the total lockdown. Pip! Pip! Be safe, wear a mask, and get vaccinated. •MJ MONTECITO JOURNAL

On Entertainment (Continued from page 36 36)) about how they either biked Gibraltar themselves, or how they were putting their husband’s bike on eBay the next day, or just about trauma in their lives. What I learned that night was that the story is really a fun journey for people. I was just the protagonist in what is a story about this incredible community where people show up for you when you need them. I can’t be the only one wondering why the heck you wanted to get back on the bike and do another triathlon. Why get back on that horse again? I hear that a lot and it surprises me because it doesn’t seem unusual to me. But that’s me. With this kind of injury your body is screaming for fuel to heal you. My nurse practitioner told me, “I don’t care how hard you’ve ever trained – you’ve never needed as much fuel as you need, right this second, right now.” But with a rib injury you can’t eat, you’re still in shock and your guts have shut down. So, your body scavenges your own body for protein and steals from your muscles. I’d had Lance Armstrong legs and one week later I had lost almost 20 pounds. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, “I just hate this. I feel like I’ve taken a one-way trip to my 90s. I want to get back to me.” For me, the finish line was three

seconds before the accident. If I could do that, I could put it behind me. And the only way I knew to do that was to go train for another race. And then after winning in Santa Barbara, you just quit. I’m also curious how a guy as motivated as you just quit cold turkey. That’s exactly why, because the way I’m wired. I see no way to be in a race and be able to turn off the competitive instincts, which means I’m going to take risks I don’t want to take anymore. I’ve actually ridden Gibraltar more times since the accident than before. But my role now is to not go around a turn at a speed where I can’t stop. You have to manage the risk. You have to be a glass half empty cyclist. The first time I went back up Gibraltar, I wasn’t sure I could stick to that because it is fun to go really fast. But now I love it because I can look around and enjoy the view. And I do think I have a way to go back to competing just in Santa Barbara where the sprint route is around the cemetery, by Butterfly Beach, up to the freeway, over to Jamisen Road and then turn around and come back. It’s all flat. I could fall anywhere on that course and maybe break a leg, but it’s not going to be fatal. I’m happy doing it if I get rid of the risk.

Matthew Pifer, MD

Perhaps an obvious question: How is it now to relive what you went through on film? I feel it intensely, but not what you might think. I don’t have fear. There’s nothing negative for me, but just seeing all the support I got breaks me down every single time. I can’t get over how lucky I was. There’s so much gratitude. That sounds like it was scripted, but that’s truly what runs through my blood.

$avvy

Women. Money. Freedom. (Men allowed.)

The Big Short proved that it’s possible to make an interesting movie about money, a lesson documentary filmmaker Robin Hauser seemed to take to heart. Her latest documentary, $avvy, covers what could be a very dry subject – women’s relationship to finance – with a whole lot of advice from (mostly female) experts on how women can be smarter with money by breaking taboos and gender roles, but also a light touch that brings in humor. Hauser had a bit of head start, as her previous film, Bias, explored unconscious bias and how it affects our lives socially and in the workplace, while CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, delved into sex-based bias in the

Robin Hauser directed the documentary $avvy

tech world. Both were well-received and played at important festivals. Hauser, who worked in the corporate world prior to taking up filmmaking, has appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNN, NPR, CNBC, and elsewhere. She recently talked about $avvy, which premieres at SBIFF’s drive-in at 3:30 pm on Saturday, April 3. Q. What makes you so passionate about gender issues in the workplace and, with

On Entertainment Page 424 424

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1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Real Estate

range of $5 million to $8 million, all offering at least four bedrooms and a variety of other amenities and features and all newer to market.

by Mark Ashton Hunt

Mark and his wife, Sheela Hunt, are real estate agents. His family goes back nearly 100 years in the Santa Barbara area. Mark’s grandparents – Bill and Elsie Hunt – were Santa Barbara real estate brokers for 25 years.

789 Park Lane - $5,250,000

Montecito Has Been Discovered

omething tells me that times they are a-changing in Montecito… Whether it’s the 50-plus cars I saw at both the Hot Springs and San Ysidro Trailheads on the same day recently, or that I could not find a parking spot at sunset near Butterfly Beach on a weekday in March, or the fact that booking a reservation at local restaurants for a late breakfast is now a requirement not just an example of efficient planning, these are all signs telling me the one thing I have not accepted during the past year: Our little town of Montecito has indeed been discovered. Sure, she has had some big moments: Oprah moving here, then Ellen, the new Rosewood Miramar, and the reopening of the San Ysidro Ranch. But it seems to have taken a pandemic and a Royal family to ultimately highlight to those who weren’t already here, what we have known all along: This is a very special place. And for those who can afford to move and work here now, why go anywhere else? While Santa Barbara in general has been known as a city that conjures images of romantic beach vacations and visions of Spanish style streets and shopping, along with an Earth Day vibe, it is Montecito who finds herself the focus of attention these days. People ask: Why is everyone with a household name, a tech company, or a hedge fund buying a home in Montecito? I know it’s pretty, they say, but why did Harry and Meghan move there? Is it all Oprah? Or Ellen? The Rosewood Miramar? The hiking? Being close to Los Angeles? Or could it be the cultural aspects of a well-heeled and highly educated population with a commitment to the arts, both in Montecito and the larger population of Santa Barbara and the benefits of having a top university? Or is it just simply being near the coast in one of the most livable climates in the country? Yup, it’s all that, and more. A special “hat tip” to our local resident community leaders and to our restaurants and services in the upper and lower villages and their amazing employees for making life here so special and making it easy to navigate our day-to-day needs as well. If you have not already secured a piece of paradise, or if you live here and are thinking of selling your home, I can tell you that to date, the market is still quite hot and each week we see well beyond the average number of home sales for any given week compared to previous years. Additionally, more homes are selling over $5,000,000 these days than ever before, and the inventory below $3,000,000 allows only a couple of options at this point for Buyers. If you want to find a home in Montecito right now, in nearly any price range, you will need all your support systems ready to go when the home you want becomes available. This list includes an agent who knows the market as well as the agents representing the very few listings you might be offering on. Your financing should be in place, your inspection strategy and timeframes should be thought through and your ability to close escrow in a matter of weeks not months in some cases should be considered as well. Below are four properties worth considering, all in that prime Montecito

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40 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Address: 500 Maple Ave, #1, Carpinteria Phone: 805-755-2205 Email: dirtbotanicals@gmail.com Instagram: @dirtbotanicalstudio

his is a great opportunity to own a property on a larger, 1.65-acre lot, near the intersection of prestigious Park Lane and East Mountain Drive, just a few short blocks from the San Ysidro Ranch and located within the Montecito Union School District. Sprawl out in the 7,000+/- square foot, two-story, 1937 Monterey Colonial style home that includes eight bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms. There is also a two-bedroom guest house, mature landscaping, oak and olive groves, and off-street parking with upside potential throughout. Move in as is, or take advantage of the perfect palette to create a spectacular estate property. Surrounded by many more expensive recent sales, this property offers generously proportioned living areas with an impressive great room, grand dining room, primary suite with his and hers baths, and a sitting area opening to a wraparound veranda. An entertainment terrace is located just off the great room and dining room, providing classic California style indoor/ outdoor living.

920 Camino Viejo Road - $6,250,000

his AIA award-winning modernist house was designed by renowned Architect Rex Lotery for his personal residence in 1996. Design, functionality, architecture, and art all come together in this luxurious Montecito estate. This stunning four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom sculptural home boasts dreamy mountain views, soaring ceilings, and a stylish outdoor entertaining space. Natural light pours in through floor-to-ceiling windows, highlighting the quality finishes throughout, featuring top of the line stainless appliances, dual Viking ovens and warmer, a Wolf range, a Subzero fridge, slate flooring, a walkin pantry, and a generous chef’s island in the luxe kitchen. These amenities open to the dining and living room area, designed to cater to intimate gatherings or large house parties. All four bedrooms feature en-suite bathrooms, with the primary bedroom offering an office, fireplace, and vaulted ceilings. The house also features another office with fireplace, a glass-walled artist’s studio, a 5,000-bottle wine cellar, and an impressive glass-roofed library. Entertain against the majestic backdrop of the Santa Ynez Mountains in the outdoor living space that includes a pool, spa, fireplace, and ample seating, including radiant-heated concrete couches. Convenient to the shopping and dining of Montecito’s Upper and Lower Villages in a great location and just over the hill into West Montecito and Santa Barbara.

