19 Years! 1 - 8 October 2020 Vol 26 Issue 40
SERVING MONTECITO AND SUMMERLAND
Montecito Deli has been a Montecito mainstay since 2001 p. 43
ALL TOO REAL Ken Grand lost his wife, Rebecca Riskin, in the Montecito mudslides. Two years later, he’s released a heartfelt tribute about love, loss, and recovery. (story begins on p. 6)
OUR PICKS FOR OUR
LOCAL ELECTION (BEGINS ON PAGE 5)
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
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1 – 8 October 2020
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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Inside This Issue
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5 Editor’s Letter The MJ endorses candidates for local races 6 On Entertainment A husband’s touching tribute to the wife he lost; a pandemic-inspired trick at Magic Castle Cabaret; advocating for avocados; music notes and more 10 Montecito on the Move Hands Across Montecito Project hits the streets; Montecito Association Land Use Committee talks about undergrounding utilities Tide Chart 11 Letters to the Editor Opinions on Cold Spring School’s Bond L2020; exercise your right to vote; successful Coalition for Neighborhood Schools forum; and more 12 Village Beat MUS recognized as one of 367 National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2020 14 Focus on Film Two Metropolitan Theatres reopen this week; Jay Roach revisits Austin Powers; a documentary short on recycling 18 Bloom’n Times Alida Aldrich offers cures for Nature Deficit Disorder, short-term fixes and longer-term planting suggestions 19 Body Wise Some of Santa Barbara’s top medical practitioners open the playbook to managing stress 20 Brilliant Thoughts Reality is too hard to face all the time and games provide a useful escape, says Ashleigh Brilliant, although some games are more serious than others 23 Perspectives by Rinaldo S Brutoco Exploring the glue that holds our nation together – Part 2 of an ongoing series on the U.S. Post Office The Optimist Daily European countries think outside the box and their borders for solutions to reduce waste 24 Summerland Buzz Leslie A. Westbrook stands on her soapbox and asks: is it more fun to agree or argue? 26 Purely Political A conversation with Andy Caldwell, who is running for 24th U.S. District Representative 28 Your Westmont Students conduct summer research; student-athletes score academically; music faculty to shine on Friday 30 Dear Montecito Letter from Stella Vie Peters, 17-year-old Montecito transplant and creator of the social justice publication Folding Chair Magazine 32 Our Town Al Bello has been a sports photographer for many years. This is his first shooting sporting events without fans. 42 Montecito Miscellany Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network goes all out for its virtual pandemic fundraiser, Wild Night In 43 In the News Montecito Deli has been a mainstay for 19 years, and it’s stayed opened throughout the pandemic 44 Nosh Town A California-style brasserie at the Montecito Inn; Tasting Notes with Belmond El Encanto Sommelier Jordan DeVille 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
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities.” – Mark Twain
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Editor’s Letter by Gwyn Lurie CEO and Executive Editor of the Montecito Journal Media Group
Elections Have Consequences…
W
ho we vote for, in many ways, determines how, and how well, we live. This has never been more obvious than it is right now. And not just at the highest levels of government; from the ballot’s top to bottom it matters. The dangerous perspective that a single vote does not make much difference allows us to take too lightly our greatest and most important individual responsibility to not only take care of our democracy, but to take care of our families and ourselves. We know this year’s Presidential election is important. But the outcome of our local races, in some ways, affects our daily lives and our daily mood just as much. Will our schools open safely? Are those who are defining safety following science? Is government approached ethically and transparently? Do we have the funds we need to fix our biggest problems? Do our leaders care what we have to say and include us in the governance process? Do they tell us the truth? In our leaders we look for qualities that we value: like truthfulness. Transparency. Humility. Ethics. Devotion to public service. An open mind. A commitment to bringing diverse perspectives to the table. The abilty to listen. It is through the lens of these values that we make the following endorsements.
For California’s 24th U.S. Congressional District
3,000 PROJECTS • 600 CLIENTS • 30 YEARS • ONE BUILDER
MJ Endorses: Salud Carbajal
T
he child of Mexican immigrants, a UCSB graduate who served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, including active duty service during the Gulf War, 12 years as our 1st District’s County Supervisor before being elected to represent the 24th Congressional District in 2016, Carbajal has proved his commitment to public service. As an open minded, ethical, and accessible leader, we believe he has earned his reputation as a master at constituent serves and our endorsement for another term as our representative in Congress. The most important reason we endorse Carbajal was proudly pinned to his lapel the day we spoke for this endorsement: “This is a purple ribbon worn by those who believe in the spirit and importance of bipartisanship and are committed to finding it when at all possible,” Salud explained. That is Salud Carbajal in a nutshell. Wearing his commitment to bipartisanship and inclusion on his sleeve. Or in this case, on his lapel. Carbajal’s work within the Congressional Problem-Solvers Caucus, made up of 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans, is a strong example of his commitment to bipartisanship. “Our goal has always been to work to change the rules in the House, so that it could lend itself to more bipartisanship. Not to keep this partisan archaic type of rules that only promote more partisanship and divisiveness.” The Caucus has sponsored legislation on healthcare, infrastructure, immigration, and has just proposed a 1.5 trillion-dollar economic stimulus package (the fifth) and is working to push it over the line. Salud claims this as his highest priority. While we sometimes wish Carbajal would outwardly exhibit more fiery leadership, such showmanship can create divisiveness and is arguably not what we need right now. Carbajal’s steadfast commitment to bringing people together to chip away at gridlock and partisanship and to move the political football down the field in any way possible is the hallmark of his leadership and a quality we would like to see more of in our leaders right about now. We appreciate Carbajal’s clear view of what is and is not working, his willingness to share in the responsibility for both, and his choice to link arms with all who are willing to work together to make things better for everybody. Here are some of Carbajal’s thoughts on the issues that rank among his priorities.
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On Racial Inequities and Police Reform:
“We all must push for better outcomes. Even Democrats can do better… But this President has reveled in the demise of many of the important gains that we made. Including the racial inequities by fueling the flames. But I don’t let Democrats off the hook. We can and should do better. Just doing the same type of status quo of institutions and only promoting the status quo. That’s why we got Trump. They thought he was going to break the mold but instead we got chaos, incompetence, and division and borderline totalitarianism…” “Some people on the left have started this effort of defunding the police… I’m
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Editorial Page 364 • The Voice of the Village •
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On Entertainment
by Steven Libowitz
Steven Libowitz has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years; he has contributed to the Montecito Journal for more than 10 years.
