A Miracle

Keeping Hope Alive 22-29 April 2021 Vol 27 Issue 17

SERVING MONTECITO AND SUMMERLAND

As the SB Education Foundation’s Hope Awards return, the fundraising “truly changes kids’ lives,”page 20

‘A Miracle’ Three years after the debris flow tragedy struck Montecito’s Randall Road, an $18 million debris basin project will break ground in May, the product of a community banding together to help make sure that it doesn’t happen again (story begins on page 12)

Honoring the Ultimate Giver

The new Library Plaza project at the Santa Barbara Public Library has a namesake – the late Michael Towbes, page 42

Market Mayhem

To say Montecito real estate is on fire is now an understatement, with the demand far outweighing available supply, page 16

Bring Back the Racquet

With pandemic rules lightened, the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club will now celebrate its 110th season with you, page 28

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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Inside This Issue

5 Editor’s Letter

The debris basin is a silver lining to our 2018 tragedy; however, it is not the silver bullet that we all seem to crave

6 Community Voices

Bob Hazard breaks down Montecito’s recycling plan options

8 On the Record

Nick Schou provides an update to the ongoing conflict at Cold Spring School

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Village Beat

10 Montecito on the Move

The Montecito Association’s Sharon Byrne breaks down how YIMBYs and “The Trades” are impacting single-family neighborhoods and affordable housing In our Letters to the Editor, one community member says there is only one thing scarier than telecom lawyers — your vote

12 Randall Road Debris Basin Three years after the Montecito Debris Flow claimed 23 lives, the Randall Road Debris Basin project represents a move forward for the community

Showings can be scheduled directly via the following link: https://calendly.com/ montecito/1220-cvr Ron Brand 805.455.5045 Arthur Kalayjian 805.455.1379 RB DRE#01466064 | AK DRE#01908920

Compass is a licensed real estate broker (01991628) in the State of California 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.

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

16 Real Estate

In the past month, seven Montecito homes have sold for more than $10 million — the normal average for the entire year

18 Summerland Buzz MLS #21-1369

SB Education Foundation provides and supports programs that enrich local students

24 Dear Montecito

Kristin Trent recounts her early years in Montecito and her perceptions of “normal”

26 PERSPECTIVES

by Rinaldo S. Brutoco

What is JUST Capital? And… why should you care?

The Optimist Daily

California Coastal Commis Two Earth Day reads to help sion upholds approvals for live a greener life two upcoming roundabouts in Montecito; past Biltmore 28 Montecito Miscellany employees seek legal action; Li- Pardon the welcomed noise, brary Plaza to be named after but the Santa Barbara Polo Michael Towbes; Read ‘N Post and Racquet Club is back, and hosts “final fling” they’re ready to welcome you back on May 2

11 Letters to the Editor

Rarely available top floor 3 bedroom 2 bathroom condo located in the heart of Montecito. Seller to review all offers by 5pm on 4/25.

20 The Giving List

Thirty-five years ago, Oak Group artists met at Loon Point to paint a place threatened by development

“The environment is where we all meet; it is the one thing all of us share.” — Lady Bird Johnson

30 On Entertainment

UCSB’s Pollock Theatre Earth Day weekend events; Alcazar in Carp screens movies; and more

35 Brilliant Thoughts

How “Ashleigh’s First Law” came into existence

42 Muller Mini Meta Crossword Puzzle 43 Nosh Town

David Reynoso quit his day job to open Dave’s Dogs, where diners leave their comfort zones and have fun with various hot dog creations

46 Classified Advertising

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

47 Local Business Directory

Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need what those businesses offer 22 – 29 April 2021

Editor’s Letter

by Gwyn Lurie CEO and Executive Editor of the Montecito Journal Media Group

I

A Beneficial Debris Basin but No Silver Bullet

’m sure anyone who lived here in 2018 feels a wave of relief as they drive by the soon-to-be active construction site at East Valley Road and Randall Road – where a (once) tranquil neighborhood is about to be transformed into a debris basin. It’s also bittersweet because many of us knew Randall Road residents who suffered incredible loss in our January 9, 2018 post-Thomas Fire debris flow. Melinda Burns’ excellent piece about the new debris basin on page 12 recounts some of that tragedy.

While the new basin will be important as part of a patchwork of mitigations concerning our local fire-flood cycle, it’s also important to distinguish between a patchwork and a solitary patch. The debris basin is a silver lining to our 2018 tragedy; however, it is not the silver bullet that we all seem to crave.

If we have learned anything from that terrible night three-plus years ago and many catastrophic events since, it’s that complex problems usually require complex rather than immediate solutions, even though many of us have become accustomed if not addicted to a 1-Click world.

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In Montecito’s particular case, our patchwork quilt of solutions to mitigate future debris flows would include enhanced weather monitoring and evacuation protocols, and possibly more active management of the vegetation on our mountains. It behooves Montecito to have a long-term view and a wide one in terms of managing our terrain.

On the plus side of the ledger, I found the many programs put forth by “ordinary” Montecitans (is there such a thing?) after our January 9, 2018 disaster to be not just inspiring but reusable, transferable. And isn’t it possible, even likely, that some of our world’s other most daunting multi-headed problems – the pandemic, our planet’s climate, race, and income inequality – would also benefit from reduced expectations that complicated problems can be solved with 1-Click?

This is not to take away from the utility of enhanced debris basins, or the hard work behind the creation of ones like that for which a ribbon will soon be cut at Randall Road; nor the importance of more active management of our storm drainage, and the addition of strategically placed debris nets, and so forth. However, in hindsight, my biggest takeaway from the weeks and months that followed January 9, 2018, is that there was no solace in “waiting for the cavalry,” but there was much that we in this community could do for ourselves. I learned that hidden behind our tall hedges and long driveways is Montecito’s greatest resource: our human resource, our community. At the end of the day, WE were the cavalry. The bad news was we had to pull together and rescue ourselves. But the great news was that we got to pull together and rescue ourselves.

With most problems, even the most complex, there is much we can do by activating ourselves, and by coming together. And I guess that’s okay because while Montecito is sure pretty enough, turns out she doesn’t make a great damsel in distress.

•MJ 22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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Community Voices

by Bob Hazard

An Unknown Roadmap: Breaking Down Montecito’s Recycling Plan Options

L

ast Thursday, the Montecito Water District and Montecito Sanitary District held a joint strategic planning meeting to discuss options for a joint effort to recycle most of the 500,000 gallons a day of treated Montecito wastewater, now being dumped into 35 feet of ocean water, 1,500 feet off Butterfly Beach in Montecito, a practice whose time has gone.

Strategic planning participants included Sanitary Board President Dorinne Lee Johnson, Vice President Woody Barrett, and interim General Manager Tony Wong. Water Board participants included Vice President Ken Coates, Director Brian Goebel, and General Manager Nick Turner. Decisions recommended by the joint strategic planning committee members need the endorsement of their respective full boards before becoming official policy.

Past Studies for Recycling

The first hour of the meeting was devoted to a review of past recycling studies performed by Woodard & Curran in 2018, and a more detailed study released in December 2019 identifying some 30 opportunities for recycling.

The second half of the meeting dealt with weighing options to pursue.

Previous studies have narrowed the choices down to three broad categories, with scores of sub-issues that affect each choice. The three major options are: 1. “Purple pipe” system to initially serve the Montecito Cemetery with non-potable water and future expansion to other large users such as the Valley Club and Birnam Wood Golf Club.

Purple pipe systems have been championed by former sanitary directors and the former sanitary general manager. Recycling equipment has been purchased by the Sanitary District and water would be treated to a lower standard than potable water. Initially, purple pipe water would be piped and pumped to the

Santa Barbara Cemetery for irrigation. Later, purple pipe water could be piped and pumped as non-potable irrigation water up the hill to Birnam Wood Golf Course and Valley Club.

There are some problem areas with purple pipe, as strategic planning directors from both water and sanitary poured some cold water on the solution.

A new analysis shows that purple pipe water is more expensive than potable water. Some water agencies subsidize purple pipe water by increasing usage charges on existing customers.

Recent data indicates that the cemetery could afford and use about one-third of its projected 80 AFY of its wastewater for landscaping, but cost will be an issue. Projections indicate that purple pipe water would cost more than the annual $100,000 the Cemetery now spends on potable water for irrigation.

There are concerns that that non-potable grade water may bleach Cemetery tombstones with lime.

In the past planners have assumed that non-potable purple pipe water would be sold to large users in the Upper Village, such as Birnam Wood Golf Club or the Valley Club.

Nick Turner notes: “It is unlikely these Golf Clubs will pay the same or more for recycled water.”

Valley Club has its own wells and doesn’t need recycled water. Birnam Wood shares well ownership with the water district for several wells on its own property and pays a contracted lower rate to use its own well water.

2. Indirect potable reuse (IPR) as the preferred solution means that IPR systems treat wastewater to a potable (drinking water) standard using advanced treatment, including microfiltration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet light, and advanced oxidation. This high-quality recycled wastewater is then injected into a reliable groundwater basin for at least two months before mixing it with other potable water for use as drinking water.

Potable IPR wastewater can be mixed with existing groundwater to prevent saltwater intrusion of a basin. During periods of decreased winter demand, it can be injected into suitable groundwater basins as “banked water” and withdrawn during summer periods of high demand, if needed. Montecito’s aquifers are arguably inadequate for wastewater injection, but nearby Carpinteria, Toro Canyon, Slippery Rock, or Goleta with better storage basins could be ideal partners for this purpose.

Community Voices Page 274

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

7

On the Record

Village Beat

by Nicholas Schou

by Kelly Mahan Herrick

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

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.

Legal Stakes (and Delays) Mount at Cold Spring School

Coastal Commission Upholds Roundabout Projects

L

ast week, the Montecito Journal reported on the latest involving the ongoing conflict between the Cold Spring School District and Amanda Rowan, the parent of a child who was subjected to a one-hour school suspension for posing during a Zoom session as the school’s principal, Dr. Amy Alzina, while using a photograph of Rowan’s dog.

In that story, the Journal revealed that a teacher at the school who was one of three staff members who asked for a restraining order against Rowan had taken medical leave because of stress relating to news reports about the situation, and that Rowan was planning to fight the restraining order, which she claims is retaliation for demanding answers from school administrators regarding financial issues relating to the oversight of a pair of bond measures, an accusation the school district denies.

As of press time last week, both sides were scheduled to argue their case in a hearing scheduled for this Friday, April 23. However, after we went to press, on April 16, lawyers for Rowan filed a special motion claiming that the restraining order was a violation of Rowan’s free speech, thus delaying the hearing until May 21 at the earliest.

The special motion is known in legal circles as an Anti-SLAPP suit; the acronym refers to a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Rowan’s attorney Timothy Cary is claiming that the restraining order “was brought to chill [Rowan’s] constitutionally protected rights to publicly criticize and challenge [the school’s] conduct.” Cary further alleges in the motion that the school failed to present any evidence that Rowan “ever committed an act of violence or made any credible threat of violence.”

While Cary’s motion acknowledged that Rowan had threatened legal action against the school for withholding information in response to public records act requests she’d filed, including those targeting teachers named in the school’s restraining order petition, it also argued that she hadn’t directly spoken to three of the four staff members named in the order in the past two years.

As of press time, Greg Rolen, the attorney representing Cold Spring School in the matter, had yet to file any response to Cary’s motion, nor did he respond to a request for comment for this story. However, Alzina said in an interview that she had reluctantly filed the restraining order against Rowan at the request of her staff. “I am trying so desperately hard as a leader to make sure the castle won’t burn down,” she said, adding that the school’s ongoing legal conflict with Rowan, not to mention press reports about the conflict, have drastically harmed teacher morale.

“These are the best teachers in the whole world and to see them attacked in this way is hurtful. In any organization,” said Alzina, “you will have ten percent of parents that don’t like your leadership, especially if their kids have been disciplined.” Alzina added that she had instructed the school’s legal counsel to offer to reverse the suspension as part of a mediation agreement with Rowan, but that the effort was rebuffed. “I offered to have a confidential meeting to have a mediator resolve this,” she said. “They don’t want to resolve this and just want to keep fighting.”

Despite some of the criticism against Alzina that has surfaced amid the school’s ongoing legal conflict with Rowan and others, several parents who worked closely with Alzina at her previous job, where she was principal of Adams Elementary School for eight years beginning in 2008, contacted the Journal to vouch for her integrity as an educator and a passionate advocate for disadvantaged children at the school “Amy did such an amazing job at Adams,” said one such parent, Alison Bell, who served on the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) at Adams. “To me she embodies what education should be, in terms of tending to the needs of the children, so it breaks my heart to see that there are a lot of character attacks going on right now,” said Bell. “She created so many opportunities for our students and rallied an entire teacher community to get on board with new approaches by bringing in a design program, the Montessori program, all these opportunities that kids at private schools had that our school district couldn’t afford at that time. She is an invaluable person to education and anybody who has her in leadership I would hope would be grateful to have her.”

•MJ

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The upcoming roundabout project at San Ysidro Road was in front of the California Coastal Commission on appeal last week; the appeal was denied unanimously

A

t a hearing last week, the California Coastal Commission upheld approvals for two upcoming roundabouts in Montecito after considering appeals of both projects.

The two roundabouts – one at the intersection of Olive Mill and Coast Village roads and one at San Ysidro Road and North Jameson Lane – have had a polarizing effect on the community, garnering opinions both in support and opposition of their development. County and City planners say the roundabouts will alleviate traffic issues at the two clunky intersections, which are currently controlled by stop signs. The projects are two of three parallel projects to improve local traffic flow in conjunction with the widening of Highway 101, and have been in the works for years.

The San Ysidro roundabout project includes replacing the current intersection at San Ysidro, North Jameson, and the Highway 101 northbound entrance and exit with an oblongshaped roundabout and adding a four-way stop on the other side of the freeway bridge, at San Ysidro and South Jameson Lane (near the Miramar Resort). The single lane roundabout will include pedestrian access on every leg of the intersection, including crosswalks that connect with paved walkways through the medians or refuge areas. The roundabout has enough space for bicycles to traverse the lane, or bicyclists can get off their bikes and walk in the pedestrian/sidewalk areas. The area will be heavily landscaped, per the conditions of the project, and signage is limited to coastal access and safety signs.

The Montecito Board of Architectural Review, a Design Working Group, COAST, and the Bicycle Coalition con-

“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

tributed to the design of the project, which was approved by the Montecito Planning Commission in June of last year.

The Olive Mill roundabout is under joint jurisdiction by the City and the County, with respective planning commissions hearing the project for over nine hours last August. The project consists of reconfiguring the confusing six-legged intersection at Olive Mill Road, Coast Village Road, North Jameson Lane, Highway 101 northbound off-ramp, and Highway 101 southbound on-ramp to a single lane roundabout. Like the San Ysidro roundabout, the Olive Mill project will include pedestrian refuge islands, sidewalks, street lighting, signage, crosswalks, landscaping, and drainage facilities. The existing bike lanes along Coast Village Road, Olive Mill Road (North), and North Jameson Lane would be maintained up to the roundabout approaches, and the roundabout approaches would be narrowed to slow traffic and merge the vehicle lane and bike lane into a shared roadway.

Cyclists wishing to not ride through the roundabout could dismount their bikes and cross the west and north legs of the roundabout as pedestrians.

All improvements would be accommodated within existing Caltrans, City, and County right-of-way. The project includes removal of up to 50 trees, with replacement on a 3:1 basis.

The appellants to the projects assert that the approved developments are inconsistent with the City’s and County’s local coastal program’s policies related to minimizing vehicle miles traveled. The appellants, which include transportation watchdog nonprofit Cars are Basic (CAB), surmised

Village Beat Page 144 144 22 – 29 April 2021

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

9

Montecito on the Move

by Sharon Byrne, Executive Director, Montecito Association

Special-Interest Groups Negatively Impacting Single-Family Neighborhoods and Affordable Housing

W

e attended the Senate Housing Committee last week to provide input on two key bills: Senate Bills 9 and 765.

Our unexpected gain: insight into who’s calling the shots at the

state.

Hint: it’s not you.

Senator Toni Atkins (San Diego) introduced the revised SB-9. It will allow four units on a single-family lot, newly split for eight units total, where a home once stood. She touted it as giving homeowners options to rent to families and provide for “missing middle” income housing. It will not apply to high wildfire zones, like Montecito, as Senator Monique Limón’s team just confirmed, at former Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson’s urging.

The American Planning Association spoke in support and in favor of ending single-family zoning. Chair Scott Wiener (San Francisco) asked for public comment, with multiple YIMBY groups speaking in support: California YIMBY, Ventura County YIMBY, San Francisco YIMBY, South Bay YIMBY, Santa Cruz YIMBY, and Peninsula for Everyone.

What’s YIMBY? You may have read the letter in last week’s Montecito Journal from a member of California YIMBY. YIMBY stands for “Yes, In My Back Yard,” a witty counter to NIMBY, the “Not In My Back Yard” folks that typically don’t like things like homeless shelters near them.

Interestingly, YIMBYs are not California homeowners offering up their backyards for housing. They’re housing activists that hope by spurring a lot of development, they’ll be able to afford, well, something. They’re really “Yes! Let’s build more housing… in YOUR backyard. So people like us can live there!” YIMBYs shout down groups advocating for affordable housing for low-income and diverse communities. It’s been said of YIMBY groups that they have a privilege problem.