“The summer movies are coming out. My advice: just stay home and burn a good book.” – Stephen Colbert

1 – 8 April 2021

1327 Green Meadow Road - $6,495,000

Let’s discuss your real estate needs.

esting on a quiet street off coveted Picacho Lane in the heart of Montecito and up the olive tree-lined driveway with gated entry is this unique, Spanish Colonial Revival Style estate. The home is framed by unobstructed mountain views and rests on 1.54 magical and very private acres within the Montecito Union School District, just a few blocks from school. Architecture from the 1920s was the inspiration behind Andy Neumann and Scott Rowland’s vision when designing this four-bedroom, three-and-a-halfbathroom home, that also includes a one-bedroom, one-bathroom attached casita. The golden light that bathes the home invites you to live with an indoor-outdoor flow. Every design in this home has been meticulously thought out to capture the beauty of its glorious Sydney Baumgartner gardens, with a redwood forest, gorgeous oaks, mature fruit trees, and meandering paths, all built around the focal point, an interior courtyard with a lovely outdoor fireplace to enjoy starlit evenings.

210 Butterfly Lane - $7,500,000

The Morehart Group Paige Marshall Mitch Morehart Beverly Palmer Susan Pate

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his is a perfect example of what many buyers are looking for these days, a home on a private lot with good parking, open grounds, lots of sunlight, a pool, guest/pool house, and many areas to enjoy living and working from home. The single-level Mediterranean home offers a floor plan that includes a state-of-the-art movie theater, five fireplaces, chef’s kitchen, and pool cabana. The home is located within Montecito’s coveted Lower Village, up a private drive leading to your sprawling home and grounds. Upon entering the elaborate wrought-iron front doors, the living room welcomes you with a large stone fireplace and French doors leading to the beautiful garden. A great home for entertaining, whether it’s a summer party by the pool or a movie night in your private theater, this home’s amenities do not disappoint. Each of the five spacious bedrooms is en-suite. The primary bedroom, with dual luxurious baths, walk-in closets and a sitting area with fireplace, is an idyllic place to start and end each day. This home is convenient to shopping and dining on Coast Village Road, as well as world-class Butterfly Beach and the Montecito Club, and is within the Montecito Union School District. •MJ 1 – 8 April 2021

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

On Entertainment (Continued from page 38 38)) $avvy, women who have challenges with money? A. To start with, after 25 years of being married, I was one of those women. I hadn’t really paid attention to finances, partly because he handled it. That’s just the way that our marriage worked. He’s fairly traditional and that’s the way it was comfortable for him. So, at 50 years old, I was suddenly divorced and for the first time in 25 years solely responsible for my financial well-being. Looking into the future and thinking about retirement, it was a bit of a shock to me. I have an MBA and was already making movies, so I could only imagine what this is like for other women, some of who stay in marriages because they don’t know how to handle things financially, and don’t believe that they can make it on their own, which is frightening. The more I dug into it, I kept hearing stories of financial abuse and women who had credit cards that didn’t know anything about compound interest,

doesn’t really invite women in, and it can be off-putting.

and women who had gotten themselves in some pretty difficult situations just due to lack of savviness. Smart women – that’s what is so fascinating about this. It isn’t something that happens just to women who don’t have great education. There are highly wealthy women that really don’t understand finance. This situation crosses socioeconomic boundaries.

I hadn’t even thought about that, but yeah, the animals are the bull and the bear. No deer. Yes. The Wall Street symbol is a raging male bull with kahunas that are probably incredibly well-endowed. The terms are all from war: crushing it, hit with a bomb. It’s intimidating.

Forgive my ignorance, but how do successful people not understand basic concepts about money? It’s not that they, or I, don’t understand, but there is societal and cultural messaging, or just following traditions that dictate that the man handles the finances while the women handle the household... Or maybe we fall into the Cinderella effect where we want to be taken care of, or because we’ve been getting the message forever that women aren’t good at math. Just think about the stock market, which was made by men for men. The investment world

What’s the most surprising thing you learned in making the movie? It wasn’t shocking at all that our grandmothers were really pretty bad about finances, because back then they couldn’t even open up a credit card in their own name, or a bank account for that matter. Maybe that was true for our mothers, too. But it turns out that millennials are the worst off. It was shocking to me when I saw a study that showed that 46% of women across generations abdicate major financial decisions to the men in their lives, and even 40% of women in same sex relationships abdicate deci-

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By Pete Muller & Andrew White For each of the first five mini crosswords, one of the entries also serves as part of a five-word meta clue. The answer to the meta is a word or phrase (five letters or longer) hidden within the sixth mini crossword. The hidden meta answer starts in one of the squares and snakes through the grid vertically and horizontally from there (no diagonals!) without revisiting any squares.

sions to their partner. With millennial women, that number climbs to almost 61%. It’s a mystery but it’s so dangerous, because eight out of 10 women will, at some point in their lives, be solely responsible for their financial well-being. Women live on average seven to eight years longer than men; women spend more time out of the workplace to care for their children and elderly relatives. So that means that we live longer with less money, not to mention the fact that we only make 82 cents on the dollar to what a man makes to begin with. Finding your way out can be hard, because nobody really wants to bring up unromantic things like money when you’re dating. But it’s inevitable that it comes up later, maybe when you want to buy that first house, and you discover that your partner has horrible credit, or one likes to save for an ideal vacation and the other is shopping online every day. That might be cute when you’re dating. It’s

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1 – 8 April 2021

Notice Inviting Bids CONVEYANCE MAIN PROJECT Bid No. 4016 1.

Bid Submission. The City of Santa Barbara (“City”) will accept electronic bids for its Conveyance Main Project (“Project”), by or before April 28, 2021, at 3:00 p.m. local time, through its PlanetBids portal. Bidders must be registered on the City of Santa Barbara’s PlanetBids portal in order to submit a Bid proposal and to receive addendum notifications. Each bidder is responsible for making certain that its Bid Proposal is actually submitted/uploaded with sufficient time to be received by PlanetBids prior to the bid opening date and time. Large files may take more time to be submitted/uploaded to PlanetBids, so plan accordingly. The receiving time on the PlanetBids server will be the governing time for acceptability of bids. Telegraphic, telephonic, hardcopy, and facsimile bids will not be accepted.

SANTA BARBARA HARBOR SLIP PERMIT LOTTERY Santa Barbara Harbor announces an application period to participate in a lottery for the assignment of 20’ slip permits. Lottery Participation Requests accepted from 8 a.m. April 1, 2021 through 5 p.m. April 21, 2021. For application form and program details, please visit www.SantaBarbaraCA.gov/Waterfront, or call the Waterfront Department at 805-564-5531.

If any Addendum issued by the City is not acknowledged online by the Bidder, the PlanetBids System will prevent the Bidder from submitting a Bid Proposal. Bidders are responsible for obtaining all addenda from the City’s PlanetBids portal. Bid results and awards will be available on PlanetBids. 2.

Project Information. 2.1 Location and Description The Project is located in the City of Santa Barbara, California approximately in Yanonali Street, Calle Caesar Chavez, Salsipuedes Street, Ortega Street, Olive Street, Sola Street, and Garden Street ,and is described as follows: the Work generally consists of construction of approximately 2.2 miles of 24-inch diameter potable water pipeline, a pressure reducing valve vault, 500 feet of 8-inch diameter sanitary sewer pipeline replacement, pipeline appurtenances, paving, potholing, CCTV inspection, electrical and instrumentation equipment, and other miscellaneous work.