All Too Real
Ken Grand and his dog Olive both survived the 2018 mudslides that destroyed their home and killed Grand’s wife, Rebecca Riskin
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n January 9, 2018, Ken Grand went through the kind of hell most of us could never even imagine. That was the night that a torrential downpour resulted in the infamous Montecito mudslides and debris flow that killed 23 people. Among the casualties was Grand’s wife, Rebecca Riskin, the popular professional ballerina turned realtor whose colleagues called “the First Lady of luxury real estate.” Riskin washed away in front of his eyes by 15 feet of mud, boulders, and tree branches moving at 20 miles per hour that also crushed one of his legs and destroyed the family home. Grand also suffered extreme hypothermia and was near death before he was finally rescued, then spent months in the hospital and rehabilitation. But this month something beautiful has emerged 33 months after the tragedy as Grand is releasing Too Real, a seven-song album full of heartfelt songs that are both deeply personal and widely accessible as musical moments of love, loss, and recovery. The record is heartbreaking, hopeful, and healing, capturing both a moment that Montecito will never forget and its aftermath while offering a glimpse into the pain of being human that anyone can access. The album is co-produced by former Cache Valley Drifter David West and features backing vocals from singer Leslie Lembo, Grant’s vocal coach and the one who first told him that his songs needed to be recorded so that others could hear them. Grant, who considered himself just a hobbyist before making the album, plays the Lichty kiku, a baritone ukulele that feels appropriate for his voice and the country-folk feel of most of the songs. With the final mix of the record due to take place just days later, Grant talked about the tragedy (which he usually simply calls “The Event”), the songs, and the process of healing through music from his usual Sunday afternoon spot on a bench beside the pond at Alice Keck Park. Q. You just played music for fun before the mudslide. Why do you think music showed up for you as you recovered? A. Probably everybody who plays sort of messes around with writing songs. But after the mudslide, these lyrics, the first two verses of “Thank You,” came to me in the hospital. I wrote it for the nurses and the therapists and everybody that was taking care of me. It wasn’t until later that I finished it up in the Sierras on a Christmas vacation about a year and a half later, and after that I started writing pretty regularly. And right away the songs just had a different quality. They just felt better. I’m pretty critical of myself. I always hated my voice. I got kicked out of choir in fifth grade. I couldn’t sing. And even when people have said that I have a nice voice, it was hard to believe. What was it that had your music and songs become one of your methods of recovery and moving forward? In a lot of ways, the songs chose me. When I was still in the hospital people brought me ukuleles while I was laid up. I was really shattered and beat up and I couldn’t walk for a few weeks. So, I’d lie in bed and play the ukulele a little
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
On Entertainment Page 314 314
1 – 8 October 2020
Silverhorn is proud to support the Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) empowering women in our community who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to advocate for themselves and make informed decisions regarding breast health. This October, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will donate a portion of the proceeds of the sale of our Pink Opal and Diamond earrings to BCRC. To find out how you too can support BCRC, please call (805) 569 9693 or visit https://www.bcrsb.org
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Ready to care for you. • The Voice of the Village •
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Montecito on the Move
Mindy Denson, Megan Orloff, and SBPD get ready for the City Net census count
by Sharon Byrne, Executive Director, Montecito Association
Hands Across Montecito Performs Census Count of Homeless
M
onday morning at 6 am, a crowd of 30 gathered at a church in Santa Barbara’s Eastside to perform a homeless census count. This is part of the Hands Across Montecito Project, started by the Montecito Association in response to concerns of large encampments growing along the tracks, encounters on Coast Village, thefts, and fires. We have some brave women in Montecito determined to put their hands on this problem and help this community. Andrea Hein, Kath Lavidge, Eileen Read, and Jane Olson had already come out with me and Luis Alvarado from Behavioral Wellness on outreach. Behavioral Wellness provides drug, alcohol, and mental health treatment in our county. Luis works Carpinteria to Santa Barbara, and sometimes Goleta, depending on need. Kathryn Washburn of Montecito Shores, Montecito Community Foundation President Mindy Denson, Montecito Association President Megan Orloff, and Montecito Planning Commission Chair Donna Senauer got to the church on time, and downloaded the interview tool to their phones. We met up with two deputies at the Starbucks on Coast
Kathryn Washburn leads the team on the trail at Bonnymede
Village Road, and were grateful to have them as we hit the streets. City Net staff let us take the lead, since we knew where to find folks at 6:30 am. The Hands Across Montecito Project seeks to consistently outreach to those living unsheltered in our community, with the goal of getting them into services and indoors. The Montecito
The team going to Hot Springs camp left to right: Emily and Paulette from City Net, Megan Orloff and Mindy Denson, followed by Kath Washburn, Donna Senauer, and our two deputies
Association is contracting with City Net, an organization working in Santa Barbara, to perform the outreach. As much as Luis, neighbors, and I have been out there, we need a bigger team and consistent outreach to help someone feel they can make a change in their lives. Then you have to navigate them through the maze of services with all the roadblocks therein. It’s a long slog to moving from homelessness to housing and shoving past the bureaucracy is required. Without outreach to connect the person to the services, homelessness persists, as our eyes can readily attest. Our fearless ladies and deputies hit trails along the backside of Montecito Shores, Bonnymede, and Sea Meadow. We clambered up the off-ramp and waded through the 101 median at Hot Springs. Then we went through the Butterfly tunnel, around the Biltmore, and Coast Village Road. I never thought in a million years that I’d A) meet so many strong women that would stand up, and B) be willing to go interview the homeless in our community before dawn, in a pandemic, and C) are all Montecitans. I’m incredibly impressed. When a community decides to get actively involved in solving its problems rather than waiting for some agency or government entity, amazing things can happen! Hands Across Montecito is launching. Thanks to members of the Montecito Community Foundation, Chief Taylor of MFPD, Lt. Arnoldi of Santa Barbara Sheriffs, Nancy Kimsey
Montecito Tide Guide Day Low Hgt High Thurs, October 1 3:56 AM 0.5 10:09 AM Fri, October 2 4:18 AM 0.8 10:29 AM Sat, October 3 4:39 AM 1.2 10:50 AM Sun, October 4 4:59 AM 1.7 11:12 AM Mon, October 5 5:18 AM 2.1 11:35 AM Tues, October 6 12:46 AM Wed, October 7 1:54 AM Thurs, October 8 01:24 PM Fri, October 9 02:52 PM
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Hgt Low 5.2 04:09 PM 5.3 04:40 PM 5.3 05:12 PM 5.3 05:48 PM 5.2 06:29 PM 3.5 5:35 AM 3.1 5:47 AM 4.6 010:04 PM 4.5 011:28 PM
Hgt High Hgt Low Hgt 1 010:14 PM 5.1 0.8 010:47 PM 4.8 0.8 011:21 PM 4.4 0.8 011:59 PM 4 0.9 2.5 12:02 PM 5.1 07:19 PM 1.1 2.9 12:35 PM 4.9 08:29 PM 1.2 1.2 0.9
“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.” – Mark Twain
of Legacy, Andrea Hein, Andrea Newquist, and Eileen Read for their early support and shaping of this project. We must raise $100,000 for the one-year contract with City Net, with a goal of getting at least half of those living unsheltered here in Montecito permanently indoors. We start with a census and interview to see how many we’re working with, and what they’re going to need. We cover the terrain from East Beach and the Bird Refuge to the Miramar. Partners are Caltrans, Sheriffs, CHP, MFPD, Behavioral Wellness, and now Union Pacific. You can find out more and donate at our website: montecitoassociation.org/ projects.
Undergrounding Utilities
Last attempted in 2003, we’re taking a fresh look, with a new impetus. Much of Montecito is in Extremely High Wildfire Risk, designated by Cal Fire, hurting our residents’ ability to procure homeowner’s insurance. It’s a statewide issue, so we worked with our state reps, who introduced legislation that was then swiftly killed by the insurance industry lobby. At the same time, the California Public Utilities Commission mandated SCE to make their equipment more fire-resistant. TONS of work on that front is going on in Montecito. We’d rather see it all underground. It’s safer, reduces fire hazard, and removes ‘road furniture’ and overhead lines. The cost is insanely high, but there’s hope: one of our neighborhoods is bravely pioneering undergrounding their utilities, with the full support of the Montecito Association. They’ll report what they’re experiencing. We’ll also have all the utilities on with us, as 5G and internet infrastructure are also in play. The office of Assembly member Monique Limón will be there too. The state could require utilities to partner and fund more undergrounding. We could look at forming a Geologic Hazard Abatement District in Montecito to fund some of it too. So don’t miss it! Montecito Association Land Use Committee – Tuesday, October 6 at 4 pm. Login details on our website mon tecitoassociation.org. •MJ 1 – 8 October 2020
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
Cold Spring School Needs New Classrooms
A
s a longtime parent at Cold Spring School, I can attest to the fact that the three portables installed 25 years ago are falling apart. While I do agree that the school needs these classrooms replaced, I do not agree that the $7.8 million Bond L2020 plan to construct a 6,000-square-foot building announced in your publication three weeks ago is the best way to accomplish this goal. Instead, I think the old portables should be replaced with new modular ones. The most obvious argument for this is cost. Prefabricated/modular classrooms would be considerably less expensive than new construction. This, plus the fact that modular classrooms have a transparent, fixed price tag, as opposed to the common and frustrating knowledge that construction from scratch always, always, always runs over budget, makes them a much safer financial bet. Moreover, the need for an expensive construction management company would be eliminated, providing further savings to cost-conscious taxpayers in our community. More important to me, however, is the environmental impact. Heating, cooling and constructing a massive building will add unnecessary energy use. In the terrifying era of global climate change, I think we have a moral responsibility to prioritize sustainable development in this planning process. Fortunately, there are myriad options of environmentally responsible modular buildings that could meet the school’s needs. Avoiding campus disruption from major construction is another point for modular classrooms. Just think about the impact that two-plus years of construction noise, workers, and equipment throughout the school would have on our students’ learning environment. Even before COVID it would be challenging, but now the school is using outdoor space that won’t buffer the noise or debris. Prefabricated classrooms, however, could be installed in a few weeks! Regarding the issue of safety: I’ve come to notice that the only time safety is brought up is when a few people want a new administration building. Other than that, I have neither seen nor heard any indication that people feel unsafe in our community. We live a block from the school on Paso Robles Drive. Every day, before and after school, a parade of happy kids walk, skip, scooter, and bike by, sometimes 1 – 8 October 2020
with parents or friends and sometimes alone. They enter and leave campus freely on the Stoddard side of the school. Building an administration center on the Cold Spring Road side would do nothing to eliminate so-called safety concerns of the large percentage of kids and parents who use the Stoddard entrance. If the new building required everyone to enter campus on the Cold Spring Road side, the traffic at the already crowded main parking lot would increase dramatically and I bet fewer children would mosey down my street every day on their commutes to and from school. I want to add that this is my first letter to any editor. I was inspired by Katherine Davidson’s letter in your publication last week. I was moved by the courage she had to publicly share her minority perspective. I am also grateful for her willingness to serve on our school board despite not having children at the school. I know how much she put into her duties because she was coaching my older daughter for the Math Superbowl back then. After every coaching session she’d ask my opinion about different issues at the school. I learned from our discussions that she was one of the parents who took the lead in getting six newer classrooms on Stoddard built years ago. I fear people will try to paint Ms Davidson and her letter as angry, mean, or crazy, but that’s not what I see. No, I see a real person who cares a lot about the community institution Cold Spring School is and was, a woman who is deeply disappointed and seriously concerned by her experience as a recent board member. I know in my heart that her sole motivation to serve then and to speak up now is the desire to make our school a better place. If nothing else, she deserves our respect – and she sure has mine. Cold Spring is such an amazing school thanks to incredible teachers, great programs, and amazing families, both past and present. There are so many reasons we picked it for our two daughters. However, when we were looking at schools it was actually the portables at the entrance of Cold Spring that impressed me the most. I still remember the first time we walked on campus for a tour. I saw the beat up old portables and said to my
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Letters Page 224 • The Voice of the Village •
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Where’s Your Happy Place?