Why? YIMBYs are supremely well-funded by — wait for it — big tech companies.

Big tech certainly had (pre-pandemic) major incentives to get a lot of housing built for their workers but feel unfairly stymied by slow-moving local governments and NIMBYs. Stripe, the electronic payment processor, gave $1 million to California YIMBY in 2018. Other prominent donors include Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, and Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of Yelp. YIMBY Action is a 501c4 with $500,000 in assets. It endorses candidates and files lawsuits against Bay Area cities that reject zoning-compliant housing projects. California YIMBY has raised $3 million, and given generously to campaigns, like Senator Wiener ’s 2020 race. They have six regional organizing directors, 21 full-time staff, and an in-house lobbyist.

That could explain the loving praise showered on SB 9 by YIMBY groups, and the opposition from cities such as Laguna Beach, Santa Monica, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Mission Viejo, Pleasanton, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Danville — and the Montecito Association.

Senator Pat Bates (Orange County) pushed back on parking. There would be four spaces for four units, unless close to a transit center. Municipalities unfortunately get to deal with parking issues, not the State. With too few spaces, parking moves on-street, a problem in Santa Barbara and parts of Montecito.

Much Ado About SB-765

Senate Bill 765 provoked a huge fight, surprisingly. If you read our story on the two-story ADU (accessory dwelling unit) construction project jamming up against unfortunate neighbors on Hill Road, the case for allowing local jurisdictions to implement a setback of more than four feet (the current state law), SB-765 provides welcome relief, albeit too late for the Hill Road neighbors.

This bill prevents “spite ADUs,” where an owner sites the ADU up against their neighbor. We already have a problem with this, with 47 of the 162 permitted ADUs in the county in Montecito. Senator Henry Stern intends SB-765 to be a fix, with language indicating the setbacks cannot be determined by a local jurisdiction in such a way that would make it impossible

10 MONTECITO JOURNAL

to build them.

Wiener stated SB-765 was not going to be voted on at that moment but would be a two-year bill (a likely slow death maneuver). The ADU law was intended by Senate Housing Leadership to provide housing, while not meaningfully impacting the look and feel of neighborhoods (a total fail with the Hill Road project). The four-foot setbacks were mandated by the State to force local jurisdictions to permit them.

Again, multiple YIMBY groups opposed this bill, while several communities, including ours, supported it. Stern respectfully agreed to have a conversation about making this a large-lot bill and inserting language that protected the state ADU law, to prevent the bill dying right on the floor.

The California Building Trades Association weighed in on this bill, in support. Like YIMBY organizations, it plays a strong role in state housing legislation. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article on this, with “The Trades” representing 450,000 ironworkers, pipefitters and construction trade unions. The association contributes tens of millions of dollars to political candidates, including the Santa Barbara City Council and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.

Mayor Cathy Murillo is heavily funded by “The Trades,” and endorsing local groups, like the Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County, have noticed. “The Trades” act as a gatekeeper on legislation to provide its members with well-paying jobs. Its provisions are written into bills to get support. But housing advocates want the ability to forgo some “Trades” provisions when developers don’t get bids that fulfill union requirements, or when the bids they get are too high to make affordable housing buildable.

In 2020, “The Trades” killed bills that would have made it easier for religious institutions and nonprofit hospitals to build affordable housing on lots they own; loosen restrictions on cities to allow more multi-unit housing; and streamline the process of converting vacant hotels and motels to affordable housing. Its argument is that jobs need to pay well to avoid driving construction workers into poverty.

Interestingly, it is directly opposing creative opportunities to end homelessness.

California’s goal is a minimum of 1.5 million units of new housing for low-income families, based on a 2018 report by the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (forwarded by excellent Montecito Transportation Committee member Jack Overall). That’s the same department that killed a bill in 2020 by our then state senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, a bill that would prevent building in high wildfire zones, like Montecito, right before the governor was to sign it. SB55, a resurrection of her bill, by Senator Stern, is also facing certain death from these same forces.

Summing up: it’s perfectly OK for YIMBYs and “The Trades” to destroy single-family residential communities, and jam people into high wildfire zones, where they could die, but it’s not OK to provide affordable housing — the real need.

Homelessness Continues to Grow

These powerful forces work to shape housing legislation, and you can see how hard it us for a community like ours to mount an effective voice.

That’s why we’ve banded with several communities to raise a loud collective voice and hired our former state senator, Hannah-Beth Jackson, to guide us through this process.

Have you seen the explosion of homelessness from north of Goleta to Carpinteria? Our community is actively working to help move those experiencing homelessness in Montecito indoors, yet the State is not offering anything truly meaningful to resolve this issue. Los Angeles just announced $1 billion to address homelessness. They’ve reviewed the State legislation, and are taking matters into their own hands, as have we.

Two individuals that we housed recently offered a poignant lesson: They lost their housing, and there was literally nothing to rent. To the car and beach they went. We obtained rooms in houses to end homelessness for them. Our community is actively involved in outreach and trying to place individuals, so I will now turn to YIMBYs that shout down affordable housing advocates and make this offer: We welcome you to volunteer to help us on outreach and placement for those experiencing homelessness.

Maybe then you’ll see the true landscape we’re all standing on.

This is a new frontier for Montecito. You have a clear picture of what we’re up against.

It takes a village to raise its voice, and we are stepping up in ways we never have before.

We need YOU! To get involved, go to montecitoassociation.org/advocacy or email execdirector@montecitoassociation.org.

•MJ

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… Wash your spirit clean.” — John Muir

22 – 29 April 2021

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

Time to Break Up the Telecom Ring

O

n April 8, the telecom industry, in the person of Crown Castle Rep. Jerry Ambrose, attempted to pull the wool over the Montecito Architectural Board of Review. He told them he needed to put a new cell antenna on a pole at 75 Eucalyptus Lane.

The reason? “Capacity gap.”

Yet, if you take a walk down Eucalyptus Lane you will find there is no gap — your cell phone works just fine.

So why does Crown Castle need to mount yet more equipment up on a pole right next to people’s homes?

It’s a nice bit of sleight of hand by the telecoms to force local jurisdiction to bow when the telecom decides it’s in its best interest to do a land grab in your neighborhood.

‘Capacity’ is a technical term that telecoms use to describe broadband.

This has zero to do with the ability to use your cell phone.

Santa Barbara County has no responsibility or obligation to provide broadband data, just 5 bars on a cell phone or -85dBi for emergency purpose.

Telecoms don’t care that 75 Eucalyptus Lane is home to three children and adjacent to a preschool day care center. They don’t care that neighbors didn’t want this latest piece of telecom infrastructure forced on their community. It’s about money and getting more infrastructure installed in the public domain. Crown’s Ambrose’s response to neighborhood objections was, “I don’t have to submit an alternative location.”

The Montecito Architectural Board of Review purview is aesthetics. It’s unfortunate that it is the venue for these projects, which are always submitted one-off, so you never find out how many are already in, and how many more are planned. Studies show property values decline on average by 25% when next to cell phone infrastructure.

But for the telecom industry, there’s good money in these poles! AT&T gets the rent for all the other carriers that co-locate on their pole, which can be $4,500 per month. As carriers claim public right-of-way, Crown earns more money installing its telecom equipment. If we had smart planning, we could ensure all the cell phone coverage needed with a very small fraction of the infrastructure telecoms want to place. Think three towers instead of 87.

22 – 29 April 2021

There are no limits to telecom equipment installations in our county code.

Jamming all this equipment onto a pole allows multiple pulsing modulating frequencies that have no monitoring oversight. Today’s equipment can produce microwave radiation that is 25 million times what is required by law to ensure your cell phone works.

Who can reel in this public land grab in our residential neighborhoods of Santa Barbara County and city?

That responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of our Santa Barbara County Supervisors and our City Council. It is within their purview to give us a county code and city ordinance with teeth such as set back and height requirements, no placement of equipment in residential zones unless there is no feasible alternative, and a cap on power usage. Those would be smart community planning provisions.

What stops them from taking action?

The telecoms have hired expensive lawyers and frightened them! Your elected officials say that “our hands are tied” — a tired refrain that has been refuted multiple times by attorneys who specialize in writing protective ordinances for municipalities throughout the nation.

One of these, Andrew Campanelli, met with our County Attorney and public officials to instruct them in how to utilize our local zoning laws by codifying specific grounds of denial.

Will our elected officials do the right thing by our community, and stop the public land grabs by telecoms?

Not unless they hear from you. Your vote, or lack of it, might frighten them more than telecom attorneys.

For more information visit: safe techsbc.org Katie Mickey

Tough Love for Schools is Necessary

I wanted to express my appreciation for your willingness to publish articles on “controversial” topics such as what is currently going on a Cold Spring School. While there is no doubt that our public schools have widespread support from many parents and the community at large, there is similarly no doubt that these schools are accustomed to controlling the narrative and shutting down parental input or community discussion that does not fit strictly within the schools’ agendas. We are in desperate need of

brave institutions (like yours) who can facilitate a discussion and bring some of these issues out into the open. It turns out the First Amendment does still exist!

The issue with the public schools is not limited to Cold Spring — it is happening throughout the Santa Barbara area. Parents are leaving these public schools in droves not just because of remote learning issues, but because we now can recognize the more general failure of the public schools to be responsive to student needs (at all levels of academic achievement – both high and low).

I, too, experienced substantial pushback from my children’s public school in Santa Barbara last spring when other parents and I tried to help them develop their remote learning program by forming a task force. (My 4th grader was receiving two 30-minute classes per week, including a mere 30 minutes per week of math instruction.) We were a group of parents who had a history of consistently volunteering at our kids’ school, actively participating in fundraisers, and doing everything we were supposed to. Yet, this meant nothing when we offered our help, expertise, and time to the school. The principal attempted to sabotage the effort by first trying to blow us off, then trying to sideline us, and then trying to mobilize the teach-

ers to be defensive against our efforts.

When I proposed what I thought was an uncontroversial suggestion of sharing learning objectives with parents during remote learning, there was a visceral reaction by one of the teachers who forcefully asserted, “you don’t need to know the learning objectives. Here’s what you can do, read to your children 20 minutes a day. Have them make change at the store. Cook with them. That is what you can do.”

Attempts to explain why it would be helpful for parents to understand learning objectives when the kids had only 60 minutes of teacher instruction a week only made the teacher double down on her position. Even more shockingly, not a single one of the more than 10 teachers or the principal on the Zoom call was willing to agree that parents should have access to learning objectives. (The school has since reversed policy and now provides learning objectives that are clearly stated. But this is the point – sometimes these schools need to be challenged in order to rethink their assumptions and policies.)

So… it comes as no surprise to me that Cold Spring does not appreciate a parent looking into their finances, requesting a syllabus (oh the horror!), or challenging their quite possibly

Letters Page 224

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Randall Road Debris Basin

by Melinda Burns

‘We Pulled off a Miracle with Randall Road’: $18 Million Debris Basin Project Set to Begin Artist’s rendering of the debris basin project shows what it might look like in 10 or 20 years, with rows of trees planted by the County along Randall Road and East Valley Road, and natural vegetation inside the basin. The basin is essentially a big bowl, below the elevation of Randall Road. (Santa Barbara County Public Works rendering)

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The Randall Road Debris Basin will cost $18 million, comprised of FEMA and County funds

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xcavation of a new debris basin along Randall Road and San Ysidro Creek in Montecito will begin in early May, officials said this week, more than three years after a river of mud and boulders jumped the banks on January 9, 2018, destroying six out of seven homes in the 600 block of Randall Road and killing two people there.

The $18 million project, funded with a $13 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $5 million in county funds, includes $13 million for the purchase of six properties on Randall Road, plus one across the creek on East Valley Road.

One property owner on Randall Road, whose husband and daughter died in the disaster, has not agreed to sell.

The basin is designed to encompass all eight one-acre properties, and the work may proceed in two phases,

“The Pain of Losing”

Victoria Riskin, a prominent writer and human rights activist who lost her home at 680 Randall Road in 2018, said she hopes the new basin will serve as “a protection and a lasting safeguard for people who live downstream.”

“The pain of losing our homes and our community is so very alive for us,” said Riskin, who is living on Martha’s Vineyard on the East Coast with her husband, David Rintels.

“I’m thrilled that everyone came together and decided to do what was

Randall Road Page 404 Victoria Riskin is the former homeowner at 680 Randall Road (Melinda Burns photo)

Tom Fayram at one of the Randall Road properties just after the debris flow tragedy in January 2018 (Santa Barbara County Public Works photo)

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Santa Barbara County officials said.

The County concluded the purchase of seven of the eight properties late last year. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for early May; the Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a $5.2-million contract for the excavation work on May 4.

The debris basin – effectively, an enormous dirt bowl between Randall Road and San Ysidro Creek – will be eight times as large as the existing basin on the creek above Park Lane and much larger than most of the 17 debris basins located along South Coast creeks from Goleta to Carpinteria, County officials said.

“It would have roughly half the capacity of the Santa Monica Creek debris basin that everybody agrees saved most of Carpinteria from damage in the debris flow,” said Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams, who represents Carpinteria and Montecito.

Tom Fayram, who heads the County Flood Control division of Public Works, called Randall Road “a very dangerous place.” He oversaw a massive creek cleanup in the wake of the catastrophic debris flow of 2018.

“What makes this basin site work for us is that you have property owners that are willing to sell, and you have a state highway right there,” Fayram said. “We can trap the debris where we can go get it and haul it out.”

22 – 29 April 2021

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Village Beat (Continued from page 8) that the County and City failed to identify the project alternative that achieves the greatest minimization of vehicle miles traveled and energy consumption.

California Coastal Commission staff reported to the Commission last week that they believe that the City and County adequately demonstrated that neither roundabout would create any substantial increase in vehicle miles traveled since neither project expands the roadway or is intended to increase capacity. According to staff, both projects include pedestrian and bicycle improvements that would make it safer to walk and bike, thus helping to reduce vehicle miles traveled.

The appellants also argue that the roundabouts are problematic in general, because they support the Highway 101 High Occupancy Vehicle Lane project, which involves highway widening, and would induce an increase in vehicle miles traveled. The CCC’s South Central Coast District Director Steve Hudson reported that the roundabouts are needed independent of the HOV project, as the intersections have been operating at lower than acceptable levels for years. “They are necessary to improve the level of service for these intersections. We do believe

that this is not going to result in any additional vehicle miles traveled,” Hudson said. Commissioner Caryl Hart, who grew up in Montecito, said: “I think that this is a very positive action by the City to reduce air quality impacts. I think roundabouts are very positive.” Hart made a motion to determine the appeals raise no substantial issue on the grounds on which they were filed. The decision to deny the appeals was unanimous.

Both roundabout projects are in the final stages of design, after being approved by the Montecito Planning Commission and Santa Barbara City Planning Commission last summer.

Biltmore Employees Seek Legal Action

Over 250 employees of the Four Seasons Biltmore Resort are seeking back pay to account for being out of work for over 13 months, according to a recent memorandum sent to Montecito Journal. Local law firm Anticouni & Ricotta, which is representing the employees, is scheduled to mediate with the Four Seasons at the end of this month.

Last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, 450 employees of the resort, which is owned by Ty Warner, were furloughed. Furlough

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is defined as a temporary loss of employment when employees return to work within six months.

According to the memorandum, the Federal Department of Labor WARN Act regulations state that “When a layoff is extended beyond six months, layoff is treated as an ‘employment loss’ from the date the layoff started...” California court decisions and the California Labor Code also confirm that a furlough that lasts six or more months is a termination of employment.

“The difference between a furlough and a termination of employment affects Four Seasons’ obligation to pay its former employees millions of dollars in severance compensation.

Four Seasons is contractually obligated to compensate its former employees substantial Separation Pay when their employment has come to an end. Assuming the hotel opens on January 1, 2023, the employees would be out of work for at least 33 months.

Because the layoff has now extended for more than 13 months, our clients are entitled to Separation Pay,” the memo reads.

Biltmore employees must opt into the lawsuit in order to be eligible for severance pay. Employees are currently submitting impact statements to be used during the mediation.

Ty Warner maintains that he has no plans to sell any of his Montecito properties, which include the Biltmore, the Coral Casino, recently-opened Montecito Club, and the San Ysidro Ranch. He has said that he is using the property closure as an opportunity to reinvest in the beloved resort; recent rumors indicate that he intends to remodel the hotel in the Moroccan style of the Montecito Club, with a projected completion date of 2025. All reservations for the resort have been canceled through 2022.

Employees of the Biltmore – shown here during a peaceful protest in August – have hired local law firm Anticouni & Ricotta to seek severance pay from the Four Seasons

Last August, over 250 Biltmore employees and their supporters took to the streets of Montecito, to protest unanswered questions about their employment status at the resort. Many of them held signs or banners boasting how many years of service they have given to the five-star resort, only to be furloughed indefinitely without benefits or severance pay. Many donned “Biltmore Strong” shirts that were made following the 1/9 Debris Flow in January 2018; but the “St” was covered up with a “W,” so they read: “Biltmore Wrong.”

Banners were placed on the Highway 101 overpass at Olive Mill Road, as well as at the entrance to Coast Village Road.

In response to the protest, Warner told the Journal last summer that the resort was still closed out of an abundance of caution so as not to spread COVID-19.

Village Beat Page 424 424

In trying times, overcome fear and uncertainty with the peace and security of a solid meditation practice.