Published March 31, 2021 Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JM Enterprises, 1187 Coast Village RD, Suite 413, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Julian S Memi, 1187 Coast Village RD, Suite 413, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 10, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000661. Published March 31, April 7, 14, 21, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Montecito Executive Services, 1482 East Valley Road, Suite 42, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Mary L Ortega, 6180 Via Real #70, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 26, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000859. Published March 31, April 7, 14, 21, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Rio Market Wine and Spirit, 1051 Edison St, Santa Ynez, CA 93460. Mitch Elian Samaan, 2621 W Highway 154, Santa Ynez, CA 93460. Moris Samaan, 3548 Glen Abbey Ln, Oxnard, CA 93036. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 12, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000703. Published March 31, April 7, 14, 21, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Zacarias JL Trucking, 220 Calle Cesar E Chavez Apt 45 Guadalupe, CA 93434. Zacarias JL Trucking INC, 220 Calle Cesar E Chavez Apt 45 Guadalupe, CA 93434. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 12, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000706. Published March 17, 24, 31, April 7, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Rodriguez Strategies, 2020 Creekside Road, Montecito, CA 93108. Rodriguez Strategies, 2020 Creekside Road, Montecito, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 10, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000650. Published March 17, 24, 31, April 7, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: LOVENOPAIN.COM LLC, 280 Old Mill Road, Apt 67, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. LOVENOPAIN.COM LLC, 5142 Hollister Avenue Number 552, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. This statement was filed with the County Clerk

1 – 8 April 2021

of Santa Barbara County on March 8, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000620. Published March 17, 24, 31, April 7, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Forest Farm Music + Art, 1008 Ladera Lane, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Charles Lloyd, 1008 Ladera Lane, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Dorothy Darr, 1008 Ladera Lane, Santa Barbara, CA 93108This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 26, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000532. Published March 17, 24, 31, April 7, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Torbellino’s Demolition & Hauling, 265 Rametto Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Karina Aguilera, 265 Rametto Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 5, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000614. Published March 10, 17, 24, 31, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Central Coast Sommelier Service, 1012 Lagnua Street #D, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Latitude 3050 LLC, 1012 Lagnua Street #D, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 26, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20210000538. Published March 10, 17, 24, 31, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: Montecito Charters, 10 E Yanonali Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. P520 LLC, 10 E Yanonali Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 4, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20210000593. Published March 10, 17, 24, 31, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Goodland Cleaning Services, 7632 Hollister Ave Unit 249, Goleta, CA 93117. Nathalia De Jesus Pedraza Moreno, 7632 Hollister Ave Unit 249, Goleta, CA 93117. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 22, 2021. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2021-0000482. Published March 10, 17, 24, 31, 2021

2.2 Time for Final Completion. The Project must be fully completed within 300 calendar days from the start date set forth in the Notice to Proceed. City anticipates that the Work will begin on or about June 2, 2021, but the anticipated start date is provided solely for convenience and is neither certain nor binding. 2.3 3.

Estimated Cost. The estimated construction cost is $12,000,000.

License and Registration Requirements. 3.1

License. This Project requires a valid California contractor’s license for the following classification(s): A.

3.2 DIR Registration. City may not accept a Bid Proposal from or enter into the Contract with a bidder, without proof that the bidder is registered with the California Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”) to perform public work pursuant to Labor Code § 1725.5, subject to limited legal exceptions. 4.

Contract Documents. The plans, specifications, bid forms and contract documents for the Project, and any addenda thereto (“Contract Documents”) may be downloaded from City’s website at: http://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=29959. The Project and its contract documents will be available on the City’s PlanetBids Portal starting on Thursday, April 1, 2021. A printed copy of the Contract Documents may be obtained from 1. CyberCopy Shop, located at 504 N. Milpas Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, at (805) 884- 6155.

Bid Security. The Bid Proposal must be accompanied by bid security of ten percent of the maximum bid amount, in the form of a cashier’s or certified check made payable to City, or a bid bond executed by a surety licensed to do business in the State of California on the Bid Bond form included with the Contract Documents. The bid security must guarantee that within ten days after City issues the Notice of Award, the successful bidder will execute the Contract and submit the payment and performance bonds, insurance certificates and endorsements, and any other submittals required by the Contract Documents and as specified in the Notice of Award.

Prevailing Wage Requirements. 6.1 General. Pursuant to California Labor Code § 1720 et seq., this Project is subject to the prevailing wage requirements applicable to the locality in which the Work is to be performed for each craft, classification or type of worker needed to perform the Work, including employer payments for health and welfare, pension, vacation, apprenticeship and similar purposes. 6.2 Rates. These prevailing rates are on file with the City and are available online at http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSR. Each Contractor and Subcontractor must pay no less than the specified rates to all workers employed to work on the Project. The schedule of per diem wages is based upon a working day of eight hours. The rate for holiday and overtime work must be at least time and one-half. 6.3 1771.4.

Compliance. The Contract will be subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the DIR, under Labor Code §

Performance and Payment Bonds. The successful bidder will be required to provide performance and payment bonds, each for 100% of the Contract Price, as further specified in the Contract Documents.

Substitution of Securities. Substitution of appropriate securities in lieu of retention amounts from progress payments is permitted under Public Contract Code § 22300.

Subcontractor List. Each Subcontractor must be registered with the DIR to perform work on public projects. Each bidder must submit a completed Subcontractor List form with its Bid Proposal, including the name, location of the place of business, California contractor license number, DIR registration number, and percentage of the Work to be performed (based on the base bid price) for each Subcontractor that will perform Work or service or fabricate or install Work for the prime contractor in excess of one-half of 1% of the bid price, using the Subcontractor List form included with the Contract Documents.

11.

Instructions to Bidders. All bidders should carefully review the Instructions to Bidders for more detailed information before submitting a Bid Proposal. The definitions provided in Article 1 of the General Conditions apply to all of the Contract Documents, as defined therein, including this Notice Inviting Bids.

12.

Mandatory Bidders’ Conference. A bidders’ conference will be held on Tuesday April 13, 2021 at 10:00 a.m., online via a videoconference for the purpose of acquainting all prospective bidders with the Contract Documents and the Worksite. The bidders’ conference is mandatory. A bidder who fails to attend a mandatory bidders’ conference will be disqualified from bidding. Login information for the pre-bid meeting will be posted on PlanetBids. 13. Specific Brands. Pursuant to referenced provision(s) of Public Contract Code section 3400(c), City has found that the following specific brands are required for the following particular material(s), product(s), thing(s), or service(s), and no substitutions will be considered or accepted:

11.

Item: Sump Pump Gate Valve Plug Valve Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) Conductivity Level Switch Magnetic Flowmeter Pressure Gauge Pressure Transmitter 14.

Required brand: Zoeller Mueller Co. Dezurik Cla-Val Warrick Controls Emerson, Rosemount Dixon (liquid filled) Rosemount

Reference: 11312J 15115 15116 15118 17201 17302 17405 17405

Proposition 1 Round 1 Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Implementation Grant. The project is at least partially funded by an IRWM grant and Contractor is required to comply with requirements listed in the Special Conditions.

By:

Date:

William Hornung, C.P.M, General Services Manager Publication Dates: 1) 3/31/21 2) 4/7/21 END OF NOTICE INVITING BIDS

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Our Town

by Joanne A. Calitri

Joanne is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@yahoo.com

Arts in Lockdown #25: Jana Goldbloom Brody

Joanne Calitri interviewing Jana Brody over Zoom

Jana Brody leading a creative art project in Rwanda in 2016

Jana Goldbloom Brody is a multi-faceted artist entrepreneur, owner of Paint Jam USA, and our local community arts outreach expert. This February she started a position at Leading From Within as their Courage to Lead Alumni Community Coordinator, working directly with its Executive Director Ed France serving both its Santa Barbara and Los Angeles chapters. She is also the Santa Barbara Arts Commissioner 2nd District, a volunteer leadership position serving on its Art in Public Places Committee. Jana grew up in west San Fernando Valley. She holds a BA in Communications from UCSB and MA

in Arts Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills. After graduating from UCSB, she traveled through Southeast Asia, Japan, Africa, Europe, and Israel learning the local art and culture, where she painted in a hut in Bali and learned Batik with locals in Indonesia. After receiving her MA degree, she worked in Los Angeles at a Melrose Avenue art gallery as a Corporate Art Consultant. In 1996, she moved to Santa Barbara and began working with various public art and community outreach programs. Jana has been a professional artist since 1980, working in acrylic on canvas, silk painting, and up-cycled and found art.