Village Beat
by Kelly Mahan Herrick Kelly has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond. She is also a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, and is a member of Montecito and Santa Barbara’s top real estate team, Calcagno & Hamilton.
MUS Named a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School
U
Montecito Union School has been recognized as one of 367 National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2020
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.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recognized Montecito Union School (MUS) as one of the 367 National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2020. MUS won the coveted honor in the “Exemplary High Performing Schools” category which honors each state’s highest performing schools. Montecito Union School is a one-school district serving the community of Montecito with transitional kindergarten through sixth grade. The District is comprised of a middle to upper socioeconomic population and has a current enrollment of approximately 380 students. The coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the hard work of educators, families, and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging and engaging content. Now in its 38th year, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed awards to approximately 9,000 schools across the nation. Superintendent Anthony Ranii said, “We are so pleased to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for our truly exemplary academic achievement. The award is so well-timed, as we are back to in-person instruction as of Monday, September 28. The return to in-person instruction and the winning of this award are both made possible by the vision of our Board of Trustees, the tireless efforts of our staff, the constant support of our parents and community, and our creative and diligent students. In the application, Principal Dr. Nick Bruski credited the tenets of Visible Thinking from Harvard’s Project Zero, the work of Lucy Calkins and the Reading and Writing Workshop Project, a focus on building mathematical dispositions and problem solving, and Costa and Kallick’s 16 Habits of Mind as keystones of an MUS education. “These aspects, along with a committed staff and our Strategic Plan, make for a comprehensive and cohesive academic approach that propels students to become inspired thinkers during their time here,” Dr. Bruski said. The 2020 National Blue Ribbon Schools Awards Ceremony will be held virtually November 12 and 13 and MUS will receive a flag and a plaque, both of which will proudly be displayed at the school site as a testament to the excellence of the school and the diligence of teachers, staff members, parents, and students. MUS is the only school in the Santa Barbara area to be given this prestigious honor. For more information, visit www.montecitou.org. •MJ
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“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain
1 – 8 October 2020
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• The Voice of the Village •
ROBERT RISKIN
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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Focus on Film by Steven Libowitz
Metro Theatres Ready to Reopen
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ormally a designation as a red zone would mean no parking or even stopping. But when it comes to pandemic procedures, the designation is more like rolling out a red carpet, as two weeks of reduced cases means more businesses can reopen. Accordingly, Metropolitan Theatres plans to welcome back moviegoers at two of the Santa Barbara screens this Friday, October 2: Fiesta 5 at 916 State Street and Camino Real Cinema on Marketplace Drive in Goleta. “We are really excited to be able to welcome our guests back to the movies,” said David Corwin, president of Metro, a four-generation, 97-year-old family-run company. “We’re in the business of entertaining people and it’s been hard not to do that all this time. But everyone’s health and safety remain our top priorities, and we want people to have trust and confidence in us as we reopen our theaters with new protocols in place.” Those enhanced safety procedures are in accordance with current local guidelines, and feature a three-step approach in creating awareness of the measures that include alerting attendees about what they can expect and experience when they enter the theatre, including using smart software to assign the reserved seats for appropriate distancing, providing for three empty seats between groups and leaving every other row empty, and operating at no more than 25 percent capacity or 100 people per theater; ones to ensure employee safety that include additional protocols, and precautions taken for safe food service on-site. Metro has also aligned with more than 300 companies nationally with the National Association of Theatre Owners’ CinemaSafe.org in voluntarily following a set of health and safety protocols developed by a team of industry experts based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). A complete list of the safety measures can be found at
Focus On Film Page 164 164
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1 – 8 October 2020
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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Focus On Film (Continued from page 14 14))
of the Chicago 7, Sundance favorite The Forty-Year-Old Version at the Fiesta, and Unhinged and the family film Hocus Pocus at Camino Real. Down the road, though, Metro is, as are all theaters, dependent on the studios providing new films for folks to see, and the whole industry has been moving slowly if not completely on hold as the pandemic progressed. Now, with things easing across much of the country, though, Corwin is hopeful they’ll be able to reopen more screens as the studios release more movies. “There are already a lot of significant pictures on the calendar, including the new Bond movie and an animated film from Disney, and we expect more will come available as people start to return to the movies,” he said. “I think a lot of people are craving the shared experience of watching movies in the theater, being with other people and reacting together, which you just can’t get at home. You can’t say with much certainty what the timeline will be, but there finally is new product. So we really wanted to get open and show people what we’ve done.” For more details, screening schedules and more, visit www.MetroTheatres.com.
Yeah, Baby!
Director Jay Roach Revisits Austin Powers
Camino Real Cinemas is one of two Metropolitan Theatres welcoming back moviegoers this week
www.MetroTheatres.com/SafetyProcedures. “We’re doing everything from enhanced cleaning to putting high-end MERV 13 filters and improving the air flow in the cinemas – being completely compliant with everything from CinemaSafe.org and beyond, because we know that’s important for people who are concerned,” Corwin explained. “I think being in a big auditorium where you’re far apart from other people and not conversing with anyone is a lot safer than other activities people have been doing for the last few months at restaurants, grocery stores, and gyms. So I hope they feel comfortable when they see what we’ve done.” There are also incentives to welcome guests back to the movies beyond just feeling safe, including expanded bargain pricing Sunday through Thursdays, double M Rewards points on concession and ticket purchases, and special pricing on a selection of concession items through October. The company is also introducing “Your Private Screening,” which allows for intimate watching experiences of new theatrical releases for parties of up to 20 family members and friends, with prices starting at $130. Among the films that will hit the big screen this weekend are a re-launching of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and the sci-fi comedy Save Yourselves at both theaters, plus the K-Pop documentary Break the Silence, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial
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It’s hard to imagine that even in their wildest fantasies the makers of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery envisioned the success of the over-the-top spoof of the James Bond franchise. The movie was written by and starred Mike Myers as an international spy who awakes from a decades-long cryogenic slumber to confront his old nemesis, Dr. Evil, also portrayed by Myers. The film turned into a tentpole, spawning two sequels, countless Halloween costumes, and lots more fun. The premise finds Powers still living in the swinging ‘sixties when he’s re-animated 30 years later to team up with Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley) to stop Dr. Evil from obtaining the nuclear weapons he needs to hold the world hostage while also dealing with his overactive libido, producing hours of shagadelic fun. Continuing its lockdown series, the Carsey-Wolf Center’s Script to Screen series takes a look back at the nearly quarter-century-old film via a Zoom conversation with the first-time director Jay Roach joining CWC moderator Matt Ryan for a virtual discussion of the Austin Powers trilogy. Visit https://www. carseywolf.ucsb.edu/pollock-events/austin-powers for details and to register for the 2 pm discussion on Saturday, October 3.
SBIFF Meets CWC UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center was also the driving force behind the next film in SBIFF’s Film Talk, the new online series of screenings and discussions between film festival programmers and local filmmakers. Our Last Trash, which highlights the current global recycling crisis and the adverse effects of disposable plastics on the environment, premiered in 2018 as part of GreenScreen, a handson, project-based environmental media production program at the university where students work in teams to leverage their collective production skills and environmental knowledge. The film explores the meaning of a “zero waste” lifestyle, and how some individuals are taking on the plastics issue one reusable item at a time toward creating a more sustainable planet. Watch the 20-minute film featuring colorful animations and riveting interviews at https://vimeo. com/392560681 and visit https://sbiff.org/filmtalk to register for the discussion taking place at 6 pm on Thursday, October 1. •MJ
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• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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The Bloom’n Times
Quick Fixes
by Alida Aldrich
An award-winning, published landscape designer, with over two decades of experience, Alida is well known for designing new gardens, as well as restoring landmark gardens throughout Montecito and Santa Barbara. In the spring of 2021, Alida will be teaching a class in The Principals of Landscape Design through Santa Barbara City College.