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Also, congratulations on an amazing first quarter of 2021, with over $41 million in closed sales, again making him one of the leaders in the Berkshire Hathaway company, and making Dan’s total sales $107 million over a 14-month period.

Dan Johnson 805.895.5150 DanJohnson@bhhscal.com LIC: #00609860

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.

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22 – 29 April 2021

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MARSHA KOTLYAR ESTATE GROUP MontecitoFineEstates.com Home@MKGroupMontecito.com 805.565.4014 Lic. # 01426886 © 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.

22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

15

Real Estate

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.

Market Mayhem:

‘Migration Movement’ to Our Paradise Continues

A

t this point I am unsure of whether we will see enough new listings hit the market in Montecito before the last house goes up for sale and is sold.

That won’t happen — will it? — but if you follow the numbers, it’s not impossible.

As of right now we only have about 47 homes and condos on the market in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), across all price ranges in the 93108 zip code.

This is a historic low. Normally, in any recent April, there would be roughly 125 homes and condos for a buyer to consider.

To further illustrate this phenomenon of what can only be called a “migration movement” for the well-to-do, we saw 45 closed escrows in the past month (March 16 to April 16, 2021), when roughly 20 would be a normal April — and there were only 22 new listings that hit the market in that same time frame.

At this rate — selling 23 more homes per month than come on the market — we would be out of homes and condos for sale in Montecito in just two months.

Also noteworthy is that of the 45 sales recorded in the MLS in the past month, seven were for more than $10 million. This is about the average number of homes that sell for more than $10 million in a full year in Montecito, according to the MLS. On top of the volume and prices of sales we are seeing, there is one question that everyone is asking: “Who are all these folks buying homes in Montecito?”

New neighbors make up a mix as I understand, but a huge migration up from Los Angeles is certain, as are second homes for buyers from Chicago, the East Coast, and Bay Area.

New residents are paying 10% to 30% more to secure a spot here than they would have paid just a year ago and are often grateful to win a bidding war on a property that would have perhaps sat idle for weeks in a slower market.

That said, prices are still in line with, or lower than, top neighborhoods in Los Angeles and San Francisco and other cities, so it’s all relative. $7 million here, or $7 million there, and in Montecito you likely get more land.

Yes, indeed, Montecito has been discovered. The boom is seen everywhere.

Homeowners are undertaking rebuilds and remodels on nearly every block — there are three construction projects around me now that have workers eating on a corner of our property in the shade, the angry sounding splitting of boulders and other machines pounding all day long. Add this to the ongoing weeklong landscape maintenance these estates and their owners require, and it can really break the peace. However, with all that, it is still a paradise, and I would not want my family living anywhere else.

My wife says the noise is fine, even a positive sound — someone building

their dream home, the kitchen they always wanted, a bocce court (OK, now you have my attention), or just finally getting to the remodel after the effects of the devastating debris flow — and she is right. Relax, Mark. In a big city, it would be louder, ruder, smellier, and you would have traffic. And you would not have the crew at Pierre Lafond — thanks for the coffee, yummies and constant smiles.

Enough said.

Indeed, elsewhere there are no mornings at Butterfly Beach, where I often stand stupefied at the fact that my family and I get to live here like my dad, grandma, and great-grandma. None of us had it easy, but we’ve had it, nonetheless.

So those of you who are new to Montecito, welcome. Please know this is a place where many people come to slow down a bit, smile more, exercise, eat, interact, explore talents and interests, celebrate life, relax, and leave the tensions of the big city behind as much as possible. Not to be preachy, but please don’t honk, cut people off, litter, or be rude to the employees of Montecito’s businesses. They work hard to make our paradise a high-functioning reality. Rejoice in the fact that you can run five errands in 47 minutes except on weekends and in summer when our population doubles and triples with tourism.

New residents, you will become locals quickly enough (we require a minimum of five years before you can say you live here! Just kidding!) and with time you will wonder who all these people are that show up in town on weekends and in summer. Then you’ll remember, that was you before you had the vision to move here. The tourist you meet today and advise on a great restaurant, might be your neighbor in five years — if they can find a home for sale then, that is.

We are blessed. Let’s maximize the potential for everyone here; it’s a small town. Enjoy. Go Mustangs.

Here are a few homes still active on the market in the MLS as of April 16, 2021:

1121 Cima Linda Lane – $3,295,000

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rap yourself in mountain and valley views from this Mediterraneanstyle villa in a central location, surrounded by mostly equal and more expensive homes. Built in 2006, the four-bedroom, three-and-ahalf-bathroom home was crafted to make everyday life feel special. As you step through the entrance, rooms draw you outside to multiple sun-drenched decks.

The living room, formal dining room, and kitchen include custom finishes, while the primary bedroom suite offers a mountain-view terrace. There are two additional guest bedrooms and a large bedroom suite with its own entrance and kitchenette all occupying the lower level and leading to the exterior grounds.

Surrounded by garden spaces, walking paths, and a great location in west Montecito, you are just a short distance to the Upper and Lower Villages, as well as being convenient to Santa Barbara and the beaches.

Real Estate Page 32 324

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“He that plants trees loves others beside himself.” – Thomas Fuller

22 – 29 April 2021

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225 E Cota St 3 | Santa Barbara | 1BD/2BA DRE 01236143 | Offered at $1,849,500 Grubb Campbell Group 805.895.6226

833 Cheltenham Rd | Santa Barbara | 4BD/3BA DRE 01463617 | Offered at $1,849,000 Knight Real Estate Group 805.895.4406

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22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

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17

Summerland Buzz

by Leslie A. Westbrook

A third-generation Californian, Leslie, currently resides in Carpinteria but called Summerland home for 30 years. She can be reached at LeslieAWestbrook@gmail.com

The Oak Group: Artist Activists

S

ummerland boasts an array of natural beauty. The sea is the most obvious asset, but gently rolling hills dotted with wild mustard, when rains and Mother Nature have cooperated, and other spots beckon nature lovers and wildlife, including Brandt’s cormorants, which I will get to in a moment. The landscape has long lured artists with paint, brush, and/or camera and Loon Point is a magical spot that almost went the way of development a few decades ago, if it hadn’t been for a few thoughtful artists in our region.

Coerced by my good friend John Wullbrandt to travel to the far reaches of an evolving downtown Santa Barbara to catch his one-man show on State Street (navigating a closed off State Street surrounded by one-way streets is a virtual Rubik’s Cube these days) before it goes down next week, I uncovered a Summerland tale that I had forgotten about.

Artist Richard Schloss and his wife Julie’s downtown gallery, Santa Barbara Fine Art, is just next to the Arlington Theatre in the space formerly known as Indigo — which I didn’t recognize at all!

Julie pointed out an image of her husband painting at Loon Point that hung behind her desk, with the interesting back story. The very first “paint out” of the Oak Group took place at Summerland’s Loon Point. The outdoor, plein art gathering included Schloss, Ray Strong (1905-2006), and Arturo Tello, a founding member of the Oak Group.

California tonalist painter Jon Wilsher (1940-1999) called Rick and other artists he knew of and told them all that he had seen a notice posted on a telephone pole announcing a public hearing on the development of Loon Point. He thought public attention should be “drawn” to the issue.

Rick had never met any of these artists, noting that he was a loner who

Arturo Tello, “Richard Schloss painting at Loon Point,” oil on panel, 6”x10”

Ray Strong, “Loon Point in Fog,” oil on canvas, 16”x20”

Richard Schloss, “Loon Point in Fog,” colored pencil on paper, 12”x19”

avoided being part of a “group.”

“Thirty-five years ago, this group of friends met on the foggy headlands of Loon Point to paint a place that was threatened by development. It was a kind of Santa Barbara plein air painters’ summit with the legendary painter, teacher, and mentor Ray Strong. This was something worth being part of a group fighting for the protection of open space. I rode my bike down from Santa Barbara to paint there, where I met Arturo Tello, Ray Strong, and others,” Schloss recalled.

Ray Strong painted Arturo Tello (seen in the left-hand corner above Strong’s signature), while Tello painted Schloss and his bicycle. Schloss created a colored pencil drawing… obviously a lighter, artist’s tools-of-the-trade load, on his bicycle than an easel and paint kit.

The Oak Group’s “Circle of Compassion” 35th anniversary show runs May 1 to 28 at the gallery. A whopping 25% of the sale proceeds are being donated to

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Summerland Page 344

“We need the tonic of wildness.” — Henry David Thoreau

22 – 29 April 2021

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22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

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19

The Giving List

by Steven Libowitz

SB Education Foundation

SB Education Foundation provides and supports programs that enrich the academic, artistic, and personal development of all students in the SB Unified School District

S

anta Barbara Education Foundation Executive Director Margie Yahyavi was reluctant to have her office visible during our Zoom call last week, even going so far as to employ a virtual background of a rustic cabin complete with a woodburning stove in place of her actual surroundings.

“Oh my God, this office is insane,” Yahyavi said. “Instruments galore, wine, jackets, and silent auction donations. It’s kind of embarrassing now that I look at it.”

All true.

But what that clutter represents is what SBEF is all about: action over administration, getting things done toward the mission of “providing and supporting programs that enrich the academic, artistic, and personal development of all students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.” Even if it means a bit of disarray in their downtown HQ from time to time.

Especially during the pandemic when their one-room “office suite” has turned into temporary storage for donated items and much more, as a growing list of needs for students, such as internet access – which we wrote about in our Giving List book that came out last fall – food and other various requests that came in as COVID caused continued havoc.

Late this winter, that meant finding jackets to keep underprivileged students warm as the new safety protocols for resuming in-person learning required open doors and/or windows, which created cold and drafty classroom environments. Handling that problem on the quick is exemplary of one of the ways that SBEC works.

“The kids were actually shivering in their classrooms,” Yahyavi said. “The principals asked us if we could get the jackets for these students who didn’t have warm enough clothes. There was really a sense of urgency, because it was cold out and they needed them right away. We were thinking, how are we going to deal with this when there’s such a big need and so many kids? What we landed on was to go school by school and have the principals let us know how many jackets that they needed, the sizes and all.”

Then SBEF jumped into action, with development and marketing-communications director Melissa Davenport posting on social media, issuing press

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releases, getting coverage on KEYT and sending out email requests to secure donations of funds to cover the kids who were cold. Harding came first, then Adams and Cleveland, as the nonprofit methodically undertook what Yahyavi called an overwhelming kind of task but one that was urgent.

“We did a really good job,” she said. “I have to pat ourselves on the back because it all happened pretty quickly, barely more than a month and kaboom, we’ve done every school except one, even the preschools. But we still need some larger sizes, so we’re about 10 grand away from being done.”

Doing a good job isn’t at all surprising. A sampling of SBEF’s signature programs include its wildly successful Keep The Beat program that has raised funds to support music education in local schools since 2003 resulting in all 5,000-plus elementary school students being able to learn to play an instrument during their school day. (It’s leftovers from the latest instrument drive in February that take up quite a bit of space in Yahyavi’s office.) Other popular programs include summertime Band Camp, Drumline Camp, String Camp and, in the non-musical department, summer STEAM Camp for junior high students and annual teacher grants that support the purchase of project-based supplies and tools as well as encourage the development of creative and innovative teaching in the school district. SBEF also contributes to a number of academic – which makes up more than half of the nonprofit’s budget – as well as behavioral, emotional, parent, and peer support programs that are essential to learning and frequently designed to address disparity and inequities in the district.

Now, as to the boxes of wine and other assorted items jamming up Yahyavi’s workspace? Well, that’s where administration actually comes in.

The event’s goal is to raise critical funds for the Santa Barbara Education Foundation to continue making a positive impact on public school student outcomes.

The Santa Barbara Education Foundation will host its Hope Awards on Thursday, April 29, and the bottles of vino and other gifts are prizes featured in the virtual events that include a mystery wine pull and a silent auction as well as performances by the Dos Pueblos High School Jazz Band. The online gathering will also honor Craig Price and Nick Rail for their longtime support of local SBUSD students.

Price is well known for his work in providing counsel in education law and has served on SBEF’s Board of Directors for nine years, including two as president where he played an instrumental role in growing the organization. Rail, the founder of the Summer Band Camp, is also the founder of Nick Rail Music, a network of stores serving as the premier school music dealer for Southern California. The company has been a long-time partner with SBEF to provide new instruments valued in excess of $100,000 to Santa Barbara public school music programs.

With the awards and the entertainment, the Hope Awards’ return promises to be a celebration for the community, but more importantly the event’s goal is to raise critical funds for the Santa Barbara Education Foundation to continue making a positive impact on public school student outcomes. That means money for the programs, but also to run the organization. Paying the rent and utilities. Furnishing the office. Renumerating the employees, of which, amazingly, there are only four, just one full-time.

“We’ve been operating on a shoestring budget forever,” Yahyavi said. “When people find out that there’s so few of us doing what we do, they’re pretty amazed, especially when you look at collegiate staff development departments which are huge.”

It’s not glamorous, but it’s necessary.

Successful fundraising might even allow for continued expansion, which the ED would welcome enthusiastically, pointing out the difference that SBEF’s new Major Gifts Officer Eryn Shugart has made in less than a year.

“She just proves to me that the more people that we could hire, the more effective we could be,” Yahyavi said.

But that does take more revenue in the form of donations, but even when it’s used for administrative costs, the impact is enormous, said Davenport.

“Supporting our organization directly goes into the impact that we can make with students today, and that tremendously affects their future,” she said. “It truly changes kids’ lives.”

So tune into the Hope Awards next Thursday afternoon at 4 pm for a quick visit with SBIFF. (RSVP at https://sbefoundation.org/hope-awards.)

Admission is free. Donations are voluntary. And you won’t have to view Yahyavi’s office. We promise.

For more information about Santa Barbara Education Foundation, visit sbe foundation.org.

•MJ

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” — John Muir

22 – 29 April 2021

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22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

21

Letters (Continued from page 11) arbitrary disciplinary actions. It also comes as no surprise that many of the parents at that school, as well as community members, want to be able to maintain the illusion that the public school in their pricey enclave is a perfect, all-knowing, and unimpeachable institution. This allows them to abdicate responsibility for actually engaging meaningfully in their children’s education.

Please don’t be dissuaded from covering topics such as the Cold Spring controversy by public opposition to you publishing articles that possibly reveal conflict or wrongdoing at our public schools. Our children deserve schools where parents have a voice and where they can be protected from arbitrary school actions. Without this continued role of the media and papers such as yours, we will lose much of what made our country great and do a great disservice to future generations.

Sincerely, Marla P.

Mountain Views — Gone.

I am grateful to the Montecito Journal and Sharon Byrne for the article about ADUs (accessory dwelling units) in Montecito. I hope it will be a wake-up call to other residents about

Numerical Tribute to Prince Philip

A two-story accessory dwelling unit is being erected, now blocking mountain views for a neighbor

how they could be affected by these new rules. The irony of ADUs in Montecito, especially near the beach, is that they will do little to help affordable housing. If ADUs were at least required to abide by rules in the area where they will be built, they could have at least a chance to satisfy the people building them and the neighbors who might be affected by them. The attached photo shows what I now see out of my kitchen and living room windows and not the beautiful mountain view that was the main feature of our house design 30 years ago. That view will now be enjoyed exclusively by the occupants of the two-story ADU. Carolyn Quackenbush

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, died on 9 April 2021 (4/9/2021), in Windsor, United Kingdom. He was 99 years old.

Philip was a member of the British royal family as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. He was born in Corfu, Greece, on June 10, 1921 but his family was exiled from the country when he was 18 months old.

If Philip was alive, he would have turned 100 on June 10 this year.

I prepared the following numerical curiosities in his honor: 1. Philip died on the 99th day of this year at age 99.

2. The sum of the prime factors of the day he died, 942021, equals 3+17+47+131 = 198 = 2 x 99.

3. Further, if 942021 is split as 94, 20, and 21, the sum of these three numbers equals 135. If numbers 1 through 26 are assigned to letters A through Z, the sum of the letter numbers of Prince Philip also equals 135.

4. Philip died on 9/4 and if split as 9 and 4, the product of the 9th and 4th prime numbers, namely 23 and 7, equals 161. Interestingly, Philip’s 100th birthday, June 6, 2021, coincides with the 161st day of 2021.

5. Additionally, the sum of the 7th and 23rd prime numbers, namely 17 and 83, equals 100, signifying Philip’s centennial birthday.

6. Lastly, Philip’s centennial birthday June 6, 2021 is numerically special: if split as 106 and 2021, twice the reverse of 106, namely 601, equals 1202 and 1202 is the reverse of 2021.

I hope you rest in peace, Prince Philip. Amen.

Aziz Inan

Respecting Serenity

Sharing this art created by a local conscious artist Matthew O’Hanlon.

The hot springs are a sacred peaceful space. It brings us a great healing experience, mind body & spirit.

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There are signs on the Hot Springs Trail that ask for hikers to remain quiet

A sign at Riven Rock Road asks for visitors looking to park and hike the Hot Springs Trail to respect neighbors

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“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” — Albert Einstein

22 – 29 April 2021

Dissecting ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’

In response to Rinaldo Brutoco’s article in the Montecito Journal on April 15-22 . . .

Mr. Brutoco lists at the top of his column’s resume as being president of the World Business Academy (WBA), and so his recent article might be considered self-serving in promoting a paradigm business shift that is, in essence, his company’s mission statement.