Now Accepting Consignments! www.ConsignmentsbyMMD.com Instagram: @louisofmontecito

4441 Hollister Ave. SB 93110 (805) 770-7715

44 MONTECITO JOURNAL

As an artist entrepreneur, community arts advocate, and mother of three, she continually invents new avenues for art and artists. Here’s our interview: Q. Can you tell me about your position as the Courage to Lead Alumni Community Coordinator for Leading From Within? A. Courage To Lead is a nourishing program for organizational leaders, and there are no other programs like it. It is not a business or networking center. Here, leaders learn to connect, empower, and inspire one another; renewing heart, mind, and spirit as a peer support group. My role is to work with the program alumni and offer continued opportunities to support these bonded communities and sustain the valuable resource sharing. One specific focus is to reconvene the Leadership Council and support their creative inspirations. Currently there are 195 active Courage To Leaders in the community, started by its Founder and Board Chair Ken Saxon and Lead Instructor/Executive Coach Kim Stokely in 2008. And as the SB Arts Commissioner, 2nd District? I serve on the County Art in Public Places Committee, bringing public art projects to North and South County. We are actively placing public art around Santa Barbara County for people to view during lockdown. Our latest public art sculpture installation is Tom Fruin’s “Camouflage House,” on view at Lake Cachuma through early summer 2021. In both this position, and the Courage to Lead Alumni Community Coordinator, I believe in the importance of relationship build-

“It’s back to school time. or as home-schoolers call it, stay-where-you-are time.” – Stephen Colbert

ing and curating shared resources as the key to personal growth and organizational stability. Tell me about being an artist entrepreneur during COVID. This past COVID year, through job loss and knee surgery, I was forced to pivot as a business owner and grow in unexpected, positive ways, embracing the benefits of social media. First, I created a Facebook group called The Art Salon, a place for like-minded artists and art lovers, and joined entrepreneur FB groups for networking and business building support. Marketing on LinkedIn and Instagram, I continued selling painted pet portraits to the many new COVID pet owners, and reached out to busy realtors in need of new client closing gifts painting commissions of homes and views as a unique offering. Next, I figured out a way to elevate life in separation: Gathering friends, family, and coworkers virtually with my business Paint Jam USA. It lights me up to empower others to find their creativity through art experiences via Zoom across borders and time zones. The most popular paint jam theme is the “Painted Affirmations” event or “find your voice in 15 words or less.” This guided canvas painting activity empowers folks to take creative action and feel inspired by their favorite song lyrics or chosen quote with personal paint colors and designs. Pairing right brain – left brain interaction through art allows for personal growth and builds self-confidence. Materials can be purchased directly via a kit on Amazon, or on your own using the supplies list. Remote events are enabling previously unattainable local as well as 1 – 8 April 2021

Jana Brody leading Paint Jam USA in her studio

Jana Brody leading her Paint Jam over Zoom

their inspirational stories from across the arts world. How do the arts influence the human condition? Arts lift the spirit and create beauty and empowers confidence from the inside out. Jana with her son Judah at Hendry’s Beach viewing Tom Fruin’s “Camouflage House”

global interactions. Paint Jam USA hosts private as well as Corporate events. Groups range from nonprofit teams, wealth management groups, a haiku writers club, Sassy Healthy Fit Girls Night Out to weekly sponsored sessions for Cong. B’nai Brith, as well as paint jamming for 21st, 60th and 85th birthday celebrations. My outreach personal best of hosting 6 states and Canada was recently topped by a call from Romania. The Romanian host invited guests who painted along from Ireland, England and New York as I guided them in art from California. Another uplifting celebration connected 33 people from all over California and other three states toasting and painting together. Paint Jam also offers in person art classes, and now with vaccinations and less restrictive tiers, I go to Maravilla and Mariposa senior living centers leading groups of 12 seniors who are artists through acrylic painting landscapes. I will be collaborating with the new owner Andrew Rawls of DIY interactive The Crafters Library teaching Silk Painting. I am also setting up Paint Stations at outdoor wine patios such as Uncorked for socially distant art experiences. And in January of 2021, my daughter Riva, a senior performing artist at UCLA, and I launched a podcast called, “Arts With an S,” where we co-host and interview guests sharing 1 – 8 April 2021

Can you talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts? Having traveled the world I have a unique perspective on world culture, being married to a deaf man I have an interesting view on inclusion, and as a woman in the arts I understand the need for equity. The world we live in is in constant flux and change, the best we can do as individuals is to put ourselves in other people’s shoes for true awareness. Artists of all backgrounds can act as conduits raising awareness to the importance of these basic tenets through varied accessible mediums. How do you stay creative and inspired? I gain inspiration from the world around me. I am known to interrupt a serious conversation to comment on the cloud formations behind the head of the person talking. I take pictures of the leaf patterns that have formed in the corner of my yard when I am supposed to be taking photos of my new puppy. I stay inspired by collaborating with those around me. Sharing skills, resources, and ideas to move each other personally or professionally forward is my jam; which is the origin of how I named and run Paint Jam USA.

creative virtual retreats is an aspiration. What do you want to change in the world right now? To use a quote from my favorite painted affirmation, “I aspire to inspire before I expire.” Art should be put in buildings, on buildings, sidewalks, parks, and essentially everywhere, making art a part of everyday life, to provide a new lens or artistic curiosity for people. How are you giving back/paying forward? Bringing silk painting lessons to a children’s inclusive school in Rwanda in 2016. The students were busy learning three languages along with the core curriculum, and I was thrilled to share art and creative thinking with them. Collaborating with Executive Director Michael Baker in March to April 2020 and The Squire Foundation, seven Santa Barbara County Boys & Girls Club’s benefited by mural paintings on the interior walls during lockdown. These murals were paint-

ed with precautions in place and by one artist at a time at each location. Colorful designs covered large, white walls that surprised and delighted the children upon return to the centers. What is your advice for artists and the next generation? My advice for artists and the next generation is trust your gut when it comes to decision making. Not having a 9-5 office job, since my first year out of college, I thrive as an independent entrepreneur and am proud to advise my three artistic children, and others, to follow their passions and forge their way in the world even if it takes wearing many hats and following many paths to get there. As a creative resource, I hope to inspire others to mix their style of education and life experiences with the goal of impacting lives and empowering others through creativity. 411: www.paintjamusa.com www.instagram.com/Jana.Brody www.facebook.com/janabrody •MJ

What is your arts dream project? Working as an in-house creative art coach for the employees of large corporations such as Amazon, Google, and Wall Street firms creating wellness through art experiences and offering • The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

On Entertainment (Continued from page 42 42)) not so cute when you’re married. Playing a bit of the devil’s advocate, you made the movie for women. The tagline is “Women. Money. Freedom.” Are men allowed to see it? Absolutely. I love men and I love my male audience and I never want to make a film that marginalizes men. The men who watched (my previous films) Code Debugging or The Gender Gap found them incredibly eye-opening, which I think will be true here, because even when I was filming the men on my crew would watch an interview and then want to know where they could see the film. because they wanted their wife or girlfriend or mother to see it. And when I showed it to my son and a few of his friends, they told me I probably should have had a male character because it was relevant to guys his age, too.