The Cure for Nature Deficit Disorder
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etween masks, fires, floods, and election anxiety, we’re all suffering from a sense of loss of what we used to call “normal.” But before you pull out all your hair, start kicking the dog or stop speaking to your partner, help is on the way. I’ve got the “fix” to calm you down. I’ll be writing this seasonal “Bloom’n Times” column to remind you of the comforts of nature in general and of gardening in particular. Being cooped up for the last six months, we have all been afflicted with NDD – Nature Deficit Disorder. Your doctors – from your dentist to your cardiologist – will tell you one of the best things you can do for your health is to get outside and enjoy nature, every day. Beyond our own gardens, we are blessed with extraordinary public gardens – Upper Manning Park,
Casa del Herrero, Lotusland, Alice Keck Park, The Botanic Gardens, Postel Memorial Rose Garden, Chase Palm Park, Douglas Preserve, Santa Barbara Zoo, Elings Park – all just waiting to help restore our emotional well-being. Make an outing of it, quietly stroll through any of these gardens and let nature do its thing. Talk about your super-sized parks, where else can you go for a mountain hike in the morning and enjoy a beach picnic by lunch? You may not be able to get out every day, so let’s talk about enjoying your own outdoor space, be it a garden or patio. I’ll be offering ideas and tips to enhance your own private piece of paradise. By creating and nurturing other living beings, you’ll remember how to relax and appreciate your place on earth – and maybe even figure out how you fit in.
• Get a hummingbird feeder, and put it outside the window near your favorite chair. • Pick out a birdbath – both you and the birds will love it. • Buy a fountain to place out in the garden, or on your patio as a focal point and a source of a stress-reducing music. • Begin paying attention to your five senses: Listen for the sound of the breeze whispering through the trees Touch a soft petal – or even hug a tree Smell the sweet bouquet of a flower Notice all the different shades of green in plants Taste the bounty from your own garden
What says fall more than Liquidambar trees showing off their astounding orange and red leaves? (Pictured here on a Hope Ranch rear garden I designed a few years ago.)
We still have warm weather to enjoy for a while, so pull out the croquet set, set up a horseshoe pit, play ‘hide and seek’ with your kids (or grandkids). See if you can get a friend interested in taking up bird watching – a great hobby to share. Outdoor fun doesn’t have to end when the sun goes down. We have such low light pollution in Santa Barbara – perfect for stargazing. Enjoy picking out constellations and experiencing the grandeur of our galaxy.
Fall is the time for garden cleanup. Thinning trees now will protect them against breakage from strong winds Watering can be tricky in the fall. Santa Ana winds can dry your garden overnight – it pays to be vigilant. Try over-seeding warm season lawns with cool season grass seed. Fall is the best time for planting in our region, so plan ahead. Have a safe fall, and we’ll talk again when winter arrives. •MJ
Longer-Term Fixes
Retail nurseries should have their selection of spring bulbs available (or will soon). Planting narcissus, crocus, daffodils or irises this fall will surely put a smile to your face next May.
Seasonal Garden Tips:
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1 – 8 October 2020
Body Wise
them drop. With love, surrender. Then focus on something simple and beautiful in nature and engage all your senses.” Debbie Allen, licensed clinical social worker
by Ann Brode Ann Todhunter Brode has been an Aston Patterning practitioner and body-oriented therapist in Santa Barbara for over forty years. A recognized master in her field, Brode writes down-to-earth, compassionate articles on the challenges & rewards of living consciously in the body. She is author of Body Wise: What Your Mind Needs to Know About Your Body. Visit www.bodywisdomforlife.com for more information.
Stress Strategies
Y
ou know that high stress levels aren’t healthy. You can feel it. Instead of being relaxed and steady, you’re uptight and agitated. It’s hard to focus; it’s hard to sleep. Just Googling “stress” turns out to be, well, stressful. Unfortunately, news sources tell us that things aren’t going to let up anytime soon. So, what can we do about it? Nowadays, no one is exempt. We’re all carrying a stress load but how we carry it makes the difference. A good stress strategy involves intentional body-wise awareness and practices. Right now, aside from wearing your mask in public, nothing could be more important to your well-being. Here are three suggestions to help you feel better today and mitigate the fallout long term.
Check in:
Stress has its own template. Are your muscles holding a shape of tension? Drop your shoulders; unclench your hands; soften your stomach, jaw, and eyes. Slide your bones through a range of motion to refresh your energy. Shake a bit to dislodge emotional residue. Take a deep breath to reboot.
Be mindful:
Your thoughts are formative. Being mindful means being responsible for what you’re thinking and saying. Remember, the message you send to self and others can either add to or subtract from the stress. Subtract worry, add hope. Replace anxiety with gratitude; grief with compassion.
Minimize exposure:
You have a choice about where to put your attention. From the body’s point of view, inflammatory news is inflammation. Distressing human behavior is distressing. Combative conversations trigger fight or flight. During the next few weeks stop obsessing about politics. Keep abreast of what’s happening but don’t carry it around. Vote now and get it over with. Developing intentional ways to manage stress is essential for both yourself and the people you care about. If you let go a bit, everyone around you lets go a bit as well. This is especially important for the young people in your life. The way you handle this current situation becomes a model for their future. 1 – 8 October 2020
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I
asked several esteemed health professionals in our community to let us know what stress strategies they’re recommending. Here are their offerings. Make sleep your top priority. You can’t make yourself sleep but you can create a routine for your mind and body to gently prepare it for sleep. One hour before sleep avoid videos and dim all of your lights including your bathroom lights. One minute of normal bathroom light exposure can reduce your melatonin by up 30 percent. Michael B. Mantz, MD, integrative psychiatry
P
erspective, perspective, perspective. I have found people are losing that all-important mental health tool as the pandemic grinds on and Michael O.L. Seabaugh every day seems like Tuesday. Losing perspective can drive one into a tunnel of despair. A way to see the light to the end of the tunnel is to remember that this, too, will pass and we shall all meet again in some better place. Michael O.L. Seabaugh, Ph.D, psychologist
M
y top six practices are: 1. Opening my posture and releasing any clenching. 2. Breathing low and slow into a relaxed abdomen. 3. Watching my information consumption – reading and watching inspirational or educational stuff and unplugging from the news. 4. Spending time with people in meaningful ways. 5. Meditating. 6. Exercising. Dave Mochel, mindfulness coach, business consultant
uring these turbulent times, I encourage people to unplug from the box and wean from the screens. Instead, they should strive purposeKevin Khalili ly towards their goals; speak mindfully to themselves and others; be grateful for what they got rather than what they’re not; smile freely; sweat daily; sleep deeply; and savor sustainably sourced organic plant-based foods. Kevin Khalili, doctor of chiropractic, certified chiropractic extremity practitioner
P
rioritize the following three practices to improve your health and ability to respond to stress: • Daily exercise to get your body Lizzie Clapham moving. • Eat a balanced, anti-inflammatory diet with plenty of local vegetables. • Make time for meditation or focused prayer and gratitude. It is a great way to remember the bounty we have in our lives and has been shown to increase levels of happiness. Lizzie Clapham, naturopathic doctor
T
he COVID-19 virus has caused a great deal of turmoil, suffering, and death. Fortunately, we have
Debbie Allen
I
n traditional Chinese medicine we say, “the root of all disease is impediment to flow.” Acupuncture is incredibly effective for releasing Minka Robinson the obstructive Stevens nature of stress and restoring balance and flow. And acupressure, done by simply pressing on acupuncture points, is something we can all do at home. For instance, one of my favorite calming points is Spleen 6, which is located in a tender depression a few inches above the inner ankle. It can be used for many conditions, including high blood pressure, anxiety, insomnia, and depression. I also encourage everyone to keep things flowing by including practices in your daily life that make you feel nourished, centered, and balanced. Minka Robinson Stevens, licensed addiction counselor •MJ
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chedule your worries for the first 10 minutes of your walk or workout. Unpack the heavy ones remembering you can’t carry the world in a backpack. Let
learned a great deal about how to respond and reduce risk factors. For instance, following a low inflammation diet and adding immune supplements make a James Kwako difference and at least a few ICUs are using intravenous Vitamin C, zinc, and quercetin to improve the response to treatment. It’s also important to reach within ourselves to find the strengths that can see us through. Resilience, patience, and hopefulness are healing attitudes that can be cultivated and help us do the best we can. And may the spirit of healing love be with you. James Kwako, MD
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FEELING PRESSURED TO JOIN A RETIREMENT COMMUNITY? LIVE WHERE YOU LOVE!