This so-called paradigm shift seeks to have all businesses focus their efforts on “stakeholders,” like customers, communities it serves, employees and society at large (although the WBA might include the biosphere) not just shareholders and profits. Mr. Brutoco seems to imply that businesses, with this new paradigm he promotes, have acted as if they were in a vacuum oblivious to its “stakeholders” motivated solely by making money. Never mind that all along, in order to render services and goods that people will buy and use, the business must meet their customers’ needs and be affordable to them. Profit-making or capitalism has never been devoid of its connections to customers or employees, and any company that doesn’t please those it serves and works with or becomes too greedy is soon reconciled or fails.

One example of a business model that exemplifies the “stakeholder” model that Mr. Brutoco supports would be PG&E. In January 2019 it filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 to restructure its billions of dollars of liabilities. Governor Newsom and the Democratically controlled legislature are castigating the company for prioritizing profits over safety.

Yet PG&E is accountable not only to its shareholders, but also its workers,

the environment, local communities, and society at large. All that “stakeholder” philosophical structure looks good on paper, but what it really does is turn the company into a heavily governmentally regulated business at the mercy of its political overlords as the political winds erratically blow.

Its rates and returns on equity, or profits, are set by the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Energy Regulation Commissions.

Every three years PG&E submit plans and hold public hearings with its “stakeholders,” including activists like the WBA. By 2030, the state legislature can and does require the utility company to obtain 60% of its power from “renewable” sources like solar or nuclear (the latter is vehemently opposed by the WBA).

That “renewables” goal is an expensive one as it tries to make good decisions which impact low-income communities. The company has a diversity officer and reviews diversity metrics to be in compliance with the Public Policy Committee. It knows its employees’ ethnic breakdown and demographics of its board and the Human Rights Campaign gave the utility a 100% rating on its “corporate index.”

It is reported that word “stakeholder” is mentioned 13 times in PG&E’s 2018 shareholder report. It requested a rate increase that it said was needed to ensure grid reliability in spite of increased costs for renewable generation and got only half approved as environmentalists called PG&E “greedy.” But rates will keep going up as repairs and upgrades are made.

But “stakeholders,” us customers, will wind up footing the bill.

The World Business Academy (WBA), of which Mr. Brutoco is president, states that it devotes much time and resources in finding environmentally safe, and sustainable energy resources. However, a central target of the WBA is the “stakeholder” company, PG&E. The WBA has filed numerous lawsuits against the California Lands Commission and PG&E concerning its operation of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant — which the California Supreme Court has rejected and refused to hear.

As the WBA appeals, it files the lawsuits by trying to support the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the very act that is being used by obstructionists to block housing construction in this state by causing

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years of delays and soaring costs for any new construction. This act, passed under Governor Reagan in 1970, was originally a simple statewide policy of environmental protection, but has now morphed into an onerous and abusive law used to block, downsize, delay, or gain other concessions from new development.

It is also used to endlessly block the creation of homeless shelters and affordable housing projects in communities The CEQA must be repealed as it is obstructing and bankrupting our state and its citizens who merely want a roof over their heads, affordable utilities, and sensible environmental processes that do not take decades to get things done. And yet it is an inconvenient truth that Mr. Brutoco appears to be using this very act, the CEQA, to hinder a new utility project in San Luis Obispo, driving up the costs after repeated attempts by PG&E to move forward.

It would appear that Mr. Brutoco and his WBA company seems to be at crosscurrents with the underlying message of his “stakeholder capitalism” article.

J.W . Burk Santa Barbara •MJ

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23

Dear Montecito

by Stella Haffner

Montecito Alumni Write Letters from Life’s Front

I

t strikes me that our country has many euphemisms for bigotry. We can’t pull our eyes away from the screen – our media and its love affair with the transgressions of people my own age. I see others who are ready to excuse their “acting out,” reassuring the rest of us that they will “grow out of it” as if it were their taste in loud music or tendency to chew with their mouth open. I won’t criticize optimism. Let’s say it is a phase, that these kids will indeed grow out of it. Should we dismiss the harm they caused in their younger years?

I have no authority on this, having not experienced hate speech. But I see it in the world around me whether hidden in tomorrow’s headline or balanced with precarious irony as a confederate flag sticker on my high school classmate’s laptop. Today’s letter focuses on the effects of hate speech within our classrooms. This week’s piece was written by Kristin Trent, who has agreed to share her perspective on the American educa-

24 MONTECITO JOURNAL

tion system through the lens of a mixed-race identity.

As a final note, if you’re a person of color or know a person of color who wants to share their story, please consider writing to me at stellajane pierce@gmail.com, so you can be featured in the column.

Dear Montecito,

Kristin Trent is a junior at UC Davis

Flying the nest is part of any good coming of age story. But, when departing from unparalleled Montecito, where is there to go? My journey took me inland to Davis, California, a college town where bicycles outnumber people. It is only now during my junior year at the University of California, Davis that I have stopped to reflect upon the town I used to call home.

With Montecito as my very first blueprint of the “real world,” I often find myself looking back in awe on my early years and their accompanying perceptions of “normal.” This normal I perceived was the result of experiences like traveling with friends and getting lost in classmates’ estate homes.

When I arrived at Davis, the first thing I noticed was the variety of skin tones that filled the lecture halls.

It was a relief for the first time to blend in given my multi-racial identity. During that first year, I met a number of people from Hawaii, some even from the same island and town where I spent summers visiting with my grandparents. From a young age living in fairly homogenous Montecito, my mixed identity separated me from my peers. Whether it was pronouncing words with a Hawaiian accent, or eating “unusual” foods, I was left feeling that I could not quite relate to and participate in the shared experiences of my peers. Merely reduced to the image of the Hawaiian girl, my elementary aged personality became centered around a geographic location, limiting my capacity to assume a new definition for myself. Upon moving to Davis, it has been rejuvenating to experience an environment thriving in diversity. This community was defined by its difference, and for that I was allowed the growth to defy the template placed before me and assume an identity to suit me.

Despite Santa Barbara’s prided beauty and resources, I have noticed the disconnect between our town’s praise in respect to its accompanying problems. In this manner, the implications of human problems permeate this paradise just as they do the rest of the country. In high school, I found myself in one of these unsightly cracks in the sidewalk. Unlike elementary school, it was no longer the social perception of my cultural background impacting my capacity for expansion, but something much larger than myself. It was hate speech. Proliferating its way through the halls and classrooms of high school, “The good man is the friend of all living things.” — Gandhi

blatant discrimination remained seamlessly uncaught by teachers and administrators. The words, the slurs I overheard during passing periods loomed around me like wisps of smoke, not enough to set off a fire alarm. But they were always lingering, along the hallways, in the seats next to me, and caught, absorbed even, reverberating in the chambers of my mind. Lacking control to fight for the collective respect of my peers, I was driven to dread the unregulated jungle of high school. This reckless and persistent behavior drew me and my peers to become guarded, cynical, and hopeless. How were we supposed to dream big if we could not get to first period without overhearing conversations peppered with derogatory comments?

Whether it was pronouncing words with a Hawaiian accent, or eating “unusual” foods, I was left feeling that I could not quite relate to and participate in the shared experiences of my peers.

Now, I recognize that this crack growing in the sidewalk is metastasized deep past its superficial concrete appearance. Hate speech is human after all. We can see discrimination as magnifications of aggression built over the course of a life. Despite what we would like to think, these undesirable behaviors proliferate past graduation day. Even students holding top positions in the social hierarchy of high school are not immune from this behavior. This toxic paradigm young adults are forced to endure is a disservice to the fundamentals of growth and well-being. Teachers and administrators should not put their blind faith in the idea that kids will “grow out of it.” I am here to say that social issues resulting from discriminatory behavior go against that very notion.

These issues do not go away, in fact they magnify until those aggressions learned by high schoolers, are then perpetuated by CEOs and politicians years down the line.

I have hope for future young adults and for the change of the systemic error that allows hate speech to persist without consequence. Montecito, I write to you for recognition, that our community, despite our privilege, suffers from this undercurrent of discriminatory behavior. Let us harness this resounding privilege to eliminate the systemic sources allowing such behaviors to exist. If not us, then who?

With hope, Kristin Trent •MJ 22 – 29 April 2021

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22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

25

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

What is JUST Capital?

And… Why Should You Care???

D

eepak Chopra has the precocious habit of asking the most prescient questions. On one occasion 12 years ago he asked what it would take to cause “Wall Street,” and/or large businesses generally, to cease being forces of social destruction and instead become positive forces for societal change? We had a conversation about how we could help companies measure their success by different metrics that were life affirming, socially supportive, and tied to the moral sentiments of the population. Deepak immediately responded “Well, those would be JUST companies.” We shared the idea with Paul Scialla, a few others, and ultimately with Paul Tudor Jones, the multi-billionaire businessman whose incredibly talented wife, Sonia, served with us on the Chopra Foundation Board.

Paul Tudor Jones is a “larger than life” type of fellow. He has been extraordinarily successful in business and on a personal financial level. More importantly, however, Paul for the last 28 years has been the funding source and founding energy behind the Robin Hood Foundation. For each of these years, Paul has through personal commitments and his extensive network, successfully raised $100,000,000 to fund Robin Hood so it can place these significant resources where they are needed most in New York’s five boroughs: educational support in disadvantaged communities, food banks, and a wide host of “on the ground” services for the needy of New York. Despite this already substantial nonprofit commitment to society, therefore, it is truly remarkable that Paul made his time and resources available to co-lead the founding of a new nonprofit designed to lubricate the shift in behavior that Deepak was precisely asking about. JUST Capital was thus informally launched. Then a corporation was formed, a tax exemption was obtained, and JUST Capital began its work, dedicated to learning about, and then ranking, the 1,000 largest public corporations in the USA. Since its earliest days, JUST Capital has been a data mining and data accumulation research institution with an annual budget of approximately $10,000,000.

It publishes its proprietary rankings every year on its website and publishes the top 100 public U.S. based companies in an annual edition of Forbes magazine usually released in November.

What are they researching and what do the rankings evaluate? They are rankings of the best companies in America who operate with a commitment to the public well-being that matches the public’s sense of “just” behavior. Who decides what constitutes “just” behavior? The American public does. How does JUST know what the American public thinks? So far over 150,000 average folks, from every region of the country, from all walks of life, have responded to the surveys where JUST elicits what the American public thinks is “just” behavior.

Every year 8-10,000 additional interviews are conducted to keep the data up to date (what the public is now requiring of JUST companies is getting better every year), and to keep re-checking what JUST thinks it is hearing from the public. In fact, in the nine years the rankings have been published, the American public has evolved to demand that business be more socially supportive of society.

As you might guess, the public’s top issues are “pay equity” (every employee should be paid what another employee is paid for the same task regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or religion), and being paid a “livable wage” or the ability to work a 40 hour/week job and earn above the Federal poverty level. The data JUST compiles and publishes works off a principal my mother taught me: “You catch more flies with a spoon full of honey than you do with a barrel full of vinegar.”

JUST Capital focuses on the success stories in business which are based on principles most individuals would be proud to embrace. In business we call this showcasing “best practices.” The research conclusively demonstrates that companies that “just” companies have the highest profits, the most stable sales, and the most loyal employees and customers. Publicizing the data also permits the “laggards” to see how their adverse rankings are hurting their basic business.

It is no secret that Walmart, Target, and Amazon have all altered their entry level wages and begun to move their employees above the poverty line. They aren’t there yet, but already they are seeing tremendous benefits in increased customer loyalty, reduced turnover, and higher profits – all from doing what the public perceives as “the right thing.” Look at the recent unsuccessful attempt to unionize Amazon in Alabama, which lost by an almost three-to-one vote of the employees. Amazon won precisely because Amazon had already been raising their wages, were paying far above other employers in the area, and had begun

26 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Earth Day Reads

The Climate Diet: A Guide to Living for a Greener Future

T

he Climate Diet: 50 Simple Ways to Trim Your Carbon Footprint by Paul Greenberg urges everyone, but particularly Americans, to take a deeper look at the impact of their lifestyle. On average, Americans emit 16 metric tons of CO2 per person every year, but Greenberg points out that other countries like England and France have average individual footprints a third of that and rank similarly in terms of quality of life.

Some suggestions are common knowledge, like cutting out beef or driving less, but others are more nuanced. Greenberg urges consumers to consider sustainable seafood options like clams and mussels which require no land or fertilizer, so their production emits less CO2 than other protein sources.

Outside of food, the book emphasizes how higher quality clothing, a more efficient home, and less consumption of material goods can drastically reduce household emissions. The book includes some tips you wouldn’t even think of, like opting for more centrally-located family reunions.

At only 135 pages, the book is brief, but it’s an optimal go-to guide for anyone asking where to go next on their sustainability journey.

Eat More and Waste Less with The No-Waste Vegetable Cookbook

Linda Ly says that she specializes in a cuisine in which “creativity and resourcefulness does not equal frugality and blandness. It’s understanding that a vegetable begins with the sprouts and does not end until the tubers, vines, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds have given their all.” This is the philosophy she highlights in her green cookbook, The No-Waste Vegetable Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for Whole Plant Cooking.

Ly asks us to reconsider how we see stalks, stems, leaves, pods, and seeds.

Broccoli leaves can be used to wrap falafel and tomato leaves add an earthly flavor to sauces. It also includes pesto-making charts that help readers create pestos out of a variety of unorthodox ingredients.

Ly is grateful to her Vietnamese immigrant parents for instilling in her a “top-to-tail” mentality when it comes to cooking. She remembers being jealous of neighbors who made convenient meals from cans and boxes while her household was rinsing rice, chopping vegetables, and preparing whole fish.

Now, she realizes how fortunate she is for having this ideology in the kitchen and hopes to share this no-waste mindset with her readers.

•MJ to reform some of their most retrograde management practices.

Personally, I like unions and believe they should be more active participants in our overall business landscape. That said, Amazon learned two years ago what it had to do to get on the right side of pay equity issues and started moving in that direction. And, if Amazon starts to fall behind, they will no doubt face another unionization drive – as they should.

The JUST rankings contribute to this evolution at the top echelons of American business. Just this year General Motors reported in the Annual Proxy Statement that the CEO’s (Mary Barra in this case) bonus was in part determined by the JUST Capital rankings GM received. The information now publicly exists as to who is doing well by their stakeholders so those stakeholders can demand a higher level of attention. No longer limited to just watching massive corporate resources being paid to executives, or shareholder dividends, or common stock “buybacks,” JUST is the referee that impartially and transparently reports to us so we can decide who to support with our shopping dollars. That information is causing a revolution in corporate America. For the first time since the 1970s the belief that a corporation’s only duty was to its shareholders has been shattered.

It has been replaced by “Stakeholder Capitalism” that protects and advances the interests of all the stakeholders.

JUST Capital is acting as the public guardian of our highest aspirations for corporate behavior. As the old business saying goes, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Better yet, if you care enough, look up the annual rankings and spend your consumer dollars with those companies that best reflect your values. That is what will provide continuous improvement in corporate behavior. Yes, you should care because JUST Capital is your referee to illuminate our best corporate citizens who can set an example for all the rest.

•MJ

“It’s Earth day. I wonder if we can plant more trees than people for a change?” – Stanley Victor Paskavich

22 – 29 April 2021

Community Voices (Continued from page 6) There is a case study in IPR recycling from Pismo Beach, Grover Beach, and Arroyo Grande. Pismo Beach has a population of 8,180 compared to Montecito’s 8,245. Grover Beach has a population of 15,535 compared to Carpinteria’s 13,505.

Arroyo Grande has a population of 18,033 compared to Summerland’s 1,505.

These communities in San Luis Obispo County, unlike our own, share a common belief in the need for an added sustainable, drought-proof source of potable water that is not dependent on rainfall. Therefore, they have joined hands to work together to ensure that reliable water supplies will be available for future extended droughts on a regional basis.

The project is called Central Coast Blue, a regional recycled water project that will include construction of an Advanced Treatment Facility to treat wastewater from both the city of Pismo Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant and the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District’s wastewater treatment plant to produce purified water that is purer than most bottled waters in San Luis Obispo County.

Currently the water from both treatment plants is being treated to a tertiary standard and discharged into the ocean. The advanced treatment wastewater will be injected into the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin (SMGB) to supplement the natural groundwater supply and prevent seawater intrusion into that basin.

The specific project goals are: 1. Achieve a 30% increase in community groundwater supplies; 2. Successfully enable five agencies to manage water collaboratively; 3. Create a sustainable local drought-proof water supply; 4. Reduce current dependence on imported water from the State Water System or purchased from other Districts; and 5. Achieve a 77% reduction in ocean discharge.

Significant public funding opportunities are now available for indirect potable reuse projects in California thanks, in part, to the successful passage of the 2014 Proposition 1 Water Bond. According to Heal the Ocean, IPR projects are cost-effective and affordable compared to alternative water supplies such as imported water from the State Water Project, or ocean desalination. Priority funding is available to regional proposals that affect more than one district or break new ground as a model for other districts.

In addition, President Joe Biden has unveiled a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that includes $56 billion specifically tagged for rebuilding the nation’s water and wastewater systems. The drinking water and wastewater component could be finalized and poised to pass by this summer. As always, priority funding will go those communities which have shovel-ready projects, designed and costed to at least a 30% level. Will Montecito and its neighboring communities be ready?

3. Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) is the process of treating wastewater to an even higher standard than IPR water without the need to use an environmental buffer such as groundwater basin injection. In January 2018, California State Assembly Bill 574 (AB 574) required the State Water Resources Control Board to develop DPR regulations by the end of 2023. Approval will allow DPR water to be blended with other safe sources, such as highly treated wastewater mixed with desalinated ocean water for potable use or pumped directly into Lake Cachuma or other surface reservoirs.

According to the National Institute of Health, a sound technical basis exists for developing water recycling programs incorporating IPR and/or DPR that are protective of public health. By building on key elements of the existing framework of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the water industry can move forward to incorporate properly treated recycled water as a source of raw drinking water supply.

Last week, Tom Fayram, the county’s Water Agency Director, warned Montecito residents that Santa Barbara County is experiencing its lowest ever 10-year average for rainfall. To make matters worse, the California Department of Water Resources, the principal supplier of potable water to South Coast Water Districts, announced that deliveries of state water will be cut to just 5% of promised water for 2021.

Montecito Water District has a state water allocation of 3,300 acre-feet-year (AFY) in return for paying more than $5 million per year in fixed expenses for its share of the state water conveyance costs. When the annual state water allocation is cut to 5% (from 3,300 AFY to 165 AFY) while the same $5 million in fixed costs

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remains in place, the cost of state water jumps from a reasonable $1,515 per acre foot (AF) to an astronomic and unaffordable $30,303 per AF. Montecito and Summerland use some 3,600 AFY of potable water, so when the state water deliveries are cut by more than 3,000 AFY, our community suffers.

In addition, 10 years of continued drought puts an enormous strain on Montecito’s already inadequate aquifers, putting local well users at risk of dry wells. Thankfully, the Montecito Water Board signed a Water Sales Agreement with the city of Santa Barbara for 1,430 AFY of potable water beginning in January 2022.

The Carpinteria Connection

The time is now for Montecito Water, Montecito Sanitary, Summerland Sanitary, and Carpinteria Sanitary to explore joining forces to consider the construction of an advanced treatment wastewater facility which could turn wastewater currently being dumped into the Pacific Ocean into potable water and banked underground in Carpinteria. Withdrawals from a Carpinteria water bank do not have to be physical; exchange agreements can be negotiated between districts.

Working Together

For those who fear working together, look no further than the successful merger of the Montecito Water District and the Summerland Water District in 1995. The Montecito community has been trying for three decades to convince Montecito Sanitary and Montecito Water to work together rather than in separate silos.

South Coast water districts have already been working together for years at the Cater Water Treatment Plant, treating reservoir water for the city of Santa Barbara, the Montecito Water District, and the Carpinteria Water District.

Recommendations from the Strategic Planning Group

Recommendations from the Joint Strategic Planning Committee to be discussed with both individual boards as an agenda item include the following questions: 1. Should both boards scrap the purple pipe non-potable reuse (NPR) solution? Why continue to spend time and money on purple pipe if no customers want to buy? Should both boards agree to focus their resource time and dollars on a potable reuse solution? Should both boards halt the $350,000 consultant study by Montecito Sanitary and the $15 million in sanitary equipment for the Cemetery?

2. Should both boards take a more intense look at the IPR project with Carpinteria to recycle as much as possible of the 550,000 gallons per day of wastewater now being discharged into the ocean? Is the best solution to treat wastewater locally and pipe it to Carpinteria for groundwater injection, or send untreated affluent to Carpinteria to be treated in its treatment plant and injected into their water basin as “banked water?” Should both boards consider a similar outreach to the city of Santa Barbara?

3. Is it time for both boards to move past the concept stage and engage the community in an intelligent discussion before initiating a 30% design-and-build study to apply for state and federal funding?

4. How would each district pay their fair share of study costs, equipment costs, operating costs, maintenance costs?

5. How will Indirect and Direct Potable Reuse be viewed by the community?

In Conclusion

Credit Leonardo da Vinci with this advice to Montecito’s Water and Sanitary districts: “Water is the driving force of all nature.” Famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart, added this admonition: “Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.”

•MJ

Real Estate Appraiser Greg Brashears California Certified General Appraiser Serving Santa Barbara County and beyond for 30 years V 805-650-9340 EM gb@gregbrashears.com

• The Voice of the Village •

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27

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.

Keep Up That Racquet, Please!

I

t’s all systems go at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club!

As the Carpinteria equestrian facility marks its 110th season with its official opening on May 2, the club will be open to spectators as pandemic lockdown rules are eased.

“It will be nice to have people back in the stands,” said club manager David Sigman. “Last season was a good one for players and ponies with eight teams in both the low goal and high goal tournaments, but, of course, due to the pandemic no one got to see it.

“We met very rigorous standards from the County and the U.S. Polo Association, doing 1,500 tests on players and staff, but not one single case was diagnosed. It was a lot of moving parts.”

Initially the club will open for members only and those booking the eight fieldside cabanas.

“With everyone getting their jabs, more people will be allowed later in the season, with the highlight being the Pacific Coast Open in August, the biggest polo event on the West Coast,” Sigman said.

The tennis club, just a tiara’s toss from the hallowed Holden Field, has undergone a major $500,000 renovation with a new roof and new floors. It will open for racketeers on July 1.

And a restaurant, The Fieldside Grill, run by Best Beverage Catering, which also manages eateries at the Eldorado and the Empire polo clubs in Indio, will make its debut on May 1. It will offer lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday for members and the general public, which will include table service and walk-up express grill.

“There is certainly light at the end of the tunnel,” says longtime polo manager Melanja Jones. “Through May and June members can come back and enjoy the matches, and hopefully by the summer we’ll relatively get back to normal with the general public being allowed back.”

Here’s hoping...

A Spring Sing It will be polo at the gallop with spectators this season (photo credit: David Lominska Polographics)

Matthew Pifer, MD

Opera Santa Barbara hosted an evening of high note with its fifth annual

Pianist Nicholas Roehler accompanied Alaysha Fox at the event (Photo by Priscilla)

Sings For You! at the University Club, with soprano Alaysha Fox from the Young Artists Program of the Los Angeles Opera and Nicholas Roehler at the piano.

With an eclectic program of works from Wagner, Verdi, Strauss, Cole Porter, Rodgers, and Hart, and, of course, Puccini, it couldn’t have been a more delightful spring night accompanied with a socially separated threecourse dinner.

Among those in the right aria were general director Kostis Protopapas,

Miscellany Page 364

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22 – 29 April 2021

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700 Park Lane* 1583 S Jameson Lane 788 San Ysidro Lane 416 Meadowbrook Drive 1676 E Valley Road 956 Mariposa Lane 1398 Oak Creek Canyon 707 Park Lane* 1987 Birnam Wood Drive 209 Greenwell Avenue 525 Las Fuentes Drive 2148 Piedras Drive 680 San Ysidro Road

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ROBERT RISKIN

2021 closings, continued

$27,500,000 $17,900,000 $10,900,000 $9,495,000 $9,250,000 $9,150,000 $8,950,000 $8,000,000 $6,750,000 $6,195,000 $5,295,000 $5,100,000 $4,995,000

4625 Via Carretas 502 Picacho Lane 950 Andante Road 546 San Ysidro Road

pending

1150 Channel Drive 605/607 Cowles Road* 745 Ashley Road 1811 Fernald Point 1101 Alston Road 1777 San Leandro Lane 3628 San Remo Drive

$4,950,000 $4,495,000 $3,100,000 $1,695,000

$23,800,000 $23,500,000 $15,975,000 $9,250,000 $5,995,000 $4,500,000 $2,400,000

Prices noted above reflect list price. *Represented both buyer and seller. License #01954177 22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

29

On Entertainment

by Steven Libowitz

Productions at the Pollock

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he Pollock Theatre at UCSB jumps back into the post-SBIFF fray in midspring with three events within a single week. Appropriate for Earth Day weekend, Pollock’s virtual filmmaker series dives into the 2020 documentary Frozen Obsession, which follows the 18-day, 2,000-mile Northwest Passage Project expedition through the stunningly beautiful and extreme Canadian Arctic, aboard the Swedish research icebreaker Oden. The film follows how scientists are racing to understand a fast-warming Arctic, exploring how environmental changes currently unfolding in the polar regions will affect life on a planetary scale. Director David Clark and expedition participants Hester Blum (Penn State University) and Korenna Estes (CSU-Fresno) join moderator Ian Kellett (UCSB) for a discussion of the film on April 22. Registered participants will receive a link to stream Frozen Obsession.

Pollock’s Script-to-Screen series returns on April 24 to re-visit Thirteen, the 2003 directing debut of Catherine Hardwicke that delves into the unhinged joy and bitter angst of modern adolescence with honesty, clarity, and passion. The story follows Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) as she grows from a pig-tailed child, still playing with teddy bears and Barbie dolls, into a young woman navigating the hyper-sexualized pressure cooker of junior high. Writer-director Hardwicke, who went on to helm Twilight and Lords of Dogtown, joins Pollock Theater Director Matt Ryan for a discussion of the still influential film, which can be screened in advance on Amazon Prime and YouTube.

In recognition of the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the CarseyWolf Center’s Pollock is partnering with the interdisciplinary conference “Fallout: Chernobyl and the Ecology of Disaster” in presenting a virtual discussion of The Babushkas of Chernobyl. The powerful 2015 documentary explores the radioactive dead zone surrounding Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4, where a defiant community of women ekes out an existence on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They share this hauntingly beautiful but lethal landscape with an assortment of interlopers: scientists, soldiers, and even young thrill-seekers who sneak in to pursue post-apocalyptic video game-inspired fantasies. The story turns into a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s destiny, and the subjective nature of risk. Director Holly Morris joins moderator Sara Pankenier Weld (Germanic and Slavic Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of the making of the movie. Register at www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu for events and links.

Alcazar Adjusts to Reopen for Movies

SPRING INTO ACTION! There’s still time to enter the 2021 Waterwise Garden Contest!

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by April 30, 2021 www.WaterWiseSB.org/GardenContest * Residents of single-family homes in areas served by Montecito Water District, the City of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria Valley Water District, and Vandenberg Village Community Services District are eligible to apply.

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30 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Carpinteria’s intimate and arty Alcazar Theatre has announced that it will begin hosting live movie screenings this weekend, a few weeks after such reopenings were permitted under the new protocols. The lineup kicks off at 7 pm on Friday, April 23, with a Montecito-centric all-time classic in The Last Picture Show, the 1971 coming-of-age drama adapted from the semi-autobiographical 1966 novel

by Larry McMurtry and directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich. The movie was a career-launcher for both future Montecito resident Jeff Bridges, who earned an Academy Award nomination, and Timothy Bottoms, son of famed late local sculptor Bud Bottoms; his younger brother Sam also had a pivotal role in the heartbreaking film. Seeing the black-and-white all-time favorite on the big screen again is a mighty appealing thought.

Rounding out the weekend, the Hugh Jackman musical The Greatest Showman screens at 2 and 7 pm on Saturday, April 23, while Sing, the 2016 computer-animated musical comedy, shows at 2 pm on Sunday, April 24. In anticipation of welcoming back a live audience – limited at the moment to 25 percent capacity – the theater earlier this month installed an OTOjOY Hearing Loop assistive listening system that sends audio directly to people’s own devices, and will follow theatrical protocols of disinfecting the seats and environs between showtimes and requiring face masks. For tickets and details, visit www.thealcazar.org.

Carp’s Covid-Coping Outdoor Concert

Meanwhile, last weekend the theater was the virtual (and even on-site) host of the Carpinteria Rotary Charitable Foundation’s 12th Annual Talent Showcase, which would have taken place inside the renovated Art Deco theater in a normal year. Given the pandemic, the showcase went virtual, but not in the typical Zoom box shuffle so common over the last year. Instead, Carpinteria locals and their friends performed at a wide variety of mostly outdoor spaces in the seaside town for the event, which was hosted by the ubiquitous John Palminteri, who introduced each act with a preview of both the performers and the location.

Comic Jason Love, who has hosted regular comedy nights at the Alcazar for years and has successfully transferred the franchise online during the pandemic, kicked things off with a generous set actually shot onstage at the theater that

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

22 – 29 April 2021

found him employing musical snippets to flesh out his act. Highlights included Love wondering, musically, why no advertising whiz ever thought of using the hit “867-5309” for a plumber or other local business since the song made the number more memorable than our own cell digits. (Turns out that actually did happen: Benjamin Franklin plumbing, which has a location as close as Atascadero, employed the ditty because they already had the phone number, way back in the ‘00s. Plus Cingular, the precursor to Verizon Wireless, took its turn in 2003.)

After Love’s set, the nearly two-hour show shifted outside to such locations as the Carpinteria Arts Center, where the now-Carp dwelling former Cache Valley Drifter/Acousticats founder Cyrus Clarke sang a cover of Kate Wolf’s “Green Eyes,” appropriate since the Drifters were the late Wolf’s longtime backup band.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Devyn Clayton belted out a number just off Carpinteria Beach, while a volleyball game on the beach provided the action backdrop as Carp High junior Fiona Casbarro took to the electric keyboard to cover Mitski’s “Nobody” in front of the Seal Sandbox. That’s also where Cecilia James offered up her original “Different Ground,” the title track of her new forthcoming EP. The gorgeous grounds of Cate School, the typical summer home of the Music Academy of the West’s vocal department (hopefully this year, too) served as the setting for Kennedy Simpson and trio singing her original “Room For Rent,” and the even more picturesque Salt Marsh Nature Park provided a wide-open welcome for the duo of Rick Sharp & Jenny Alvarado offering up a version of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Teach Your Children.” The cleverly-named Slideways Trombone Quartet took over a Linden Avenue street corner to perform Jobim’s “No More Blues” with plenty of social distancing, while guitar/piano duo Tom Collins & Kent Rollins also took on a Jobim classic at the nearby Island Brewing Co. Sometimes coping with the COVID pandemic protocols provides unexpected benefits. While going virtual obviously meant no audience interaction and no showing off the beauty and acoustics of the Alcazar, visiting all the various venues around Carpinteria might have been even more mighty for the beach town, and perhaps something organizers might want to find a way to incorporate even after the protocols are lifted. Zoom boxes, no. Outdoor shows, yes.

The Rotary’s Talent Showcase began streaming on April 17. The good news is you can watch it in its entirety on demand at www.thealcazar.org.

•MJ

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

31

Real Estate (Continued from page 16 16)

1188 Summit Road – $7,250,000

595 Freehaven Drive – $3,950,000

O

n what feels like a country lane, just minutes from shops and beaches, you will enter the gates of this more than three-acre property and approach the nearly 6,000-plus-square-foot home. The high ceilings and panoramic mountain views are the focus when you step inside this contemporary residence with outdoor entertaining areas and several ‘’flex rooms’’ for a variety of live/work options. Also, there is parking for many cars on site, two main entrance options to the home and separate entry for the guest quarters.

Located in the foothills of east Montecito with north-facing views that bring in the light, the home provides a backdrop for life with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, offering picture windows with mountain views, privacy, and room for many to find their own space to pursue their work interests and hobbies.

The home offers a primary suite, spacious open kitchen, living room, dining room, two family rooms, as well as an office and wrap-around patios with spectacular views. The price per square foot should not be overlooked with this listing.

A

pproaching this one-of-a-kind property, you are greeted by a more than 100-year-old oak tree that is full of stories to tell. Constructed in 1917 and designed by noted architect Winsor Soule, this home rests on almost an acre in a prime off Middle Road location. The home was originally named ‘’Monte Bello” and is mentioned in David Myrick’s book, Montecito and Santa Barbara: From Farms to Estates.

Upon entering the residence, you are welcomed by a grand staircase, wide hallways, and tall ceilings with crown moldings. The floor plan takes full advantage of over 7,700 square feet of living space and offers six bedrooms and eight bathrooms. The ground floor includes a formal living room surrounded

by French doors filling the room with natural light. Tucked off this gracious room is a sun-filled office with disappearing doors to allow the outside in.

With too many desirable features and amenities to list — butler’s pantry, separate bedroom wing, basement, mature grounds with citrus, fig and apricot trees, to name a few — I will leave it at that and point out that this rare gem is just a short distance to Coast Village Road and is within the Montecito Union School District.

1143 Hill Road – $7,295,000

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H

ear the waves crash from this beach cottage and studio with gated access to Butterfly Beach. The gated entry leads into a lushly landscaped courtyard with fountain and to this lovely single-level home. Inside find copper-clad windows and glass doors that invite the grounds into the home. The chef’s kitchen features three Viking ovens, a Viking range and microwave. Cozy up to the fireplace in the living room or open the fold away doors and experience the coastal feel of indoor/outdoor living.

The primary suite with adjacent office features a fireplace, dual closets with built-ins, dual vanities, and heated floors. Additionally, there is a laundry room and luggage room that provides storage that could be converted back to a third bedroom, if desired.

There is a two-car garage with storage, a private backyard, and a custom-built plunge pool and spa with waterfall. The bocce court is a great addition, and the detached studio is ideal as an office or gym. This home is within the Montecito Union School District and is near the beach, area hotels, shopping, and dining along Coast Village Road.