Mickey’s Marks

Coast was one of the films picked as among the fest’s highlights by senior programmer Mickey Duzdevich, who also recommended Trees of Peace, a story drawn from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda about four women from different backgrounds and beliefs who are trapped together in an underground room where they are forced to reconcile their inner demons and put their differences aside for survival. The film is the directorial debut from actress-writer-director Alanna Brown who is now also writing for Starz’s upcoming Blindspotting mini-series based on the critically acclaimed 2018 film. “All the actors and actresses in the film are now big up-and-coming stars while the director is working on Netflix shows, so it’s a great one,” he said about the movie that screens at the SBCC drivein on both April 9 and 10. He also recommended Alaskan Nets, centered on Metlakatla, a small remote island that is home to the Tsimshian Indians of Alaska’s last native reserve. The islanders follow two sacred traditions: fishing and, surprisingly, basketball. Even more improbable, two cousins lead their team and town in search of their first state championship in more than 30 years helping to bring some life back

to the community. “It’s a great film,” Duzdevich said. “What’s really cool is that Alaska Airlines loved the film so much that they put the whole basketball team and the filmmakers into pods and they’re going to fly them down here for the premiere at the drive-in (at 7 pm on Saturday, April 3) to watch it all together in person.” Also, not to be missed: The Revolution Generation, narrated by and starring Michelle Rodriguez (Lost, Avatar, The Fast and Furious). The documentary serves as a manifesto for today’s youth, addressing the societal forces that have shaped and held back the generation and showing how they can deploy their strengths to revolutionize the system as they confront both the U.S. political crisis and the global environmental crisis. The film comes from Ojai’s Josh Tickell, whose first feature doc, Fuel, won Sundance’s Audience Award 13 years ago. Generation, like his previous film, Kiss the Ground, which premiered in Santa Barbara Permaculture’s Eco-Film Night series at the West Wind Drive-In just last September, is based on books he co-wrote with wife Rebecca, who also co-directed the movies.

Montecito at the Movies

Evan Wood finds a young writer, in search of inspiration, digging into her forgotten life after the news of her grandma’s passing. The film tackles substance abuse in young adults from the perspective of the addict’s family members: their struggles, hopes, and heartbreaks. The YA drama represents the feature film debut of Montecitoraised director Niki Byrne, who will be in-person to introduce her film when it makes its world premiere at the drive-in at 8:30 am on Saturday, April 3… Christina Apostolopoulos, the Montecito-raised singer-songwriter-guitarist, who was educated at Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music, performs her song “Gratified,” about a grifter girl on the lam in Santa Barbara, in a four-minute short directed by Leslie Hope, the nearly four-decade veteran TV actress-turned-director.

Film Clips: Pandemic Premiere

It would have seemed disingenuous to put on a film festival more than a year into the pandemic without alluding to the COVID crisis at all. The main one that did make it through programming’s final cut was Last Call, director Johnny Sweet’s painfully emotional documentary about the hard-hit bar scene in Queens, New York, one of the global epicenters in the early days of the pandemic. Sweet started shooting right when the pandemic began, when the bars were closing and the bartenders were trying to figure out how to cope, and he did all the filming using robotic computer-controlled remotely operated cameras for the studio interviews, or via social distancing. While Sweet focused on his own neighborhood Sparrow Cafe, anyone familiar with their local watering hole – say the upscale Honor Bar on Coast Village Road, Mel’s or Elsie’s downtown, or the just-closed Mercury Lounge in Old Town Goleta, any sort of neighborhood place where, just like Cheers, the bartenders know what you drink – could easily relate. Scenes of bartenders mixing drinks online just to stay connected to their peers and customers played out with our own locals over Facebook. Thankfully we didn’t get overwhelmed in our emergency rooms, and we didn’t have to hear sirens screaming incessantly in the night, but Sweet’s documentary still rings too true for many of us.

Daughter’s Debut

Offspring of famous entertainers have sizable roles in feature films that are coincidentally both set on California’s Central Coast. Belle Aykroyd, whose dad is Dan, one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live fame, is part of the cast of millennials in Highway One, an ensemble dramedy that takes place in Cambria on New Year’s Eve, while Mia Rose Frampton, daughter of rocker Peter, appears in Coast, set in Santa Maria where a 16-year-old girl whose family are migrant workers falls for the lead singer of a touring rock band that gets stuck in town.

Highway One premieres at the drivein at noon on April 2, while Coast comes clear at 7 pm on April 8, with a second screening at noon on April 10. We’re told folks from the film from Santa Maria will be on hand for introductions at the first screening.

Short Cuts

The Knot, a suspenseful drama written and directed by first-time filmmaker Ashish Pant, explores class conflict, materialism, and guilt via an upper middle class couple’s different reactions to the consequences of accidently running over a pedestrian. The film is the first Indian made movie at SBIFF in five years... Australia’s Under My Skin is one of the first films to address non-binary gender as part of the plot, with the distinction that its protagonist – who has started to question their gender identity – is played by four different actors who identify as non-binary or trans non-binary… A Critter Fable is an eight-minute animated short about a caterpillar who can’t transform but still adds color to the world. The short from Santa Barbara quadriplegic artist-composer Grace Fisher – the subject of a stirring documentary that premiered at SBIFF in 2020 – also features art by kids with special needs… The short doc Pant Hoot not only has the festival’s funniest-sounding title, it’s also an important documentary about Stany Nyandwi, who has been fighting to save chimpanzees from extinction for 30 years. He cares for mistreated animals rescued by Dr. Jane Goodall’s Eden Sanctuary in South Africa and is one of the only humans to master the complicated chimp language “pant hoot.” Stany’s personal connection to the chimpanzees inspired Goodall to call him “the chimp whisperer.” In a coincidence, Goodall herself will be appearing virtually in Santa Barbara at the initial event in UCSB Arts & Lectures’ new House Calls series for spring. Goodall’s Hope Fuels a Better World – in which she addresses the current global threats of climate change, and rampant cruelty inflicted on humans and animals – streams live at 5:30 pm on April 10, the final day for viewing of SBIFF films. •MJ

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“Attack life, it’s going to kill you anyway.” – Stephen Colbert

1 – 8 April 2021

This is ‘Spring Lamb’ Do you really need to eat these babies? Only weeks old, they are pulled away from their mothers, crying as they are taken to be slaughtered! “Baby

Stop:

Animal Death”

Please, you can make a difference! 1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Senior Portrait by Zach Rosen

Joanne Rapp Joanne Rapp and her husband, Brian, at the Knowlwood Tennis Club

ome can certainly be where you make it, but sometimes home is simply where it has always been. For Joanne Rapp, who grew up in Santa Barbara, she did not expect to come back home to the area after college. But when life gave her the opportunity to return, she found that the tight-knit community of Montecito had always been home. As she raised her own family at the Knowlwood Tennis Club alongside its surrounding enclave of families, her participation in the community has helped the area feel more like home to many other families. Joanne was born in Milwaukee, with both of her parents coming from Wisconsin. Their family originally came to Santa Barbara around 1945 when her father was offered a job as the head of the Industrial Arts department at the Santa Barbara College in what is now the Riviera Theatre. He would later continue on as a professor in the Education Department

at UCSB. Her mother was the first principal of Cleveland Elementary School and Joanne notes that she came from a “family of educators.” Joanne grew up on the Riviera, living in the home her father had built himself. She attended the local schools, graduating from Santa Barbara High School. While attending SBHS in 1959, she had a life-changing experience during her time abroad in France with the American Field Service, a student exchange program. She went on to major in French and Art History at Berkeley and even studied abroad again in France and Switzerland during her studies. While in college she also met her husband, Brian Rapp, whom she has been with ever since. After they both graduated and were married, Brian was working as a young lawyer in Los Angeles. While at a wedding for a Santa Barbara couple, another lawyer mentioned they may be looking for a new lawyer in Santa Barbara. Of course, Joanne didn’t real-

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ly want to return to her hometown so soon, but they decided to give it a shot for one year and ended up never leaving the area. Brian also happens to be one of the three founders of Knowlwood Tennis Club. While working on putting together the project, he discovered two landlocked lots below Knowlwood and fortunately the owner needed to sell them. After finding another family to take one of the lots, they developed a home on each one, using the same contractor and architect for both. The two families barely knew one another but it was a fortuitous meeting as they soon grew close. As Joanne notes, “We’ve raised our families together. We helped each other bury our parents. It has been a lovely arc. For which I’m very, very grateful.” Brian and Joanne moved into Knowlwood in 1970, two years after coming back, and have been there ever since. During this time other younger couples who had graduated from UCSB were deciding to stay in the area more and moved in around Knowlwood, forming a “community within a community” as Joanne puts it. Today, the families from that era are still close and stay in touch. Nowadays her passion is ping pong, however the Knowlwood Tennis Club is still going (with a waiting list) and Joanne emphasizes that it is “a good family club where children come first.”