Brilliant Thoughts by Ashleigh Brilliant Born London, 1933. Mother Canadian. Father a British civil servant. World War II childhood spent mostly in Toronto and Washington, D.C. Berkeley PhD. in American History, 1964. Living in Santa Barbara since 1973. No children. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots”, now a series of 10,000. Email ashleigh@west.net or visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com
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’ve told you I’m a realist. But that’s not the whole story. Reality is too hard to face all the time. That (I presume) is why we have sleep and dreams. But even when I’m awake, I like to think of life as a game. Games create their own reality. Within the game, nothing outside it matters. Of course, there are many kinds of games – and there don’t always have to be winners and losers. But the essential feature of a game world is that it is distinct from the “outside” non-game world. I remember having this feeling, strangely enough, in a courtroom, where I realized that a trial is a kind of game, which has its own very strict rules. It was the first and last time I ever had to sue anybody. As you might expect, the case was over an unauthorized commercial use of some of my copyrighted epigrams. The judge was on his bench, and both sides were represented by lawyers. But, up to a certain point, it was uncertain whether or not there would be a “settlement.” There was back-and-forth conversation about this between the lawyers, in ordinary language. Then the point was reached at which it became clear that the other side was unwilling to settle. This meant that there would now be a trial. All this was new to me, but I could sense that the atmosphere was changing, and we were going into “trial mode.” The language changed into a very formal kind of “legalese.” I didn’t know the rules of this game – but it was obvious that very strict rules were being followed. There was no jury, but under these rules, not only the lawyers but also the judge, who was also a kind of referee, was allowed to question the witnesses. (The one question he asked me was about an eminent critic whose praise of my work I had quoted in my first book – “Did you pay him?” – to which of course I was proud to state “No.”) Another kind of game people play is actually called a “play.” It goes by other names, such as “drama,” or “performance,” but what’s essential is that it’s not “real” – the participants are “actors.” When it’s over, they return to the world outside the game. Of course, we all know that Shakespeare had a lot of fun with this concept, telling us that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” but then I think he took it too far, trying to per-
“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.” – Mark Twain
sonify each of seven arbitrarily-chosen “ages” as particular characters, such as “the schoolboy, with satchel and shining morning face, creeping like snail, unwillingly to school.” It’s a beautiful depiction, but hardly representative of all the children in the world – even less in his time than in ours. The fact is that all the world is not a stage – that’s why we need stages (or movies) – to turn reality into a game of “Let’s Pretend.” But “play” is not only a matter of games and performances. According to the psychologists, play is an essential part of becoming human. One of the first playful ways to amuse your new offspring is to give him or her the sensation of falling, and then being safely caught and held in loving arms. Similar delights are subsequently provided with swings and merrygo-rounds and seesaws.
There are many kinds of games – and there don’t always have to be winners and losers. But the essential feature of a game world is that it is distinct from the “outside” non-game world. As for playing with each other, children have always enjoyed devising games of pretense, games of competition, and games of mimicry. When I visited the equivalent of a kindergarten in China, what most interested me was a game the children were being taught, in which each one of them was a vehicle on a highway, and had a little toy truck or car. They were all trying to reach a certain goal – but when one of them had a “motor breakdown,” the others were taught, not to take advantage of this opportunity to surge ahead, but to stop and help the “driver” who was in trouble. And in case you’re wondering about that court trial: having heard both sides, the judge retired to his chambers, and, after an agonizing interval, he emerged with a judgment entirely in our favor. Since this was a federal court, it solidly established the validity of my copyrights. And, since this game was being played for money, there was an award of $18,000, which I actually received in full. (Brilliant v. W.B Productions, US District Court, L.A., Civil Action CV791893 WMB. 10/22/79). •MJ 1 – 8 October 2020
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1 – 8 October 2020
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
21
Letters (Continued from page 11) husband, “Well, it’s clear this school cares more about what’s happening in the classroom than what’s on the facade.” I, for one, hope that never changes and that’s why I’m voting no on Bond L2020. Amanda Rowan Cold Spring School Mom
Yes on Measure L
As a long-time participant in local education, I strongly support Measure L on the November ballot – the $7.8 million bond for Cold Spring School. This bond is very needed to replace portables near the corner of Sycamore Canyon Road and Cold Spring Road on the campus. Cold Spring School is a treasure to our area. It provides exemplary education for approximately 180 students in kindergarten through 6th grade. Although, like other school districts on the south coast, it is a “basic aid” district – meaning it receives funds from local property taxes rather than the state of California – the amount it receives per student is considerably less than some other local districts. Few things say more about a community than its support for education. Cold Spring School District is fortunate to have not just one, but two, exemplary educational institutions located within it, the other being Westmont. Under Cold Spring School District Superintendent Amy Alzina, a Westmont alumna, Cold Spring School and Westmont are cooperating as never before – to the benefit of both institutions. Cold Spring School requires more permanent building space in part to accommodate its small class sizes. This November 3, the choice is clear: Yes on Measure L! Lanny Ebenstein Santa Barbara
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to totally agree with a candidate’s political views to support him or her. I primarily look for candidates who understand how democracy works and who make some common sense. It’s my belief that individual responsibility, economic freedom and human dignity are important characteristics that distinguish democracy from other forms of government. I readily acknowledge that modern Republican political candidates leave much to be desired, but modern Democrats are a far bigger personal concern. The source of government money is taxes. The Democrat Robin-Hood-like-mantra that success should be heavily taxed to redistribute wealth and that government should have greater control over individual lives will not create the fantasy-land democracy Democrats are attempting to sell to Americans. We should encourage success, not penalize it. Successful people generate jobs for others. Large profits made by corporations allow them to expand and create more jobs. And, you could be a less-than-wealthy shareholder and share in the profits via stock dividends from successful companies. All one has to do is look at the wealth exiting California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York to realize the disaster of penalizing success. And, with this exit of wealth, who do you think will have their taxes increased to generate needed state revenue? I encourage you to examine the policies and proposals of both major political parties. Make your own determination as to whether or not they promote individual responsibility, economic freedom, and human dignity. Republican proposals are somewhat lacking, but, in my opinion, Democratic proposals don’t even come close to recognizing, encouraging, or supporting individuals in our democratic society. You don’t have to agree with me. Exercise your right to vote. Just be aware of what you are voting for. Sanderson M. Smith, Ed.D.
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A Successful Forum
The Coalition for Neighborhood Schools hosted an online forum for Santa Barbara Board of Education candidates on Thursday, September 17. In this age of COVID-19 changing all of routines and usual campaign practices, the forum went smoothly and each of the seven candidates answered all the questions asked. The Coalition for Neighborhood Schools wants to thank our moderator Lanny Ebenstein, our technical support Jasper Jacobs, and all of the candidates for their participation. Over 125 citizens “attended” the forum and we thank them also for their interest in the school board race and we hope their votes will be informed by their participation. We were pleased that every candidate supports neighborhood schools that are within walking distance for students in every Santa Barbara attendance area. They each mentioned their own experiences of walking to school and elaborated on how those experiences enhance physical fitness and mental health, create block by block friendships among students and parents, and provide environmental benefits! We could not agree more. In addition, the need for another downtown elementary school was addressed bearing in mind the community’s desire for an increase in downtown housing. Several other questions of curriculum were also addressed at some length and audience questions answered. For those who are interested, there will be a YouTube version of the forum available soon. Please email cns4schools@aol.com and put “YouTube Forum” in the subject line, and indicate also if you prefer the Spanish version. Voters residing between Montecito through Goleta have the choice to vote for three candidates. Although there are different elementary school districts for K-6 throughout the area, all of the secondary schools fall under Santa Barbara Unified School District. In the upcoming election, make your vote count! Laura Wilson, President Coalition for Neighborhood Schools
How to Expedite the Opening of More Businesses
If more people got tested for COVID-19, Santa Barbara County would be able to meet the state’s case and positivity rates to allow more businesses to reopen. The less restrictive tier allows for the expansion of indoor operations with modifications such as restaurants, personal care services, churches, movie theatres, and gyms. According to the Director of the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, having more residents tested for COVID-19 would lower the state requirements for the county to move from the most restrictive purple “widespread” tier into the next less restrictive red “substantial” tier. An easy method to achieve the criteria for reopening and easing restrictions on more businesses is for the County to make it much easier and convenient for people to get tested. This could be achieved by locating mobile testing units in heavily trafficked shopping centers with a supermarket. The County, area businesses and City government agencies could partner to promote the locations, days, and times the mobile testing centers are present. To encourage people to be tested, a theme of the ad campaign could be “Help our businesses and our local economy by getting a COVID-19 test.” Jack Friedlander Santa Barbara
What the Pandemic Brought Home to Me
As a fairly typical baby boomer who grew up in a secular Jewish home in the Midwest, I learned about social justice and the need to give back at a fairly young age. As a teenager I attended many conferences on civil rights and became a very ardent supporter of those causes. But another issue nagged at me from a young age. It was hunger. As an idealistic young person of the ‘60s I could not reconcile how the United States alone could feed the world and yet hunger pervaded not only African countries but sectors of American society as well.