•MJ

“Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

22 – 29 April 2021

Virtual Events

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

Intimate, interactive online events you won’t find anywhere else Classical Music Treasures

Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott Songs of Comfort and Hope Wed, May 5 / 5 PM Pacific $10 / UCSB students: FREE! (UCSB student registration required)

Theaster Gates Thu, Apr 29 / 5 PM Pacific $10 / UCSB students: FREE! (UCSB student registration required)

An artist, musician and cultural planner, Theaster Gates draws on his training in urban planning to redeem spaces that have been left behind, upturning art values, land values and human values.

Beloved cellist Yo-Yo Ma and acclaimed pianist Kathryn Stott perform selections from their recent album, featuring traditional and new takes on familiar works from Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative

Former President of the American Enterprise Institute

Bryan Stevenson

Arthur C. Brooks

American Injustice: Mercy, Humanity and Making a Difference

National Renewal

Tue, May 11 / 5 PM Pacific $10 / UCSB students: FREE! (UCSB student registration required) Drawing on social science and a decade of experience leading the American Enterprise Institute, Arthur C. Brooks shows that what the country needs is not agreement, but better disagreement.

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UC Santa Barbara Campus Partners:

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Department of Black Studies Center for Black Studies Research Division of Social Sciences Division of Humanities and Fine Arts Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences Division of Student Affairs Gevirtz Graduate School of Education Graduate Division Bren School for Environmental Science & Management

(805) 893-3535 www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu 22 – 29 April 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

College of Creative Studies College of Engineering MultiCultural Center 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

Community Partners: Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli Special Thanks: MONTECITO JOURNAL

33

Summerland (Continued from page 18) the wonderful Santa Barbara Wildlife Network.

But back to Wullbrandt, who has plenty of Summerland tales of his own to share – including this humdinger — and whom I must thank for nudging me to downtown Santa Barbara.

The Birds

Haunted House? Wullbrandt Spoils the Myth!

Nesting cormorants have moved down the beach and are upsetting residents of Finney Street (photo credit: David Powdrell) John Wullbrandt, “Summerland,” acrylic on canvas, 18”x36”

Last month, I wrote about The Big Yellow House – now the big white house – which evoked lot of reads and plenty of memories for many people.

In one of our early morning Facebook Messenger chats, Wullbrandt texted me photos of one of the old Green Gables restaurant (pre-Big Yellow House) jackets he wore, a matchbook, and an item he salvaged from the basement: a sort of windchime made of old now-rusty metal.

“Hate to be a spoiler,” Wullbrandt wrote, while he was finishing up his epic painting of Summerland, “but the house was rigged.”

What? No Hector the Ghost, who was identified and named by Rod Lathim?

(I just read Lathim’s The Spirit of The Big Yellow House and I tend to believe the author, who has given me plenty of fodder for future columns in this tome.

Thank you, Rod!) Wullbrandt revealed that a balanced wood beam, when activated, would sound like faint footsteps under the dining room floor.

Horrors! Could this be true? Let the debate begin…

Still, my offer remains to go spend the night there. Is anybody listening?

Hector?

In the meantime, this is the last weekend (it closes April 27) to check out Wullbrandt’s one-man show at SB Fine Art of scenic Santa Barbara sights and buildings, views from his Carpinteria ranch, and trompe l’oeil images at the gallery, including his recent Summerland – 101 – Pacific Ocean landscape.

The Carpinteria native treasure calls it his “post-fire; post-defending his ranch; post- losing-everything-in-his art-shed; post-pandemic-lockdown; postTrump-era-precursor to a new era plan!”

“Phew!” I thought, “What is his new era plan?”

“Remember when we were young, we wanted to do so many things in life that it was almost like we did not know what to do first? I still feel that way about painting. I’m inclined to keep the momentum, but focus on what is ‘up close’ starting with my painting for The Oak Group’s 35th anniversary show that goes up when mine comes down,” the 69-year-old artist wrote, sending a close up of a beautiful snake image, one of the objects he fancies in his immediate surroundings on his Carpinteria ranch.

One of John’s painting of our iconic Santa Barbara Courthouse recently sold – leaving a spot to hang his recent Summerland scape – not long after the paint has dried. Nab it while you can in the exhibition final days.

Available to care for our neighbors and accepting new patients.

1483 E. Valley Road, Suite M | 805.969.6090

34 MONTECITO JOURNAL

It appears to be something out of the Alfred Hitchcock flick The Birds for residents on Finney Street on the Summerland cliffs. The nesting cormorants who have been chased off of the eucalyptus grove aside the 101 with mylar balloons have changed just moved nesting plans just down the beach. People are pissed. Much more on this literal “shitshow” coming soon.

Stay tuned.

Bert’s Birthday!

Belated birthday greetings to Bert at the Summerland Post Office. We appreciate you!

On a Final Note

Happy Birthday, Bert!

A true Montecito treasure, Brad Bartholomay (November 29, 1949-December 23, 2020) went on to greener pastures in the sky a few months ago. I meant to note his passing, but was waiting for word from his beautiful daughter (Fiesta flower-girl-turned-architect) Schuyler Leigh Johnson, who I do believe got caught up in the whirlwind of grief, shock, work, young motherhood, and the rubbery passage of time. Her sweet memoriam ran in this paper two weeks ago, but inadvertently Brad’s handsome photo was left out. I wanted to make sure it was in print and this gives me a chance to add my fond farewell to a swell fella. Brad was a solid Republican Ranchero Vistadore to my solid liberal Brad Bartholomay (November 29, 1949 - December 23, 2020) leanings, yet we had a fine friendship and sweet romance for a short period of time back in the last century. Brad’s legacy will live on in his amazingly beautiful landscaping, hardscaping, and pool and spa designs. His clients ran the gamut from Michael Douglas (I know this because some of his leftover stones were used for the front stoop of my former Summerland beach shack) to the owners of many of Montecito’s finest, gated estates.

In addition to his daughter and siblings, girlfriend Debbie Nowlin and others, I know his best friends Erik Black and Michael Benson are especially missing their sidekick.

Rest in peace, young cowboy. Heaven has gained a true gentleman.

•MJ

“Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches, or its romance.” —Theodore Roosevelt

22 – 29 April 2021

Brilliant Thoughts

SBMM

by Ashleigh Brilliant

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum

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

It’s the Law

Q

uite apart from our legal system, there are so many laws in Science and Economics and other disciplines that it must have been inevitable for satirical “laws” to appear, usually commenting on the perversity of life as we experience it.

Probably the most famous of these “laws” states (in various versions) that “If anything can go wrong, it will.”

In America, this is called “Murphy’s Law,” in Britain, “Sod’s Law.” In foreign languages, the name Murphy is usually retained.

The classic alleged evidence in support of this postulate is that a dropped piece of toast will always fall with the buttered side down.

(Believe it or not, experiments have been performed to test the validity of this contention – but there can be so many variables that the results have been inconclusive.)

Nevertheless, society needs laws – and, for better or worse, laws need lawyers. Although, as traditionally with all good Jewish parents, mine wanted me to become one, if not a doctor (and Doctor of Philosophy didn’t count). I managed to avoid any need for having a lawyer, let alone being one, until I was well into my 30s.

And it happened that my first legal case was against TIME magazine.

I had discovered an unfilled niche in the literary world. Although people had been inscribing short messages on toilet walls and other off-beat surfaces for many years, it appeared that nobody had thought of copyrighting such creations, and presenting them as a legitimate genre of oneline poetry. So, I started a little business based on writing and illustrating short expressions, and publishing them on postcards. Among the very first of these (#79 of a series which eventually grew to 10,000) was a card which said, “IT’S REALLY QUITE A SIMPLE CHOICE: LIFE, DEATH, OR LOS ANGELES.” Imagine my amazement when, not long after this copyrighted card began to circulate, it appeared on the first page of TIME’s news section, accompanying an item about California’s population problems. But it was identified only as a “California Pop Postcard,” with no credit of any kind.

At that time, I was living not far from the University of San Francisco, which had a Law department, containing (I learned upon inquiry) a young Professor who specialized 22 – 29 April 2021

Grand Re-Opening with Four New Exhibits Thursday - Sunday • 10am - 5pm

in Copyright Law. His name was J. Thomas McCarthy, and he went on to become a leading authority in the field of “Intellectual Property” (a term with which I was at that time totally unfamiliar, except in W.H. Auden’s declaration that: “To the man in the street, who, I’m sorry to say, is a keen observer of life, The word ‘intellectual’ suggests, straight away, a man who’s untrue to his wife.”)

Prof. McCarthy charged me $25 for writing to TIME on my behalf. It was my first lesson in the power of a legal letterhead – for, sure enough, the upshot was that TIME published a letter from me, setting the record straight.

If only that had been the end of my involvements with copyright law! – but it was just the beginning. I had decided early on to limit my epigrams to a maximum of 17 words. But unfortunately, many people – including some manufacturers of products like t-shirts – didn’t believe that you could claim legal ownership of a verbal expression that short. And it took more lawyers and a Federal Court Judge (William Matthew Byrne, already famous for presiding over the “Pentagon Papers” case) to establish that my copyrights were “valid, subsisting, and enforceable.”

In the meantime, however, my works were circulating widely – but I didn’t realize the extent of my influence until recently. Quite by accident, I came upon evidence that, while I’d been relying upon the law as a basis for my legitimacy as a professional epigrammatist, I myself was being cited as the author of a “Law” á la Murphy. I found it in a book called THE UNWRITTEN LAWS OF LIFE: Unofficial Rules as Handed Down by Murphy and Other Sages, by Hugh Rawson.

On page 255, one of my thoughts is referred to as “ASHLEIGH’S FIRST LAW.” The epigram thus immortalized (# 702) counsels that “If you can’t learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.” No other of Ashleigh’s Laws are cited, but I take comfort in the fact that the very next Law quoted is attributed to Shakespeare.

But finally, I feel my best advice to you on this subject resides in #9990: “Try to avoid situations in which all you have is a good legal case.”

•MJ

Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea An exhibit of 53 paintings chronicling the accomplishments of the US Navy from the USS Constitution to atomic bomb tests and expeditions to the North and South Poles. On display until May 30, 2021.

SCARF (Santa Cruz Acoustic Range Facility) The onshore facility was located on the south side of Santa Cruz Island on land leased from the Santa Cruz Island Company. SCARF supported hundreds of U.S. Navy development and test programs, many of them classified.

On This Spot Through History by Erin Graffy de Garcia

For centuries, the coastline of Santa Barbara featured a prominent landmark — a natural structure called “Castle Rock.”

Follow the 100 years that led from Castle Rock to the Santa Barbara Harbor and Maritime Museum.

Love Letters to the Sea This new innovative letterwriting project, developed

by Art Educator/ Founder, Sondra Weiss, enables children working alone or with family members or friends to create artistic and persuasive letters and envelopes in support of ocean protection.

113 Harbor Way, Ste 190, Santa Barbara, CA 93109 • sbmm.org • 805 962-8404

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

35

Miscellany (Continued from page 28) Bass-baritone Cedric Berry

Sandy and Bob Urquhart, Joan Rutkowski, and Eric Small at Opera Santa Barbara’s Sings For You! event (photo by Priscilla)

Kostis Protopapas with soprano Alaysha Fox at the University Club (photo by Priscilla)

Robert Weinman, Nancy Bell Coe, Nina Dunbar, Barbara Burger, Gretchen Lieff, Miles Hartfeld, Kimi Matar, Joan Rutkowksi, and Bob and Sandy Urquhart.

So Long, Malibu

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who

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paid $34.2 million three years ago for his 1930s Wallace Frost 10,500-squarefoot, six-bedroom home on 17 acres in our rarefied enclave, is selling his last Malibu property.

Three years ago, he sold an Italianate villa on a bluff top above the beach for $21.3 million and now a second property, described by Variety as “an oceanfront mini compound” on La Costa Beach is up for grabs.

The two-story, 3,736-square-foot contemporary Mediterranean-style home features four bedrooms, three and a half baths, a separate cabana with wine bar, a pool, patio, and detached garage. It was previously owned by actor-comedian David Spade.

Sarandos, 56, whose wife, Nicole Avant, 53, is a former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, became co-CEO of Netflix last July after 20 years as chief content officer.

The power couple are known for hosting elaborate parties in their main residence — a 1920s Hancock Park estate, where I used to reside while appearing on KTLA-TV — they purchased for $16 million in 2015.

Show Must Go On

36 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Santa Barbara Symphony, under

veteran conductor Nir Kabaretti, celebrated American music and showcased a diverse range of composers and performers at the Granada with an audience-free concert, “Fanfare for the Common Man.” “Originally composed as a response to America’s entry into World War II, Aaron Copland titled the piece to honor the common man during those trying times,” says Nir. “As we enter the second year of a global pandemic and recognize the resilience of our community and the impact, we as an organization have worked together to continue playing. This uplifting piece inspires unity and a call to action.”

Joining the talented musicians was bass-baritone Cedric Berry, whose experience spans opera, Broadway, American songbook, jazz, and gospel.

He is a former resident artist with the Los Angeles Opera and is the program coordinator for USC’s film and television production department.

The singer and the symphony also performed the world premiere of the orchestral version of “Polarity,” dedicated to the symphony by local composer George Gianopoulos, part of his song cycle for voice and piano.

The concert also included “Serenade for Strings” by the late Santa Barbara composer and symphony board member Robin Frost; Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker’s “Lyric for Strings”; Samuel Barber’s evocative “Summer Music for Wind Quartet”; and “The Unanswered Question” by Charles Ives, with musicians spatially arrayed around the theater as Ives specified in his score from the early 1900s.

“This concert — the music, the camaraderie we see between our musicians, and the joy they have in sharing the music they love with audiences, is palpable,” says symphony president Kathryn Martin. “COVID is teaching all of us how much impact one person can make, and how our success is coming from ordinary people coming together to do extraordinary things.”

A Royal Farewell

As expected, I was much in demand over the weekend for the somber and muted funeral for Prince Philip at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, built in the 14th century by King Edward III. Most of it was spent on Fox News where I sat for three hours at the CBTV studio downtown with New

“Nature never hurries: atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Richard on Fox News covering the funeral of Prince Philip (photo by Priscilla)

York host Martha MacCallum, watching 30 members of the Royal Family dressed in black tailcoats and mourning dress pay homage to the Duke of Edinburgh, who was married to Queen Elizabeth for 73 years and died just two months before his 100th birthday.

The 50-minute service, which celebrated his colorful life, particularly in the British Royal Navy, was masked and lacking the ceremonial it would have normally included had Britain not been under a pandemic lockdown.

However, the outdoor activities — with guns being fired by the Kings Troop of the Royal Artillery and the Grenadier Guards in their striking red and gold uniforms and towering bearskin hats parading — started with a one-minute nationwide silence and was eminently viewable.

The chapel in the lower ward of Windsor Castle, where I covered the 1999 wedding of Prince Edward to Sophie Rhys-Jones for MSNBC, could not have been a more appropriate locale given Philip’s love of the 1,000-year-old castle where his mother, Princess Alice of Greece, a great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was born.

It was the regular weekend escape from Buckingham Palace in London, a 22-mile drive away, where Philip and the long reigning monarch, who celebrates her 95th birthday this week, could really relax. The Queen enjoyed walking her dogs at Frogmore House nearby and Philip reading and painting watercolors, a hobby that has successfully been followed by his son Prince Charles, 72.

Philip’s grandsons, princes William and Harry, notably did not walk together, separated by their cousin, Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne, although they were spotted briefly chatting after the funeral ended.

Philip was lowered 16 feet into the royal vault, where he will repose until Elizabeth joins him some years hence at the end of her historic reign, and they will be buried together in the King George VI chapel, with her father and mother.

I was certainly in good company on screen with Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana’s former private sec22 – 29 April 2021

retary; Dominic Green, an editor at The Spectator; and Gerard Baker of the Wall Street Journal, adding expert commentary and personal reminiscences.

Earlier in the week, I was interviewed by Armelle Vincent, the Los Angeles correspondent for Le Figaro, the top French daily newspaper that was founded in 1826. After our tête-àtête at Pierre Lafond, she stayed in our rarefied enclave for a couple of days to get a feeling for the neighborhood.

Logging Some Time in a Lincoln

Rick Caruso’s tony beachside hostelry, The Rosewood Miramar, is becoming the land of Lincoln.

Part of the partnership between the luxury hotel and the prestige marque is the Lincoln rejuvenation package, which gives guests access to the auto giant’s hospitality vehicles, including the award-winning Navigator.

The package also includes a 60-minute deep relief massage, hypervolt percussion, and 60 minutes of “mindful meditation.”

The mind boggles...

So Flippin’ Good

Montecito TV talk show host and serial real estate flipper Ellen DeGeneres and actress wife, Portia de Rossi, made a multi-million-dollar profit on the sale of their Beverly Hills mansion, but not as much as hoped.

Ellen, 63, and Portia, 48, sold the 10,000-square-foot property for “roughly $47 million,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Last month the tony twosome listed it for considerably more, $53.5 million, two years after purchasing it from Maroon Five rocker Adam Levine, a judge on The Voice, for $45 million.

The house, with five bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a gourmet kitchen, and 50-foot living room, was completely renovated last year.

The master suite alone is bigger than many single-family homes at 2,000 square feet with an attached sitting room and en suite bathroom.

Levine, 41, and his Namibian supermodel wife, Behati Prinsloo, bought a nine-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot George Washington Smith estate, El Miraval, on 5.2 acres for $22.7 million last month, just a tiara’s toss from the new home of Orlando Bloom and fiancée Katy Perry on Park Lane.