Olympic Escapades

With a background in French, Joanne decided to volunteer for the 1984 L.A. Olympics, hoping to be assigned to the French team. She ended up helping as an aide for the Canadian rowing team which happened to be the famed “Canadian men’s eight.” During the Olympics she had the rare opportunity to watch their coaching conferences and even heard the coach’s rousing speech before their big win. When celebrating back in Ontario, Joanne was invited to take part in their victory celebration, sitting on the parade float with the team. Her Olympic escapades actually led her to start a side event planning business with a friend for several years that eventually morphed into hosting adventure trips for women. Even before the Olympics, Joanne had always had a volunteering spirit. Over the years she has served on a range of boards and committees for a variety of organizations including Cottage Hospital and the Montecito Association and has been a docent for such institutions as the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Santa Barbara Courthouse. Along with Patty Bliss, she was one of the “original instigators” of Beautification Day in the late ‘eighties during her time as President of the Montecito Community Foundation. The first board she ever served on was for

Child Abuse Listening Mediation (CALM), which today focuses on helping families be free of trauma and treating existing trauma within families. Teachers are normally the first line of defense in noticing trauma in children. With schools closed and extra stresses being put on families, there has been a notable rise in mental health issues during the pandemic. Joanne calls it “the epidemic within the pandemic” and has actually recently returned to the CALM board, decades after her first term. She strongly believes in their mission and has been impressed with their intelligence and reach in positioning their limited resources during this time. Over the years, the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara (SFSB) has been one of Joanne’s main focuses. Last year alone, this 65-year-old organization granted $2.8 million to local high school graduates for college and further education. Coming from a family of educators, Joanne has found her time working with SFSB and the Santa Barbara Foundation (SBF) very fulfilling. She originally happened to consecutively chair both organizations. At the time they were both granting money to students and this allowed them to develop a close relationship, consolidating practices and simplifying the application process so students could easily apply to both programs. She feels that education is the “elevator to life” and Joanne herself was actually trained as a 1st grade teacher, however she never ended up teaching as they started having a family. The lockdown has brought about a simpler life for Joanne which she has found nurturing at this “age and stage.” During this time, Joanne and her “wonderful husband” Brian have been focusing on their three children and five grandchildren, who all live in the area. And of course, they have been staying in touch with the other Knowlwood families and friends. Three of her closest friends today she has known since she was about five years old. It was actually one of those friends who first asked her to get involved with CALM. Joanne is very grateful to have lived in such a great community around so many wonderful families. As Joanne puts it, “I think in the end, it is all about friendship, and it is all about people. And it is all about whatever kind of basket of friendship you can weave that holds good things within it. And Montecito is that basket. We have so much here. We have so much materially. But really the richness is always in the people, and in the families, and in those that we’re just so lucky to surround ourselves with day in and day out.” Between her childhood friends, committee companions, and the interwoven Knowlwood families, Joanne has spent her life helping weave the tight connections that form a community. •MJ 1 – 8 April 2021

Village Beat (Continued from page 12 12)) Day. Finefrock says the space will be a true community gathering spot, offering book signings and tasting events. For more information about Montecito Country Mart, visit www. montecitocountrymart.com.

New ADU Rules

At a hearing earlier this month, Montecito Planning Commissioners gave the thumbs up to new ordinance language pertaining to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in Montecito and unincorporated Santa Barbara County. The new ordinance language was presented by Long Range Planner Jessica Steele, who has been working on ADU regulations since 2016. Back then, new State laws reduced barriers, streamlined the approval process, and expanded the capacity to accommodate the development of these granny units – aka ADUs – in order to provide additional rental housing in residential areas in California amid a statewide housing crisis. Now, new, even more relaxed State laws that went into effect in 2020 have made local laws null and void, and it has been up the County’s Long Range Planning Department to update ordinance language to comply with the State laws. The new State laws make adding an ADU easier than ever, and even allow for the addition of multiple ADUs on a single lot in some instances. While the proposed local ordinance language is dense and complicated, it works within the confines of the State regulations, and touches on such issues as setbacks, size limits, height limits, parking requirements, permitting timelines, floor area requirements, permitting fees, and the design process. Some ADUs will be exempt from these new local laws, including instances where a homeowner wants to build one ADU within a single family home or accessory structure, or build a new construction detached, small, single level ADU. Historically, prior to these ADU laws, detached secondary residential units (with kitchens) in residential zones in Montecito were only permissible on properties of at least five acres; an attached unit (think cordoning off a master bedroom and bath, and adding a kitchenette and exterior entrance) was permissible on a lot of at least 7,000 sq. ft. Now, a secondary unit (aka ADU) is permissible regardless of the lot size. Previously, all new or altered structures located within the Montecito Community Plan area were subject to review and approval by MBAR; this is no longer the case, and the design process for ADUs is required to be “objective.” New construction additions to a single family home to house an ADU must use the same/comparable mate1 – 8 April 2021

rials to be consistent with the design of the existing home, whereas new construction detached ADUs have no design standards. As was outlined in previous ADU ordinances, ADUs are not allowed to be used for short term rentals of less than 30 days, or homestays. “Staff has done the very best that can be done given the prescriptive nature of what has come down from the State,” said MPC Commissioner Susan Keller, as the Commission voted unanimously to approve the ordinance language. The laws still need approval by the County Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors, and to be certified by the California Coastal Commission. There have been about 60 applications for ADUs in Montecito in the last year; this number is expected to increase. Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor reported at the hearing that every application for an ADU is heard by the Fire Prevention Bureau, who considers ingress and egress from a property of utmost importance. The MFPD has hired an evacuation consultant to evaluate and improve Montecito’s evacuation plans, taking into account the potential for greater density given new ADU laws. To learn more about ADUs, and to see newly-developed checklists and application submittal requirements, visit www.countyofsb.org/plndev/ permitting/adu-jadu.sbc.

MERRAG Training Next Week

MERRAG (Montecito Emergency Response & Recovery Action Group) board president Sue Ziliotto reports that an important training is coming up next week, via Zoom. Attendees of the training, which is free and open to the community, will learn about disaster preparedness, specifically, about the types of and key elements of disasters; potential impacts on infrastructure; community alerts and warnings, evacuation routes, and how to obtain critical information; training in preparedness, first aid, and response skills; how to practice skills and personal plans through periodic drills at home and in your neighborhood; how to network and be able to help others, and be aware of suspicious activity; how to participate in community feedback opportunities; and how to volunteer. To register for the training, visit www.merrag.org/training.

ognize the leadership of three outstanding women leaders in the local community in honor of Women’s History Month, including Montecito Association Executive Director Sharon Byrne. In addition to her work with Montecito Association, and previously, the Coast Village Association, Byrne also serves as a Delegate of the 65th Annual Conference on the Status of Women. She has a Masters in Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and serves as a member of the Behavior Wellness Commission of Santa Barbara County. Alzina and Ranii both agree that Byrne is a trusted source of news and information in the greater Montecito community. “Her leadership of the Montecito Association has brought our community together and provided support to those in need,” Alzina said. “I am deeply honored to be recognized by two superintendents for whom I have the greatest regard. I just want to serve in a useful capacity, and it’s reassuring that these community leaders feel I am doing so,” said Byrne, who is also a contributor to this publication. Two more local women, Dr. Susan Salcido and Susan Klein-Rothschild, were also honored by the superintendents. Salcido is the Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools, and is currently leading the 20 school districts in Santa Barbara County through the pandemic. She has coordinated support to school districts in a variety of areas, including educational programming, fiscal services, human resources management support, educator professional development, and recently, pandemic planning, and recovery. “Dr. Salcido wants to give local leaders every tool for success possible during this fraught time. She has become a trusted partner to me, and I have often sought out her wis-

Montecito Association’s executive director Sharon Byrne was recently recognized by local school superintendents Dr. Amy Alzina and Dr. Anthony Ranii as part of Women’s History Month

dom when I was working through my toughest challenges,” Ranii said. Susan Klein-Rothschild, MSW, affectionately known by school superintendents as Susan K.R., is the Liaison between the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and local schools in Santa Barbara for COVID19. She has a long history of working in public health, family services, and managing education programs. Her insights as former chair of Emergency Public Information Communicators (EPIC), have been instrumental in leading education administrators in Santa Barbara County through the COVID-19 pandemic. “I am so incredibly grateful for Susan’s support, advocacy, and accessibility through this pandemic. She has made herself available to me and my colleagues at all hours of the day and night to answer tough questions related to student and staff health and safety,” Alzina said. •MJ