Letters Page 384
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1 – 8 October 2020
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
Thinking Outside the Borders Solutions from Europe
Cards and Letters
Exploring the glue that holds our nation together – Part 2
“K
eep those cards and letters coming.” Really now, is buying stamps all we can do to save the Post Office? Is delivering cards and letters all we should expect of the Post Office because there is more of a “personal touch” with them than with email? Is there more we need the Post Office to do for us? Is there more that we need to do? Last week we reported on how Benjamin Franklin created the Post Office as the “essential glue” that connected the Colonies, served as the military correspondence expediter in the Revolutionary War, and was the source of revenue for building “post roads” which provided the commercial veins for a young nation. When we look at the United States Postal Service (USPS) today, many people are unaware that more than 75 percent of all prescription drugs from the Veterans’ Administration go through the Post Office. When the postal delivery times are intentionally lengthened, as has happened under Postmaster Louis DeJoy, it is a life and death matter for those veterans. They can’t afford to not have their medications. For that matter, neither can the elderly who also obtain their prescription drugs largely through the Post Office. A diabetic can’t wait until it’s convenient to restore postal service after the election. In his nationwide injunction issued last week to DeJoy and the USPS, Federal District Court Judge Stanley Bastian 1) reversed the personnel changes and overtime limitations DeJoy put in place; 2) ordered that the street located “blue boxes” that had been removed be replaced; and 3) ordered that the mail sorting machines taken out selectively in “blue” states be immediately repaired. As of this writing, DeJoy is refusing to fully comply. Apparently the Trump Administration intentionally sought to slow down the mail to prevent mail in ballots from getting out to voters and returned to clerks in various states, as a way to suppress Democratic turnout. However, it is literally a matter of life and death to slow down the delivery of medications. That is one of the most vital functions the Post Office fulfills, and until recently one that it did flawlessly. Why would we want to shut it down? Neither UPS nor FedEx really wants that business, and frankly they also don’t want to have to deliver to every rural and more U.S. address with the same high quality execution as pertains to drug delivery. Those are tasks routinely handled with great distinction by the Post Office. Private companies really don’t want to compete there. On the subject of competition, I trust everyone is aware that the USPS delivery services, particularly its overnight and two-day services, are putting competitive pressure on UPS and FedEx to keep rates as low as possible. Without a Post Office, you can expect to see dramatic increases in UPS and FedEx charges for every one of those ubiquitous packages that show up so frequently at your doorstep. Imagine paying even a relatively small 20 percent increase in the cost of package delivery for every package you receive because USPS wasn’t there to hold prices down. And what about that Post Office tradition that began in 1775 of providing funds to build the “post road” system? We reported last week that providing those funds was one of the two primary reasons the Post Office was created by the Second Continental Congress. It was the Post Office revenue, the fees paid by the Post Office to have mail moved around the country, that financed much of the early transcontinental railroad structure with mail cars for the startup railroads of the day. Moving forward in time, it was also the Post Office that paid to subsidize the first freight and passenger air service. Those mail bags that filled aviation pioneers’ aircraft literally paid for “building” the aviation routes across the country just as they paid to build the post roads of the 18th century. Looking into the future, the Post Office could fill that role once again by providing mail transportation subsidies to railroads that would move the mail at speeds in excess of 150 mph, the current top speed for the Amtrak Acela on the East Coast. Imagine the savings for passengers, the reduction of airborne congestion, and the dramatic improvement to air quality if we moved the mail over distances of 750-1,000 miles on trains instead of airplanes. Now that’s a “green” solution for climate change which would actually save time and money and be a more comfortable way to travel those distances for pas1 – 8 October 2020
Berlin opens giant city-run department store for second-hand goods
C
ity planners around the world should take note of an exciting new development that is taking place in Berlin, Germany. As the city looks to cut down on waste, it has opened a state-run department store that sells items that might otherwise get thrown away. Located on the third floor of the well-known Karstadt department store in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, the huge store sells used and upcycled items. The fact that it’s located in a popular, well-established department store is important: it represents an attempt to reach beyond the usual people who already patronize secondhand shops. While the state-run store is meant to redirect useable goods away from landfill sites, the idea is also to use the stores to “anchor the re-use of used goods in urban society” by functioning as centers to educate and spread tips on re-use – especially to sections of the public that aren’t currently much involved in the circular economy. Initially, the store will have a six-month trial run, with plans in place to open three or four re-use stores across Berlin in the near future. Its longer-term ambition, according to the city’s 2020-2030 waste master plan, is to launch a store in every one of Berlin’s 12 boroughs. Prosumers: How these Swedish homes produce and consume their own energy In the quest to run on 100 percent renewable electricity, Sweden is transforming homes into highly efficient ‘prosumers’ – buildings that both produce and consume the vast majority of their own energy. One example comes from the city of Ludvika where 1970s flats have recently been retrofitted with the latest smart energy technology. As reported in EcoWatch, 48 family apartments spread across three buildings have been given photovoltaic solar panels, thermal energy storage, and heat pump systems, with a micro-energy grid connecting all these systems together. The result is a cluster of ‘prosumer’ buildings, producing rather than consuming enough power for 77 percent of residents’ needs. It’s an impressive outcome, one that has prompted the Swedish government to start scaling up the smart grid principle. The idea is that homes can draw energy from a number of clean energy sources, from wind and solar to biomass and waste sources. Smart grids then balance the power and react to the weather, deploying extra power when it’s colder or putting excess into battery storage when it’s warmer. Not only is such a system efficient, but it also lowers energy bills for residents. As the European Union looks to source a third of all the energy it consumes from renewable energy by 2030, Sweden’s ‘prosumer’ model offers a path forward. •MJ sengers and freight. Why can’t the Post Office help us again by building these new high-speed rail systems we so desperately need between cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Reno, Portland, and Seattle in the West? And how about we link up San Diego with Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe in the Southwest? And what about linking several cities tying into Washington, D.C.? Each of those steps could be accomplished by obtaining existing rights of way for most of the journey, allocating money to straighten out the tracks, purchasing appropriate new equipment, and where necessary, double tracking on the same right of way to permit traffic to flow in both directions simultaneously. Post Office revenues could once again help advance our transportation systems while improving and lowering the cost of postal delivery. All of that, and a dramatic reduction in CO2 emissions as well! So what does this bold and productive vision require? Just two things: the financial resources to provide the infrastructure over which the mail could move and the will to build it! Now back to those cards and letters. You know, there isn’t anything quite as personal and pleasant as receiving an actual piece of “snail mail.” So, even though that is the least of what the Post Office does for us, isn’t it great the Post Office is around for my grandchildren to receive birthday cards and my friends the personal notes I send? Stay tuned next week as I write an in-depth review of USPS finances to achieve all of this and how we can, quite easily, keep that “snail mail” flowing so the Post Office can serve us in uniting and building the “post roads” of the future. •MJ
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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Summerland Buzz
by Leslie A. Westbrook
A third-generation Californian, Leslie, currently resides in Carpinteria but called Summerland home for 30 years. The award-winning writer assists clients sell fine art, antiques and collectibles at auction houses around the globe. She can be reached at LeslieAWestbrook@gmail.com or www.auctionliaison.com
On My Soapbox: To Agree or Not?