An Ode to Philip

Santa Barbara Polo Club patriarch Glen Holden, 94, has been reminiscing about his relationship with the late Prince Philip, who he knew well during his polo playing career.

Glen, who shuttles between his homes at the Carpinteria club and Oregon, knew Queen Elizabeth’s hus22 – 29 April 2021

band of 73 years well and played in many tournaments against the Duke of Edinburgh in England.

The former U.S. ambassador to Jamaica particularly remembers when the Duke accompanied the U.K. equestrian team to Los Angeles in 1984 for the Olympic Games and got in touch, with Glen acting as tour guide around the Big Orange.

“Philip was a real man’s man,” says Glen, who recently sold his Bel Air estate. “He was fun to be with and really charmed both men and ladies.

“He told you upfront how he felt on a subject often with a humorous twist.

The Duke knew his mind and did his own thing during a very colorful life!”

While serving as a diplomat in the Caribbean, Glen raised sufficient funding to completely renovate the official residence of the island’s Governor General, and one year after completing his ambassadorship was invited back to Jamaica with his late wife, Gloria, for a private lunch with Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth in appreciation of his money raising efforts.

Wonderful memories...

Larry, What a Mighty Big Home You Have

Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who owns a number of homes in our Eden by the Beach, has added to his burgeoning property empire buying a $80 million estate in North Palm Beach.

The seven-bedroom, 15-bath, 15,514-square-foot waterfront Tuscan-style home on 7.3 acres was built in 1998 and comes with a home theater, tennis court, wine room, and helipad.

Ellison, 77, who is ranked No. 9 in the latest Forbes rich list with $89.3 billion, lives on a Hawaiian private island, Lana’i, and says he has no plans to move to Florida in an e-mail to his 135,000 employees.

Even with its impressive 520 feet of ocean frontage in a gated community, Seminole Landing, which is considered the third largest oceanfront compound in Palm Beach County, Ellison is reportedly planning to demolish the property in due course.

Stay tuned...

“You know that no matter your situation, no matter what you feel, this animal is with you and is connected to you. You feel it is a force multiplier.”

True paws for thought...

Showing Heart

Having sealed a $100 million-plus deal with Netflix, one of Prince Harry’s first projects is a documentary series about the Invictus Games, founded in 2014 to help wounded and injured veterans.

The project, Heart of Invictus, will follow competitors training for the pandemic-delayed games at The Hague in the Netherlands next year.

Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Productions are working with director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara on the series, which will follow both athletes and organizers as they prepare for the event.

The Duke of Sussex, 36, will appear on camera and also be an executive producer.

#SocialMediaIsTrash

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry has declared social media is “the decline of human civilization.”

Sightings

Actor Orlando Bloom on his new $14,500 turbo electric bike and fiancée singer Katy Perry on a $3,250 version peddling away in our Eden by the Beach... Ellen DeGeneres and wife, Portia de Rossi, masticating on Coast Village Road... Former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman noshing at Lucky’s.

Pip! Pip! Be safe, wear a mask, and get vaccinated.

•MJ

nity for an opportu s r nseling io n e s d s an ealth Cou ie H l il m ta n fa e e M Giv pporting vices ture by su u F r te h pport Ser u ig S y il a Br m a &F

With a $125 donation You’ll be entered in a May 14, 2021 drawing

RIP, ‘Wonder Dog’

My condolences to Montecito’s newest resident actor Michael J. Fox, who has just lost his pet dog, Gus. The Back to the Future star posted a photo of his 12-year-old Great DaneLabrador mix on Instagram to his one million followers, saying: “Gus — great dog and loyal friend. We’ll miss you.”

He also described his pet pooch as his “wonder dog” and constant companion throughout his battle with Parkinson’s disease, which he was diagnosed with in 1998.

Katy, 36, who boasts 115 million followers on Instagram and 109 million devotees on Twitter, admits she is not a fan of either platform.

“Social media is trash,” the former Dos Pueblos High student declared on Twitter, and then added for good measure: “The decline of human civilization!”

Katy’s Twitter account is the thirdmost followed in the world, with only former president Barack Obama and Canadian singer Justin Bieber having a higher count.

The California Gurls star ’s Instagram is currently ranked 21st in the world, with international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo having the most with 276 million followers.

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

37

Notice Inviting Bids CHARLES MEYER DESALINATION PLANT INTAKE MODIFICATIONS PROJECT Bid No. 4033 1.

Bid Submission. The City of Santa Barbara (“City”) will accept electronic bids for its Charles Meyer Desalination Plant – Intake Modifications Project (“Project”), by or before Thursday May 13, 2021, at 3:00 p.m., 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.

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 at the Charles C. Meyer Desalination Plant, East Beach, and approximately 2,500 feet offshore from East Beach and is described as follows: removing and replacing large diameter pipeline fittings, removing a concrete vault, constructing large diameter pipelines, constructing a new precast vault on driven piles, removing and replacing riprap, extending electrical power and data conduits from the vault onshore that is to be demolished to a new vault, installing corrosion protection facilities, installing new pumps in subsea intake vault and installing and connecting electrical power and data cables, installing a fiberglass hatch on a subsea vault, removing two subsea intake pumps including electrical and data cables and various mechanical and site work. Additional information on the Project location and description are included in Section 01110.

2.2 Time for Final Completion. The Project must be fully completed within 330 calendar days from the start date set forth in the Notice to Proceed. City anticipates that the Work will begin on or about July 22, 2021, but the anticipated start date is provided solely for convenience and is neither certain nor binding.

2.3 Estimated Cost. The estimated construction cost is $3,000,000.

3.

License and Registration Requirements.

3.1 License. This Project requires a valid California contractor’s license for the following classification(s): Class “A” — General Engineering Contractor.

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 in the City’s PlanetBids Portal starting on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. A printed copy of the Contract Documents may be obtained from CyberCopy Shop, located at 504 N. Milpas Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, at (805) 884-6155.

5.

Bid Security. The Bid Proposal must be accompanied by bid security of ten percent (10%) 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.

6.

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 Compliance. The Contract will be subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the DIR, under Labor Code § 1771.4.

7.

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.

8.

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

9.

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.

10.

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.

11.

Mandatory Bidders’ Conference. A bidders’ conference will be held on Wednesday April 28, 2021 at 10:00 a.m., online via a video-conference 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.

By: ___________________________________

Date: ________________

William Hornung, C.P.M, General Services Manager Publication Dates: 1) April 14, 2021 2) April 21, 2021 END OF NOTICE INVITING BIDS

38 MONTECITO JOURNAL

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Mission Scholars, 1330 State Street, Suite 201, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. Santa Barbara Education Foundation, 1330 State Street, Suite 201, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on April 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. 2021-0001026. Published April 21, 28, May 5, 12, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Predictable Esthetics, 300 Garnet Way, Santa Maria, CA, 93454. Isaac Balderas, 300 Garnet Way, Santa Maria, CA, 93454. 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. 2021-0000876. Published April 21, 28, May 5, 12, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Simply Remembered, 4289 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93110.

Wiefels & Son II, INC, 690 Vella Road, Palm Springs, CA 92264. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on April 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. 2021-0001008. Published April 14, 21, 28, May 5, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: San Ysidro Pharmacy, 1498 East Valley Road, Montecito, CA 93108.

“I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.” — Mother Teresa

Montecito RX, 1498 East Valley Road, Montecito, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on April 6, 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. 2021-0000974. Published April 14, 21, 28, May 5, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Motion Unlimited, PO Box 20275, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. Motion Unlimited, PO Box 20275, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on April 1, 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. 2021-0000926. Published April 7, 14, 21, 28, 2021 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 ex22 – 29 April 2021

Notice Inviting Bids

CITY OF SANTA BARBARA – GENERAL SERVICES DIVISION PO BOX 1990, SANTA BARBARA, CA 93102-1990 INVITATION FOR BIDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that sealed bids will be received via electronic transmission on the City of Santa Barbara PlanetBids portal site until the date and time indicated below at which time they will be publicly opened and posted for:

HIGHWAY 144 UTILITY LID RELOCATIONS – WATER AND WASTEWATER Bid No. 4022 1.

BID NO. 5902

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.

DUE DATE & TIME: MAY 5, 2021 UNTIL 3:00 P.M. WASTEWATER COLLECTION CCTV INSPECTION VAN Scope of Work: Provide one (1) new, unused 2021 or newer CCTV Sewer Inspection Unit, made up of the vehicle chassis and the CCTV camera system installed on the vehicle, so that the City is capable of inspecting 4-inch through 42-inch sanitary sewer mains.

Bidders must be registered on the city of Santa Barbara’s PlanetBids portal in order to receive addendum notifications and to submit a bid. Go to PlanetBids for bid results and awards. It is the responsibility of the bidder to submit their bid with sufficient time to be received by PlanetBids prior to the bid opening date and time. The receiving deadline is absolute. Allow time for technical difficulties, uploading, and unexpected delays. Late or incomplete Bid will not be accepted.

Bid results and awards will be available on PlanetBids.

2.

Bids must be submitted on forms supplied by the City of Santa Barbara and in accordance with the specifications, terms and conditions contained therein. Bid packages containing all forms, specifications, terms and conditions may be obtained electronically via PlanetBids.

The City of Santa Barbara affirmatively assures that minority and disadvantaged business enterprises will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of age (over 40), ancestry, color, mental or physical disability, sex, gender identity and expression, marital status, medical condition (cancer or genetic characteristics), national origin, race, religious belief, or sexual orientation in consideration of award.

_________________________ William Hornung, C.P.M. General Services Manager

pires 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, 22 – 29 April 2021

Published April 21, 2021 Montecito Journal

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

Project Information.

2.1 Location and Description. The Project is located at the Sycamore Canyon Road from Stanwood Drive to south of the Five Points Roundabout at Alameda Padre Serra, and is described as follows: Identify, lower and protect water valve and manhole covers within the Caltrans work zone. After the grinding of the AC and the placement of new overlay by Caltrans, return to locate and raise the utility lids to the new grade.

2.2 Time for Final Completion. The Project must be fully completed within 65 calendar days from the start date set forth in the Notice to Proceed. City anticipates that the Work will begin on or about May 1, 2021, but the anticipated start date is provided solely for convenience and is neither certain nor binding.

2.3 Estimated Cost. The estimated construction cost is $ 122,000

3.

License and Registration Requirements.

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

If further information is needed, contact Jennifer Disney Dixon, Buyer II at (805) 564-5356 or email: jdisney@santabarbaraca.gov The City of Santa Barbara is now conducting bid and proposal solicitations online through the PlanetBids System™. Vendors can register for the commodities that they are interested in bidding on using NIGP commodity codes at http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/business/bids/purchasing.asp.

The initial bidders’ list for all solicitations will be developed from registered vendors.

Bid Submission. The City of Santa Barbara (“City”) will accept electronic bids for its Highway 144 Utility Lid Relocations Project (“Project”), by or before April 28, 2021, at 3:00 pm., 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.

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 A printed copy of the Contract Documents may be obtained from CyberCopy Shop, located at 504 N. Milpas Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, at (805) 884-6155.

5.

Bid Security. The Bid Proposal must be accompanied by bid security of 10 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.

6.

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 Compliance. The Contract will be subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the DIR, under Labor Code § 1771.4.

7.

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.

8.

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

9.

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.

By: ___________________________________

Date: ________________

William Hornung, C.O.M., General Services Manager Publication Dates: 1) April 14, 2021 2) April, 21, 2021 END OF NOTICE INVITING BIDS

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

39

Randall Road (Continued from p. 12 12)) best for the community. It’s a great example of making something good out of a tragedy.”

Rebecca Riskin, Victoria’s cousin, was swept away and killed on January 9, 2018, when the avalanche of mud and rocks surged through her home on Glen Oaks Drive, just below East Valley Road.

“I really miss Randall Road, my life in Montecito, and all my friends, but there’s no going back,” Victoria Riskin said. “I didn’t think I’d ever sleep well.”

Riskin plans to place a stone bench in memory of Rebecca on the site of her former property on Randall Road.

The inscription, a quote from the poet Maya Angelou, will read: “When we find someone who is brave, fun, intelligent, and loving, we have to thank the universe.”

A Basin Overwhelmed

The one existing debris basin on San Ysidro Creek is much smaller in size than what is planned for Randall Road. It was excavated high in the foothills above Park Lane in 1964, on the heels of the Coyote Fire.

The debris flow in 2018 overtopped that basin by as much as 30 feet. In all, 23 residents died in Montecito that day, including 17 on Montecito Creek

not stop a debris flow of that magnitude, County officials said, but it can help slow down future flows so that the larger boulders will fall out. The outlet of the basin will allow sand and mud (and fish) to pass through.

“Where My Heart Is”

Aerial photo showing the destruction on Randall Road after the 2018 debris flow (Ventura County Sheriff’s Department photo)

One remaining landowner, Catherine Montgomery of New York, has not agreed to sell her property to the County, even as excavation on the new basin is set to begin. It’s at 630 Randall Road, and on January 9, 2018, Montgomery’s husband, Mark, and 22-year-old daughter, Caroline, were killed in the fast-moving surge of mud and debris. Her 20-year-old son, Duffy, was injured. Montgomery, the co-founder of a New York firm that provides software for the workers’

and four on San Ysidro Creek. About 470 structures — houses and outbuildings — were destroyed or damaged, and Highway 101 filled with mud.

According to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey, more debris was deposited along San Ysidro Creek than on any other creek in Montecito — 388,000 cubic yards in all. That’s more than a third of the total volume of mud, rocks, and trees that surged down the mountainside and into the sleeping community during a deluge.

The property at 1760 East Valley Road, which was recently purchased by Santa Barbara County. In this photo, the front yard was impacted by the debris flow of 1964, after the Coyote Fire. (Santa Barbara Historical Museum archives)

The Thomas Fire that had laid waste to the slopes above Montecito was still smoldering.

The new basin on Randall Road will

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compensation market, and her daughter, Kate, were not in Santa Barbara at the time.

Reached by phone in New York this week, Montgomery said, “I’m not intending to sell, because it’s literally all that I have left.”

She said she was not in negotiations with the County.

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22 – 29 April 2021

­

­

The work at Cold Springs Basin to expand the basin in 2020, a $700,000 project. The boulders in the photo did not come down in 2018, but rather long before the basin was constructed. (Santa Barbara County Public Works photo)

­

The Montecito Debris Flow of 2018 netted more than one million cubic yards of debris

ing that the land is there, knowing that I can return after COVID with my daughter and my husband’s ashes,” Montgomery said. “The land means everything to our family. It’s everything to me. I’m not looking to sell it to anyone. I’m not trying to stop the project. I’m just trying to keep the one thing I have left.”

Montgomery said her family had lived on Randall Road for 22 years.

She said County officials had told her they could build a debris basin without her land.

“The other homeowners haven’t lost all that I lost,” Montgomery said.

“I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I wander the Earth, and I know where my heart is: it’s Randall Road.”

Fayram declined to comment this week, saying that property acquisition matters were confidential. Work on the five northernmost properties on Randall Road is expected to be finished in the fall, he said, and the timing for the work on the southern portion depends on when the County is able to secure the property rights for Montgomery’s land.

“We’re going to do the first phase at a minimum and we’re hoping to do the whole basin with this contract,” Fayram said. “That’s what we budgeted for and that’s what we got a grant for.”

three times the $5 million maximum that the agency typically sets for local governments in the wake of disasters. It will pay for 75 percent of the Randall Road project, or about $13 million so far. The County will pay 25 percent, or about $5 million.

Leading the lobbying effort for the grant were Fayram and Jon Frye, the Flood Control engineering manager; County Supervisor Williams; thenstate Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara); U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara); Riskin herself; and Curtis Skene, the East Valley Road neighbor who spoke to the Randall Road homeowners one by one after the disaster and connected them with Fayram.

Skene was a just a teenager in 1969 when a debris-laden flood came rampaging down San Ysidro Creek, filling his family’s home at 1709 East Valley Road with three feet of mud.

In 2018, he took refuge under a tree as a wall of mud and rocks 10 feet high threatened to engulf him. In the aftermath, Skene said, he visited Fayram and asked, “What’s a debris basin?” Fayram told him Randall Road was a perfect spot, but that it was not the County’s role to approach the landowners.

Countless phone calls and meetings later, Fayram, Frye, and Skene made a trip to FEMA’s Oakland headquarters to press the case for the County’s $15 million grant application. They were promised on the spot that they would get the money.

“This is a very, very big deal,” Skene said of the coming groundbreaking.

“People thought this was pie-in-thesky. We pulled off a miracle with Randall Road.”

Property Sales

In 2019, the County bought the only property on Randall Road with a house still standing for $4

Full-Court Press

The FEMA grant for the Randall Road debris basin was $15 million – 22 – 29 April 2021

Curtis Skene and Brian MacDonald on Randall Road (Melinda Burns photo)

• The Voice of the Village •

million. It was at 640 Randall Road and belonged to Ronald Daniels and Joanne Rosenblatt.

Riskin said she and her neighbors spent a lot of time on Zoom last year, talking amongst themselves to come up with a fair price for their ruined properties – something between the pre-2018 value and the current value.

“The great thing I think we did is, we said, ‘Let’s just all ask for the same amount of money – because we all roughly have the same amount of land – and find a number and stick to it,’” Riskin said. “And we got there.”