Women Recognized by CSS and MUS

Montecito school superintendents Dr. Amy Alzina, Superintendent of Cold Spring School District, and Dr. Anthony Ranii, Superintendent of Montecito Union School District, rec• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Far Flung Travel

Flash of Blue

rom my kayak I could hear the distinctly harsh shek-shekshek of the island scrub jay, a songbird that has the smallest range of any bird in North America. As I paddled west along the tranquil northerly shore of Santa Cruz Island, my periphery caught a flash of blue through my 300mm lens streaking through a grove of endemic island oaks hovering above the cobalt blue of the Pacific Ocean. The largest, most biodiverse isle off the California Coast is part of the Channel Islands National Park. The craggy, mountainous islet is the only place in the world where the endemic island scrub jay is found. Biologists who have studied the jays for years refer to them as “Cache Kings” of the island. During the recovery of Santa Cruz Island as it transitioned from a long era of ranching that stretched from the 1820s and finished in the late 1990s, the jays had a hand in returning the island to a natural balance. The brilliantly blue birds were responsible with

50 MONTECITO JOURNAL

On The Record (Continued from page 20 20)) by Chuck Graham

restoring island oak woodlands across the entire windswept, volcanic isle. However, it is a task they will never finish. There are roughly 2,000 island scrub jays on Santa Cruz Island, and they will cache anything of interest such as empty snail shells, insects, and island cherries. Their favorite item to cache though are acorns. Each adult jay caches anywhere between 3,500 to 6,000 acorns per year! As I paddled on from one breathtaking cove to the next, I found several other jays caching their acorns with the innate ability to cache their bounty point down and up-slope. Fog drip is the largest water input across the archipelago, and by caching acorns up-slope it allows the new oak seedlings to capture the perpetual moisture that cloaks the rugged hillsides and ridgetops. That much-needed moisture runs down the spindly stems and leaflets of the island oaks. Ultimately that moisture seeps into the groundwater and seasonal creeks that eventually feed the diverse island

career that began with an internship at the Santa Barbara Independent and lasted until 2012, when she transitioned into politics as a member of the city council. Her tough childhood circumstances not only cemented a lifelong dedication to the labor union cause, but also a special awareness of the challenges facing young people in urban environments. “The lesson I learned from my childhood is that we are not our parents,” she explains. “Just because they may have made mistakes doesn’t mean you have to repeat them.” One of Murillo’s early projects as a councilmember was reopening all city public libraries on Mondays and funding a special children’s library; she has carried this commitment to youth issues with her as mayor, most recently in the form of a summer pilot program that she’s in the process of launching that will allow teens to keep active by playing kickball and enjoying an evening meal at the city’s three high schools. She hopes the program wi11 expand to include more activities in the summer of 2022. “Teens are having a particularly hard time during the pandemic,” she says. “They miss their friends, their campuses, and their parents aren’t making as much money now as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.” Another of Murillo’s major concerns as mayor has been homelessness, a problem she began seeking to address even before she went into politics. “Part of the reason I ran for the council in the first place is that the city, as it is now, was struggling with issues of homelessness and I wanted to be part of that solution,” she recalls. “As a reporter at the Independent I went undercover at the ecosystem. Hence, island scrub jays are also known amongst biologists as “Eco Engineers.” As a frequent islander I have been fortunate to be in good company among the jays, especially when considering that this unique island utopia can feel faraway, yet it is not far at all from the megalopolis of Los Angeles, only 60 miles to the east. Still, their isolation has allowed for 150 thousand years of evolution, the phenomena of gigantism finally granting this class of corvid its own species in 1994. Their mainland cousin is the western scrub jay, but island solitude has afforded the island species to become a third size larger, with a beefier bill and a deeper blue than its mainland counterpart. Predators of the jays are few: tree-climbing island foxes and crafty ravens. Bird watchers from around the globe travel to Santa Cruz Island each year just to catch a glimpse of these gregarious passerine birds and add it to their life lists.

shelter, which back then was called Casa Esperanza, and I stayed there for two nights.” Given Santa Barbara’s legendarily high cost of living, and the fact that 60 percent of city residents are renters, Murillo has spent much of her time in public office seeking help to alleviate the impact on the city’s most vulnerable residents. Among her accomplishments: Creating a daytime parking program for RV dwellers. “When the City banned oversized vehicles on City streets, I held meetings so that people who lived in their cars and RVs could understand the new ordinance, and we developed a program for daytime parking locations to complement the Safe Parking (overnight parking) Program,” Murillo says. “I secured the Castillo commuter lot where the vehicles could gather for organizing meetings.” Murillo also served as the liaison to the city’s Living Wage Advisory Committee. “We sponsored a 2017 panel discussion about housing costs, low wage jobs, the minimum wage increase, bringing housing to State Street, the need for universal health care, among other topics,” she recalls. “In 2018, we organized a Career & Apprenticeship Fair at Casa de la Raza, with a focus on recruiting Santa Barbara youth into the construction trades.” During Murillo’s first mayoral term, she helped deliver balanced budgets and grow the City’s operating reserves, work which proved vital when Santa Barbara’s revenue sources flatlined because of the pandemic. “Under my leadership, our city continued delivering all services, and we immediately began workAfter leaving my blue kayak along a remote cobbled shoreline, I hiked my camera gear up a steep, rocky game trail that led to a sweeping marine terrace. A gentle northwest breeze blew off the Santa Barbara Channel, where rustling leaves competed with that raspy, ever-familiar shek-shek-shek. Standing watch on the marine terrace were groves of weathered island oaks, handsome manzanita, and brawny ironwood trees. It is a favorite place of mine tucked away on the southeast fringe of Santa Cruz Island. It has often proved to be an active location indeed. A bevy of island scrub jays were busily scouring the dampened leaf litter as they often do for acorns, thus continuing their never-ending pursuit to replenish their isolated island habitat. After firing off a few frames, I relaxed in the shade of the canopy. It is a sanctuary that always feels worlds apart but is only a stone’s throw away from the real world. •MJ 1 – 8 April 2021

ing with businesses as the economy stalled,” says Murillo. “We formed a Business Advisory Task Force and connected businesses with resources provided by the state and federal governments, responding to COVID-19.” Under her leadership, the city council also provided assistance to renters unable to pay their rents, Murillo says. “Also to protect tenants, we passed the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance that included robust relocation assistance. I also successfully pushed for another employee in the Rental Housing Mediation office, which prevents evictions and provides resources for renters.” To help honor the demands of Healing Justice, Santa Barbara’s local Black Lives Matter movement, Santa Barbara’s city council has appointed a 13-member commission to review police department practices and recommend a system for civilian oversight of response to charges of misconduct and police brutality. “Beyond criminal justice reform, I fully support our Black community’s efforts to celebrate their culture and history in Santa Barbara,” Murillo adds. “The City has designated St. Paul’s AME Church as an historic landmark and is in the process of identifying other buildings and spaces to include as historic resources; the City is funding the Juneteenth celebration on an annual basis, and staff is helping the effort to establish a Black community resource center.” Should she be elected for a second term, Murillo hopes to continue to focus on supporting affordable housing production, bringing transparency and responsiveness in law enforcement, getting small businesses back on their feet as quickly as possible this year, creating policy that aggressively

transitions away from fossil fuels, staying focused on solutions for homelessness, and continuing her work helping gang-risk youth and their families. “Working with the business community and all stakeholders, I will continue to help create a new downtown with housing, new uses for retail spaces, and when pandemic conditions change, family programming and entertainment to help revitalize and re-energize our ‘village center,’” she says. Responding to critics who claim that Santa Barbara’s political establishment suffers from a lack of transparency, Murillo says she has pushed for the hiring of a bilingual public information officer who can help City Hall do a better job of getting its message out. She dismissed allegations of corruption involving the licensing of cannabis dispensaries that were brought up in a recent Los Angeles Magazine story as largely erroneous but insisted that the results of the city’s outside investigation will be made fully public once it’s complete. “I’m waiting for the investigation to finish, and we will see what it uncovers,” says Murillo. “We are in the process of hiring a new police chief, so there is a lot going on. As we recover from the pandemic and hopefully return to a ‘new normal,’ it will be a crucial time for our city. I hope the voters will keep me in the position and allow me to continue to serve them.” There’s much more to this story than Mr. Peanut Butters. Among other things, the Montecito Journal is aware that Santa Barbara’s Grand Jury has begun interviewing various parties in this dispute regarding last November’s failed Measure L bond proposal. Stay tuned! •MJ