T
his week I’m taking the opportunity to sound off from my soapbox, since the lead item on the Summerland’s popularity vote “yea” or “nay” for a cannabis dispensary in town, which ran a few weeks ago, created quite a little stir that resulted in three letters to the editor printed over three issues. First, I must thank the letter writers and others who have taken the time to read my column. Much appreciated. Second, thank goodness this is a free country with a free (albeit edited) press, and we get to express our opinions. And on that subject, I wonder: Is it more fun to agree or disagree? I have to confess that my musings about the Summerland cannabis dispensary were muddled by an editor (without my knowledge), which affected the intention of my column. (This is a column, so I do get to opine from time to time.) Even the headline, which one letter writer, Mr. McClintock, objected to, had been changed so it reflected the survey takers’ take on the survey (“resounding support against” a dispensary) rather than my original take, which was that having only 25 percent of residents surveyed constituted a whisper, not a yelp. I also opined that residents’ opinions should hold more weight than those of business owners. But since the response rate was so low, maybe folks in them thar’ hills don’t give a rat’s ass? Mr. McClintock brought up some good points which were pretty much in agreement with my original copy and intent. He wondered whether anyone was asked whether they wanted any new businesses in town – like, say, a pizza parlor in the old Stacky’s, or high-end home and garden stores in their former grocery store or coffee shop hangout? I can guess those results – at least from old timers — with my eyes closed. (No offense intended to those businesses!) Another reader, Mark Brickley, who lives at the polo fields and not in
Summerland (and by coincidence someone with whom I have engaged in a group Zoom game during COVID-19, thanks to a mutual friend), suggested he was just fine with the 25 percent Summerland resident response. So was the esteemed author and newspaperman Lou Cannon. So, can we agree to disagree? But what if only 25 percent of the people voted in our country? That would be really sad. In 2016, 58.1 percent of the voters in the USA turned out to vote in the presidential elections. I’m guessing it might be even larger this year. Basically, I’m all for, and a big proponent of, civic participation, no matter what the form or issue. While I’m up here tooting my horn, I’m hoping everyone gets out to vote at the polls or mails in their ballot – or drops it in one of the voting boxes (addresses below*) and votes that poor excuse of a human being out of the White House. I can’t take the unraveling of our democracy, the lies, and the nepotism for another minute. November 3 – and January 20, 2021 – can’t come soon enough, if things go the way I hope they will. Meanwhile, more rats are jumping off the White House ship – the latest (as of this writing) a dyed-in-the-wool Republican aide to Vice President Mike Pence, who couldn’t take it anymore and decided to speak up. Bravo to brave Olivia Troye – and other Republicans and those in the know who are speaking out. Trump literally has blood on his hands for the way he has handled the pandemic, as confirmed by his conversations with Bob Woodward in his latest book Rage, in addition to Ms Troye’s bird’s-eye view. This should stoke the letter-writing machine out there. So, what do you say? More fun to agree or argue? I much prefer arguing with people than getting into a brawl. But just think how boring the world would be if we all agreed on everything?
Kudos to Sir Harry, a Prince of a Gentleman
Speaking of which… During the early part of my travel writing career, I had the good fortune to meet and work as a correspondent for the great newspaper, magazine, and book editor Sir Harold Evans when he launched Conde Nast Traveler magazine. Harry, who sadly passed away on September 23 at the age of 92, was, along with Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post, one of the greatest newspaper editors of the past century. His bio is well worth examining for anyone interested in publishing and what a free press can do. I adored Harry from the moment I met him in his large Conde Nast office on Madison Avenue in New York City (and that’s a story in itself). “A newspaper is an argument on the way to a deadline,” Evans wrote in his 1981 memoir, Paper Chase, “If there isn’t any argument, there’s not much of a newspaper.”
Good Job on Masks, Neighbors!
Last week, there was just one new case of COVID in Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria; the week before it was zero. Keep washing your hands, my socially distanced friends and neighbors. We seem to be doing something right at the moment.
A Final Note
To the late great Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Thank you for inspiring generations of women and holding true to your own north star. If only the U.S. Senate would honor your dying wish, perhaps we could work toward healing our differences and forming a more perfect union. You only have to wait until after the November 3 election results, Senator McConnell. Can’t you hold your horses?
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24 MONTECITO JOURNAL
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“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.” – Mark Twain
•MJ
1 – 8 October 2020
Jason Isbell
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1 – 8 October 2020
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
25
Purely Political By James Buckley
Andy Caldwell
Andy Caldwell is seeking to replace our 24th U.S. District Representative Salud Carbajal
A
ndy Caldwell’s mother was an immigrant from Austria and his father a Bataan Death March survivor. Andy was born on an Air Force base in Jacksonville, Arkansas. After his father got out of the Air Force, they moved to Kingsburg, California, just south of Fresno. His dad passed away when Andy was nine years old and the family moved one year later to Lompoc. There probably couldn’t be a worse time to be butting up against an incumbent officeholder than this pandemic year, yet Andy, who’s seeking to replace our 24th U.S. District Representative Salud Carbajal, remains not only undaunted but optimistic in the face of the many restrictions his campaign has had to deal with. The following is an edited version of
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
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a lengthy lunchtime interview with Mr. Caldwell, held on the patio of Ellen’s Danish Pancake House in Buellton. Q. Why do you believe this district will be better served with you as its representative in Congress? A. Salud has endorsed and co-sponsored the Green New Deal. He signs on for Medicare for All. He endorsed Beto O’Rourke and then Kamala Harris for President. Carbajal used to have the reputation here of being somewhat of a moderate, but in these last two years, he shifted entirely Left. He was a loyal foot soldier for [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi, but now he’s trying to straddle the fence between Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Our country can’t withstand this. Well, okay, but you’d expect him to follow the path of his party, wouldn’t you? My problem – and this is where I’m going in the exact opposite direction of Salud Carbajal and the Socialist Democrats in Congress – is that I believe we have to get back to the fundamental principles established in the 9th and 10th Amendments. The Constitution was written to tell the federal government what it can do, and the Bill of Rights, what can’t do. It starts with the words, “Congress shall make no law.” In other words, the principal was, the federal government was not supposed to be the be-all, end-all for government. You had these specifically enumerated powers and then everything else was a restriction.
The federal government has to get out of the stuff it’s not supposed to be doing, that it can’t afford to do, in order so it can afford to do the stuff it’s supposed to be doing. Can you give us an example of what you mean? Sure. I believe that we would be better off in the long run to transition younger generations off Social Security to some sort of a savings plan akin to a 401(k), IRAs, and things like that with a backstop for people that need extra help. All that the Democratic Congressional caucus does is keep promising more and more to more people when they can’t even afford to support the people that are on the system now. Back when Social Security was created, people had a much shorter life expectancy. Social Security only paid for a couple of years before the people passed away. Some people are living longer than they worked, longer than they paid into it. Somebody has to figure out a way to get ourselves out of this bulge of which I’m a member. I’m a member of the baby boomers. It is going to be a catastrophic event for healthcare systems in America and as a fiscal conservative, I want to find a way to pay for it. Fair enough, but it seems to me that Republicans always get beat up on this issue. Is there really a pro-market solution, or are we going to just admit that we have to match the Democrat plan and everything must be free? I’ve interviewed people on my radio show (KZSB 1290 AM 3 pm - 5 pm daily) that have written entire books and/or papers on the subject. One of them points out that Singapore has one of the best models in the world. Part of the solution starts with transparency and pricing, where you can shop comparatively for prices and do direct negotiations with care providers ... I’ll give you an example: I had a rotator cuff surgery a few years ago. Before I could determine whether the insurance would pay for it or not, I had to get an x-ray. My deductible is super high. I actually found out the cash price is four-hundred bucks but if I went through my insurance and used my deductible, it was $1,100. That right there, if you multiply that by tens of millions of people, is significant. What they’ve done in Singapore is you publish the price. I think we have to get away from this issue of charging everybody different prices depending on whether they have insurance, no insurance, or Medicare. You’re fighting the tide, Andy. We are, but you know what? The tide’s not working. This is the kind of intelligent discussion we have to have versus arguing via sound bytes and
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
getting nothing done because it’s not working. Let’s go to President Trump. What do you think of the guy? He was not my first choice for president, but I did vote for him because I preferred him 99% over Hillary any day. I think he’s been a good president. He has turned the economy around. His America First strategy is not an isolationist policy, as people have put it. I’ve talked to people over the years that are international business experts, and they have said that we’ve been getting robbed blind by all of these trade agreements, plus China literally was robbing us blind of trade secrets, manufacturing secrets and things like that. I’m glad the president is standing up for us. As for his demeanor, the Republican Party ran gentlemen in the form of Dole, McCain, Romney, and they all got run over. Part of the antipathy and angst against Trump is he wouldn’t allow them to do that. I admit that Trump is an instrument of blunt force trauma. But I think we needed that. Is there something specific you’d do differently in this district if you were elected? Sure. The Montecito Debris Flow and the Thomas Fire would never have happened if I had a vote. Because? We’ve allowed the fuel to build up for upwards of 100 years. We don’t do control burns; we don’t do mechanical clearing and we don’t do chemical clearing. I’ve lived in this region for over 50 years, and I’ve known family members of people that have lived here for over 100 years. We’re always subject to wildfires. Montecito itself is the result of a debris flow. The fact that another debris flow came should have been a surprise to nobody. We need more debris basins. We need to control the brush, and we need to do mechanized clearing to prevent the fires that denude the hillsides and actually sterilize the ground. The one bill Salud Carbajal co-sponsored with Kamala Harris upped the protection of the fuel. Plus, he does fundraisers with Los Padres ForestWatch, the ones that sue to make sure nothing gets cleared. It’s not even good for the environment because it limits the amount of grazing areas, overgrown as it is, with thick brush and dead trees. California has 140 million dead trees because we quit managing the forest. What happens is the brush and the trees grow at a rate of 10 to 20 times more growth than is healthy per acre. That growth has to compete for water, soil, sunshine. Everything gets weakened, it becomes disease-prone, and 1 – 8 October 2020
it becomes kindling. We have to break that cycle. Salud Carbajal is doing nothing. I would do more fuel breaks. I would do more mechanical clearing. I would dump a bunch of cows and goats out there. I mean a bunch. I’m talking thousands as a natural means of keeping the brush down to a manageable level. I would create buffer zones. I would pay somebody to plant and water avocado trees or lemon trees or what-have-you on those slopes to create a green buffer zone between the urban-wildland interface. I would also maximize our ability to have debris basins. You can look at the Isla Vista Bluffs. They’re going to let those houses fall into the ocean. Why not armor the coast? When Isla Vista had a redevelopment agency, they didn’t use the money to redevelop. They used the money to buy bluff-top parcels and leave them in open space; they called that “redevelopment.” They didn’t put in sidewalks. They didn’t put in lights. They didn’t do anything. Not only were the Environmental Defense Center and Salud Carbajal and some of these other politicians in this region, not building and maintaining the debris basins, they were trying to get them removed because they want it to be fish passage habitat. It would have been worse if they had not been able to clear those basins out. The reason Carpinteria didn’t get wiped out is their debris basin was adequately sized. Yes, we have photos showing that it filled to capacity with logs, boulders, and other debris. If it had not been as big as it was, there would have been catastrophe in Carp. I respect Mother Nature, but I don’t think Mother Nature is benign. She is a natural born killer. These creeks that flow through Goleta, Santa Barbara, Montecito, and Carpinteria, are there to convey floodwater and runoff. You’ve got a choice; you either maximize the carrying capacity or you suffer the consequences. When the water or the mud or the debris exceeds the capacity of the river, stream or creek, when there’s no more room in the creek, Mother Nature creates a new creek or river or stream. For almost 30 years now, we have no longer been maintaining these things or creating debris basins or doing anything else to manage the ecological reality that we’re living in every day: the cycle of fires and floods. Those 140 million dead trees are either going to be removed by humans or they’re going to go up in fire. That’s the only two choices we have. Thus far, they’ve been going up in fire.