Late last year, the County concluded the purchase of five of the Randall Road properties, plus 1760 East Valley Road, for $8.3 million. The payments were as follows: $1.4 million to Riskin and Rintels at 680 Randall Road; $1.4 million to Lois Waldref at 670 Randall; $1.4 million to Andrew and Agnieszka Anthony at 660 Randall; $1.4 million to Anthony and Carol Nicoletti at 650 Randall; $1.4 million to Brian and Karen MacDonald at 620 Randall; and $1,254,000 to Dorothy Flaster at 1760 East Valley. The County also paid $400,000 in title and escrow costs.

The Randall Road Basin is the biggest and most expensive debris basin project in the works for Montecito or Carpinteria, but it is not the only one. The County is seeking an additional $9 million in Federal and State funding to modify the spillways at the existing San Ysidro, Cold Springs, and Romero debris basins so that sand and mud can flow through. The project would construct a debris basin on Buena Vista Creek, which has no basin at present, and make operational improvements for future cleanouts at the Santa Monica Creek basin in the Carpinteria Valley.

Last fall, officials said, County crews expanded the capacity of the Cold Springs Basin by about 30 percent with $700,000 in Flood Control funds.

Melinda Burns is a freelance journalist in Santa Barbara.

•MJ MONTECITO JOURNAL

41

Village Beat (Continued from page 14 14))

marily in the tri-counties region. As a community leader, Michael served and chaired innumerable local nonprofit boards in Santa Barbara: He was president of the Santa Barbara Foundation and served on the board of Cottage Hospital for 27 years, including five years as its chair. He also served as president of Montecito Union School, Laguna Blanca School, and was a founding board member of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara. He made significant (multimillions of dollars) personal donations to both.

The Library Plaza project, which is designed by Arcadia Landscape Architects and is currently in the permitting process, will serve as a cultural and educational hub for the Santa Barbara community, anchoring the Historic Arts District of downtown.

The project is expected to cost $5 million to complete, and the Foundation has already raised – with the help of an investment by the City of Santa Barbara – $3.7 million. The rest of the funds are expected to be raised during

Library Plaza to Honor Michael Towbes

At a hearing last week, the Santa Barbara City Council approved a proposal to name the soon-to-be revitalized library plaza at the Santa Barbara Public Library in honor of the late philanthropist, Michael Towbes.

The project to remodel the plaza, which is located between the library and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, has been in the works since 2018, according to Santa Barbara Library Foundation Director Lauren Trujillo.

“It’s an area of the property badly in need of revitalization,” she said. “The approved naming proposal is a major milestone for our fundraising campaign goals.”

As a developer who helped build the community by providing significant infrastructure and a community banker who supported countless businesses with more than $1 billion in loans, Towbes was always committed to giving back to the commu-

The Michael Towbes Library Plaza will be an educational and cultural community hub (courtesy rendering)

nity where he lived and worked. He built thousands of homes in Santa Barbara County, with an emphasis on affordable and workforce-priced housing, as well as 1.8 million square feet of commercial properties, pri-

Mini Meta

Last Days at Read ‘N Post

Read ‘N Post at Montecito Country Mart will host an informal all-day “final fling” this Saturday,

Last Week’s Solution:

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.

PUZZLE #1 1

a public capital campaign launching in the coming weeks. “The Council approving our naming proposal will help to bolster our fundraising goal,” Trujillo said. Another approved naming opportunity will honor local philanthropist J. Taylor Woodward via the “Woodward Grove” of historic oak trees. Woodward passed away last year.

More naming opportunities are available, and those interested in donating to the project can visit https://sblibraryfoundation.org/ donate for more information. The Library is open for “grab and go” services, and is expected to reopen fully mid-June, in line with the reopening of California as a whole.

Construction of the Plaza is expected to begin this summer, and will likely take six to nine months to complete.

2

3

WA E V S O T I D

G O N N A

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S T A T E

STATE

O M E N

N I X O N

1

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Across 1 Basketball hoops 5 San Diego player 6 Japanese cartoon art form 7 Declined to recline, maybe 8 Director Wiseau of the cult film "The Room"

Down 1 Made a dash for 2 "Water under the bridge" or "burning bridges," e.g.

3 Gendered slang for a stay-at-home dad 4 Like a disreputable motel 5 Was tense?

2

3

1

5 6

7

8 9

Across 1 Pack (down) 5 Big stink?

6 17-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic 8 Tour leader 9 Filch

Down 1 Frisbee toss locale, stereotypically 2 Up to 3 Chemist's O3 4 Slight trace 5 Tarzan's adoptive family

2

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42 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Across 1 Ilhan Omar became the first congresswoman to wear one in 2019 6 Blazing 7 Pay 8 Pat 9 Part

T H R O B

S O O T Y

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L I E G E

M O R O N

A N I S E

OREGON

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Down 1 "Saturday Night Live" alumna Leslie 2 Basilica parts 3 Flower girl, sometimes 4 ___ Park, Colorado 5 Uplifting dance?

META PUZZLE 5

9

Down 1 Grill master's tool 2 Possible score after deuce 3 "Big," e.g.

4 Haute handbag house 7 Kenan's Nickelodeon partner, once

N A D I R

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Across 1 ___ Doe 5 Members of a Southwestern tribe 6 Get-go 7 Athlete/model Gabrielle 8 Some pack animals

PUZZLE #5

4

A D E L E

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Across 1 Number to shoot for 6 Decompress, as a computer file 7 Right wrongs 8 Doesn't make a strong impression on?

9 Second-most-common surname in South Korea

PUZZLE #4 1

P I P E D

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5

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S A L M A

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U N I T E

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Down 1 Word with rock or candy 2 Start to some bad news 3 "The Simpsons" bully 4 Default Google Docs typeface 5 Midler who once played Tzeitel in "Fiddler on the Roof"

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods. There is a rapture on the lonely shore.” – Lord Byron

Across 1 LGBTQ activist Windsor 5 Progressive competitor 6 Does some pot growing?

7 With 2-Down, Chicago Bears legend 8 House support?

Down 1 Choice word?

2 See 7-Across 3 Drinks that aptly rhyme with "freeze" 4 Greek goddess of dawn 5 Like venison

22 – 29 April 2021

April 24, with free light refreshments and “a chance for us to say ‘thank you and best wishes always’ to our customers and friends,” said Jan Hendrickson, principal owner of the beloved shop. “Read ‘N Post has had more than 35 wonderful years as part of the Montecito community,” said Hendrickson, “And we don’t want to close our doors without the opportunity to express our appreciation for the warm friendship and support that we have received from so many people over those years.”

Saturday’s “final fling” will give longtime Read ‘N Post staff member Robin Machado one more chance to dress up in one of the costumes that became her trademark on holidays for many years. Prices at the shop are on sale 50% off, except Mother ’s Day and Father ’s Day cards, which are priced at 20% off regular price.

Montecito Mercantile is expected to replace the shop after a short renovation. The U.S. Post Office, which has operated as part of Read ‘N Post for many years, will continue in its current location. Access during the renovation will be through the door opening to the Montecito Country Mart courtyard.

•MJ PUBLIC NOTICE City of Santa Barbara NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of Santa Barbara will conduct a Public Hearing on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, during the afternoon session of the meeting which begins at 2:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, City Hall, 735 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara. The hearing is to consider the appeal filed by Paseo Nuevo Owner, LLC of the Planning Commission’s decision to disapprove the Development Agreement between Paseo Nuevo Owner, LLC (ground lessee) and the City of Santa Barbara (owner and ground lessor) for the property located at 739 State Street, Paseo Nuevo Mall (APN 037-400-002). The site is zoned CG, Commercial General and has a General Plan land use designation of Commercial/ High and Medium High Density Residential.

If you challenge the Council's action on the appeal of the Planning Commission's decision in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City at, or prior to, the public hearing.

You are invited to attend this public hearing and address your verbal comments to the City Council. Written comments are also welcome up to the time of the hearing, and should be addressed to the City Council via the City Clerk’s Office by sending them electronically to Clerk@SantaBarbaraCA.gov.

In order to promote social distancing and prioritize the public’s health and well-being, the City Council currently holds all meetings electronically. As a public health and safety precaution, the Council chambers will not be open to the general public. Councilmembers and the public may participate electronically.

On Thursday, April 29, 2021, an Agenda with all items to be heard on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, including the public hearing to consider this appeal, will be available online at www.SantaBarbaraCA.gov/CAP. The Agenda includes instructions for participation in the meeting. If you wish to participate in the public hearing, please follow the instructions on the posted Agenda.

(SEAL)

Sarah Gorman, MMC City Clerk Services Manager April 21, 2021 Published April 21, 2021 Montecito Journal

22 – 29 April 2021

Notice Inviting Bids BID NO. 5898 LOBERO GARAGE ELEVATOR REPAIR 1.

Bid Submission.

The City of Santa Barbara (“City”) will accept electronic bids for its Lobero Garage Elevator Repair Project (“Project”), by or before May 5, 2021, at 3:00 p.m. 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 their 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 at on PlanetBids’ server will be the governing time for acceptability of bids. Telegraphic, telephonic, electronic, and facsimile bids will not be accepted.

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 at Lobero Parking Garage (Lot 9) located at 921 Anacapa Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 and is described as follows: Investigate the cause of the equipment failure and repair/replace failed or worn out components necessary to restore to full and safe operation of the elevator.

2.2 Time for Completion. The Project must be completed within 60 calendar days from the start date set forth in the Notice to Proceed. City anticipates that the Work will begin on or about the end of May 2021, but the anticipated start date is provided solely for convenience and is neither certain nor binding.

2.3 Estimate. The estimate for this Project is $150,000.00 2.4 Bidders’ Conference. A MANDATORY bidders’ conference will be held on April 29, 2021 at 9:00 a.m., at the following location: Ground floor of Elevator site - Lobero Parking Garage (Lot 9) located at 921 Anacapa Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 for the purpose of acquainting all prospective bidders with the Contract Documents and the Worksite.

Bids will not be accepted or considered from parties that did not attend the mandatory pre-bid meeting.

3.

License and Registration Requirements.

3.1 License. This Project requires a valid California contractor’s license for the following classification(s): C-11 Elevator Contractor 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: https://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=29959

5.

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.

6.

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. The prevailing rates are on file with City and 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 Compliance. The Contract will be subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the DIR, under Labor Code § 1771.4.

7.

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

8.

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

9.

Subcontractor List. Each subcontractor must be registered with the DIR to perform work on public projects. Each bidder must submit a complete Subcontractor List WITH ITS Bid Proposal through the PlanetBids portal. Failure to do will result in rejection of your bid. The Subcontractors List shall include the name, location of the place of business, California contractor license number, and percentage of the Work to be performed (based on the Base Bid) 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.

10.

Instructions to Bidders. All bidders should carefully review the Instructions to Bidders before submitting a Bid Proposal.

11.

Retention Percentage. No retainage.

By: _______________________________________ William Hornung, C.P.M. General Services Manager

Date: ________________

Publication Date: 4/21/21 Montecito Journal

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

43

NOSH TOWN

by Claudia Schou

HOT DIGGITY DOG! ADVENTUROUS FLAVOR COMBOS ELEVATE AN AMERICAN CLASSIC AT DAVE’S DOGS

A

sk a New Yorker about the ideal hot dog and they’ll likely say it’s a Nathan’s dog slathered in mustard and covered in sauerkraut, wrapped in tin foil.

Another extreme might be the kind of exotic sausages – rabbit and rattlesnake, anyone? – served at hipster-friendly eateries like Wurstküche in Los Angeles. Whatever your passion might be, you will have a hard time beating the arsenal of creative toppings at Dave’s Dogs, on Milpas Street and in Goleta.

Each grilled frankfurter has its own unique combination of flavors. Take the Hawaiian Dog, for example, which combines pineapple, grilled onions, teriyaki sauce, bacon, and cilantro ($5.50). Or my personal The Buffalo BBQ Chicken Dog with a basket of fries favorite, the Western Dog with bacon, grilled onions, jalapeños, spicy mayo, and barbecue sauce ($5.25). The Buffalo BBQ Chicken Dog is like taking all the best parts of a sauced-up buffalo chicken wings basket and combining it with the smoky flavor of a wiener.

Every frank assembled here is grand stander, and there’s no shortage of protein. Choose from 100% all-natural beef, chicken sausage, polish sausage, bratwurst, veggie sausage, hot link, and jumbo dog. Each wiener comes cradled in classic white bread buns baked fresh at a mom-and-pop bakery in San Luis Obispo and delivered daily; gluten free buns are available.

Owner David Reynoso, a 35-year-old Goleta native, began satisfying the cravings of locals and visitors drawn to his food cart on Milpas Street in 2014. His decked-out hot dogs became an Eastside fixture three years later, when new food trends spurred the opening of eateries along Milpas’ cross-cultural strip. The Montecito Journal recently caught up with Reynoso to discuss his dogs.

DAVE’S DOGS MENU HIGHLIGHTS - A plain hot dog is $4.

- Other popular selections include: Pizza Dog with melted mozzarella, pizza sauce, pepperoni, and parmesan cheese ($5.75); Hot Cheetos and Cream Cheese Dog ($5.25); Stray Dog with sautéed bell peppers and onions on a bacon-wrapped hot dog with mayo, mustard, and ketchup ($6.00); Pulled Pork Mac Dog with bacon, pulled pork, mac and cheese, barbecue sauce, and cilantro ($6.50); Buffalo BBQ Chicken Dog with bacon, grilled chicken, mozzarella, buffalo sauce, BBQ sauce, and cilantro ($6.00); Chicago Dog with sliced tomatoes, neon green relish, raw onions, sport peppers, mustard and celery salt, poppy seeds, and a pickle spear on top ($5.50).

- Dave’s Dogs also offers a plethora of other items including burgers (all-beef as well as Impossible Burgers) with tasty toppings; tacos; spicy buffalo chicken wings, mac and cheese bowls; cheese curds; and jalapeño poppers.

- Desserts include deep fried Oreos (3) $5; Churros $2 and Churro Oreo Bites (churros rolled in Oreo crumbs and sprinkled with Oreo frosting).

The deep-fried Oreos with Oreo frosting drizzle and Oreo crumble should come with a warning label: Dangerously Delicious

Q. What did you do before Dave’s Dogs?

A. I opened my brick and mortar in September 2017, but prior to that I was running Dave’s Dogs out of a food cart, New York style, in a parking lot on Milpas Street from November 2014 until the end of 2017. Prior to that, I worked as a buyer for a local food service company in town, Jordano’s. It was a nine-to-five desk job that I enjoyed, but I knew it was not where I wanted to retire from. I desired to do more with my free time and now here we are, no more free time at all.

Have you seen a resurgence during the pandemic, with the move to outdoor dining? Hot dogs and outdoor dining are almost synonymous, right?

Yes, I feel that with the pandemic we did have a bit of a resurgence. We saw a lot of new faces, but I am not sure if it was because hot dogs are so easy to take on the go and eat outdoors or if it was because Santa Barbara is so huge on supporting locals.

Regardless, we definitely had a bit of a revival during this period, and we definitely feel very blessed.

Why hot dogs?

I loved hot dogs and I noticed that it was difficult getting a delicious grilled hot dog anywhere in town and I decided to make it a hobby that then turned into a business.

What’s the concept behind Dave’s Dogs?

The concept behind Dave’s Dogs is to show people that hot dogs can be fun and tasty. There are so many ways to dress up a dog and make it fun and I wanted to bring this to our community. Not only are hot dogs a comfort food but I have shown how creative one can get with this American classic.

What are your hot dog inspirations?

I love trying new foods and flavors and when I have something that I enjoy I tend to get a flashing light to try it on a dog.

Many times, it works, other times it doesn’t.

But that’s part of the fun with these hot The Pizza Dog and the Hawaiian Dog are grand standers dogs. For example, the Chicken Alfredo Dog was inspired by my favorite Italian dish of Alfredo pasta and surprisingly it worked on a dog.

44 MONTECITO JOURNAL

What are the most unusual toppings offered at Dave’s Dogs?

Some of my most unusual dogs that I offer are the Hot Cheetos and Cream Cheese Dog ($5.25) and the Mac N Cheese Dog ($6.00). Every time people see this on the menu, they get a surprised look on their face. They can’t believe that we are putting these toppings on top of a dog.

I love to offer people these dogs and 95% of the time they come back and continue ordering them. These dogs sound so crazy, but are surprisingly delicious. And my goal with Dave’s Dogs is clearly this, to make hot dogs fun and to get people out of their comfort zone.

What is your best-selling hot dog?

Our best-selling hot dog has to be the Santa Barbara Dog. It’s a simple dog, with grilled onions, The Santa Barbara Dog is a perennial favorite; the Western Dog is the tomatoes, bacon, mayonnaise, musauthor’s favorite tard, ketchup, avocado, cilantro, and a drizzle of sour cream ($5.75). It’s also a very easy dog to substitute for a vegetarian or even vegan option.

Dave’s Dogs has two locations: 900 North Milpas Street, Santa Barbara and 149 South Turnpike Road, Goleta. Hours: noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information call 805-869-6583 or visit davesdogs805.com.

•MJ

“I love not man the less, but nature more.” – Lord Byron

22 – 29 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!

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

45

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46 MONTECITO JOURNAL

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

47

TA K E A V I R T U A L T O U R T O D AY

© 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.

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