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by Claudia Schou

POLENTA CAKE AND LOCKER ROOM BANTER

ave you ever heard a baby cry and felt a sense of relief? It’s as if all of your bottled up emotions and the pressures of life get released with every little wail, like a valve letting out a bit of steam. I had this experience recently while I was standing on line at the grocery store. An anxious baby began to cry. “Oh my, let it out,” I said to the baby, through my mask. “Let it out for all of us.” The mother put the binky in the baby’s mouth and it was over as quickly as it began. I then realized that it’s been a long time since I’ve shed some tears and that maybe that’s all I needed to give myself a reboot. I would imagine that anyone who has exhausted every program in the Calm app has felt this way. The fact of the matter is I haven’t felt like my true self since the pandemic started. That is, until a few weeks ago, when I bumped into my good friend Sybille at the Montecito YMCA. She said: “This was supposed to be for the lifeguard, but I’m giving it to you.” And then she handed me a piece of lemon polenta cake neatly wrapped in a paper napkin. Sybille is a statuesque woman who sports a pixie haircut and a well-spoken British accent. She’s devoted to lap swimming, art, and her dapper partner, Billy. I told her how much I missed our locker room conversations. There was a group of us: Sybille; Lida, the accountant; Gillian, the international marketing guru; Lucy, a bank investor and a professional violist; and myself, at the time, a hotel sales manager. We had some thoughtful conversations in between make-up applications and blow drys. It was a lot of fun for 7 am. The camaraderie and laughter was a boost for all of us. Most of us have continued to keep in touch via text. There was very little complaining or gossip in the locker room. Just women coming to the gym to stay healthy and fit and sometimes share anecdotes about past experiences. Gillian, an adventurist who makes a point to work with companies whose missions benefit the planet, shared some of the most amazing places and communities she has visited around the globe for work. She describes it as “work,” but seemingly it is her life’s passion to promote ethically conscious companies. Sybille once shared how she used to volunteer at a community center, and on one occasion when she observed an older gentleman wandering around the lobby she asked if he needed help and he replied “Yes, I joined this center to meet a new girlfriend, but all of these women are old.”

It’s these types of interactions and anecdotes that keep life meaningful. Without them, life is just, well, meh. After my workout, I returned to my car and carefully unwrapped the napkin to find a triangular shaped golden corn cake that still retained a round edge from its original disk-like form. I took a bite. It was moist, with a burst of citrus, and then the combination of sweet corn and tangy sweetness seized me. I took another bite, and another, until it was all gone. I savored the last morsel, absorbing the flavors in my mouth. There I sat in my car, eyes closed, enjoying a brief moment of calm and euphoria.

NIGELLA LAWSON LEMON POLENTA CAKE

rustic Italian-style cake made with cornmeal and fresh lemon, polenta cake is a familiar and intimate memory for those who grew up in Italian households. Depending on who you ask, the cake can be made drier or more on the moist side, almost soggy like a tiramisu. Both versions are absolutely delicious. Polenta cake is perfect for breakfast or dessert because it is sweet with syrup but it’s also gritty, from the stone ground polenta. The almond meal adds another dimension of flavor. The lemon zest balances the eggy butteriness, creating a rich cake. Add a shot of eau de vie – a clear, colorless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation, its fruit flavor is typically very light – to elevate the flavor. To be consumed with tea or coffee for breakfast or a dessert wine or brandy for dinner. INGREDIENTS Yield: Makes 12-14 slices FOR THE CAKE 1¾ sticks soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing the pan 1 cup superfine sugar 2 cups almond meal ¾ cup fine polenta or cornmeal 1½ teaspoons baking powder (see NOTE below) 3 large eggs Zest of 2 lemons, save juice for syrup FOR THE SYRUP Juice of 2 lemons 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Chef Dario Furlati

serving pizza & authentic Northern Italian Cuisine in Montecito, Santa Barbara and Goleta

Easter Sunday Hours Santa Barbara

Montecito

Goleta

37 E. Victoria Street

1187 Coast Village Road

250 Storke Road

3pm to 9pm

11:30am to 9pm

3pm to 9pm

offering online ordering at cadariorestaurants.com or call 805-884-9419 ext 2.

We are grateful for the support of our wonderful community.

52 MONTECITO JOURNAL

PREPARATION Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the base of a 9-inch springform cake pan with baking parchment and grease its sides lightly with butter. Beat butter and sugar till pale and fluffy, either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a free standing mixer. Mix together the almond meal, polenta and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while. Finally, beat in the lemon zest and pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Bake for about 40 minutes. It may seem wobbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in its pan. Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar in a small saucepan. Once the confectioners’ sugar is dissolved into the juice, you’re done. Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer would be too destructive), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its pan. NOTE: To make this cake gluten-free, make sure to use gluten-free baking powder, or omit the baking powder altogether and beat the batter exuberantly at step 4. To make this cake dairy-free, substitute cup light and mild olive oil for the butter. •MJ

“Knock Knock. Who’s there? The Truth. No joke.” – Stephen Colbert

1 – 8 April 2021

DINE OUTSIDE |TAKE-OUT Montecito Journal wants to let readers know who’s offering a taste of spring with take-out and delivery service and outdoor dining. We encourage you to support your local dining venues and wine boutiques!

FROM OUR TABLE TO YOURS Sunday-Thursday 11:00-8:30 Friday and Saturday 11:00-9:00 1209 Coast Village Road Santa Barbara, CA (805) 565-0642

CAFE SINCE 1928

GREAT FOOD STIFF DRINKS GOOD TIMES SUNDAY THRU THURSDAY 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM

OLD TOWN SANTA BARBARA

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Best breakfast in Santa Barbara

COME JOIN US BREAKFAST OR LUNCH OPEN EVERY DAY FRESHLY BAKED BREADS & PASTRIES

7am to 2pm

‘ LUCKY S

D’ANGELO BREAD

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STEAKS - CHOPS - SEAFOOD - COCKTAILS 1279 COAST VILLAGE ROAD (805) 565-7540

1 – 8 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING (805) 565-1860 ESTATE/SENIOR SERVICES THE CLEARING HOUSE, LLC

ITEMS FOR SALE

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PHYSICAL TRAINING & THERAPY

John Cornfield, Studios California and Scottsdale -” Montecito Hills” Private Collection ,Acrylic on Canvas, 18 x 24, signed dated Verso 21’ $1800. www.paulinejohnsonbrown.com. 646 438 0982

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54 MONTECITO JOURNAL

For sale burial plot #586 CEMETERY 901 Block D , Channel Drive 805 448-1269 My Riviera Life a Santa Barbara Company since 2017 now available at Lazy Acres.

$8 minimum

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TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD

It’s Simple. Charge is $2 per line, each line with 31 characters. Minimum is $8 per week/issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue. Email text to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860 and we will respond with a cost. Deadline for inclusion is Monday before 2 pm. We accept Visa/MasterCard/Amex “NASA scientists have discovered a new form of life, unfortunately, it won’t date them either.” – Stephen Colbert

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ADVERTISE IN THE LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY (805) 565-1860 WE BUY BOOKS

The Tile Studio

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MURALS & SIGNAGE FOR HOME AND BUSINESS

www.wheelertilestudio.com (805) 965-9501

info@losthorizonbooks.com

LOST HORIZON BOOKSTORE now in Montecito, 539 San Ysidro Road

Just Good Doggies Loving Pet Care in Our Home

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Harmony Yellow & White Diamond Bracelet with 125 Diamonds 8.27 Carats Total

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