you could do about, say, Highway 101 and local congestion? I know this sounds a little crazy, but they’re doing this in other places: have you ever noticed that the Union Pacific vehicles, trucks, and utility vehicles have wheels? They have regular car tires and then they have rail
wheels on them so they can drive to the track and then get on the track. Why can’t they do that with a bus? Put the buses on the train. I’m on the 101 Oversight Committee and the problem they’ve found is that once they dump you off at the train track, how do you get to work
or how to do you get back home? It’s called the Last Mile. You don’t have commuter lots big enough and you don’t have enough buses serving the area. They have a problem with that, whereas if they just move the bus up the railroad track, that bus could take them the last mile. •MJ
CITY OF SANTA BARBARA NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
City Council Hearing Tuesday, October 13, 2:00 p.m. The City Council of the City of Santa Barbara will consider creation of a Mobilehome Park Overlay Zone on October 13, 2020, beginning at 2:00 p.m., which would limit the allowed uses in existing mobilehome parks to: mobilehomes, permanent recreational vehicles, and accessory uses. The proposed amendments would reduce the potential for loss of low-income affordable housing in existing mobilehome parks. By 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 8, 2020, an Agenda for the hearing will be available online at www.SantaBarbaraCA.gov/CouncilMeetings. For information, please email Jessica Metzger, AICP, Project Planner, at JMetzger@SantaBarbaraCA.gov. City Council will receive and consider public comment and discuss the proposed Zoning Ordinance amendments at this hearing. This hearing will be conducted electronically via the GoToWebinar platform, as described in more detail below. IN ORDER TO PROMOTE SOCIAL DISTANCING AND PRIORITIZE THE PUBLIC’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA ISSUED EXECUTIVE ORDER N29-20, WHICH ALLOWS THE CITY TO HOLD MEETINGS VIA TELECONFERENCES OR OTHER ELECTRONIC MEETING FORMAT WHILE STILL MEETING THE STATE’S OPEN AND PUBLIC MEETING REQUIREMENTS. AS A PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY PRECAUTION, CITY MEETING ROOMS WILL NOT BE OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. COUNCIL MEMBERS MAY PARTICIPATE ELECTRONICALLY. THE CITY STRONGLY ENCOURAGES AND WELCOMES PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DURING THIS TIME. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS: TELEVISION COVERAGE: This meeting will be broadcast live on City TV-Channel 18 and online at www.SantaBarbaraCA.gov/citytv. ELECTRONIC PARTICIPATION: Join the meeting electronically by clicking on the meeting link which will be found on the meeting agenda. You will be connected to audio using your computer’s microphone and speakers (VoIP). A headset is recommended. You can also select the option to use your telephone, but you must use the GoToWebinar software to interact with the meeting. Select “Use Telephone” after joining the webinar and call in using the numbers listed on the agenda that will be posted online. Oral comments during a meeting may be made by electronic participation only. PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDIZED ITEMS: Members of the public wishing to speak on this matter must “raise their hand” in the GoToWebinar platform by selecting the virtual hand icon during the presentation of that item. The “raise hand” icon is generally located on most devices in the upper right hand corner of the screen. When persons are called on to speak, their microphone will be activated and they will be notified to begin speaking. Each speaker will be given a total of 2 minutes to address the Council. Pooling of time is not permitted during meetings conducted electronically. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT: If you need auxiliary aids or services or staff assistance to attend or participate in this meeting, please contact the City Administrator's Office at (805) 564-5305. If possible, notification at least 48 hours prior to the meeting will usually enable the City to make reasonable arrangements. Specialized services, such as sign language interpretation or documents in Braille, may require additional lead time to arrange. INTERPRETACIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Si necesita una interpretación del español al inglés, para sus comunicaciones al Consejo, comuníquese con la Oficina del Secretario Municipal al 564-5309, o por correo electrónico a Clerk@SantaBarbaraCA.gov. Si es posible, la notificación de al menos 48 horas generalmente permitirá a la Ciudad hacer los arreglos.
As a Congressman, is there anything 1 – 8 October 2020
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
27
Your Westmont
Senior Zack Moreau, pictured in 2019, worked with Dr. Allan Nishimura over the summer
by Scott Craig (photography by Brad Elliott) Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College
Student Researchers Persevere Over Summer Senior Alyssa Avila, pictured in 2019, conducted chemistry research over the summer with Dr. Amanda Silberstein
T
wenty-seven Westmont students adhered to strict safety protocols to work with their professors on research projects during the summer. Due to the pandemic, Westmont will skip the annual in-person October symposium, where students present their summer research findings. The work spanned a wide range of topics, including factors that affect the presence of western fence lizards, identifying cerebral palsy in newborn babies, using motion-capture cameras to analyze prosthetics, atypical posture development in infants, and the urbanization of acorn woodpecker behavior. Westmont has a long tradition of providing opportunities for students to join with their professors in cutting-edge research. “Just as internships in fields like business or medicine give students real-world experience that prepares them for future study or careers, research with faculty
gives them a taste of collaborating with peers to solve real problems that matter to their disciplinary communities,” says Patti Hunter, vice provost. “The skills they develop equip them to work in teams, talk with others about their ideas, and tackle unsolved problems.” COVID-19 forced Amanda Sparkman, biology department chair, to completely redesign her projects because she lacked access to research field sites. Her largest new project predicted that woodpeckers living in areas with higher light pollution, which also tend to be more developed areas with more noise, would wake up earlier and go to bed later. “But, in fact, we found just the opposite,” she says. Kendra Dayton and Seth Wilmoth continue their research this fall. “We all had to get up before sunrise to watch woodpeckers emerging from their nest cavities, and also be out there watching them after sun-
STRIVING TO MAKE A DEEPER IMPACT. Westmont has a long tradition of providing opportunities for students to join with their professors in cutting-edge research.
28 MONTECITO JOURNAL
set,” Sparkman says. They completed a side project on lizards, finding that the strongest predictor of the reptile’s presence was if the location had sufficient rock cover for retreat. Lizards were also less often found in high-density commercial areas. The novel coronavirus kept Don Patterson, professor of computer science, and student researchers from collecting data about cerebral palsy on newborns. Instead, students John Panos and Nathan Young worked remotely on developing new machine learning models, which synthesized accelerometer and 3D camera data to try and create a unified system for clinical use. “We applied the models to a robotic baby as a way of attempting to get our data pipeline up and running,” Patterson says. The research continues with a new grant request submitted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Student Taylor Jennings worked in the motion-capture laboratory to calibrate a nine-camera tracking system while creating protocols for a prosthetics research project. He also analyzed data from people walking on a rotating treadmill that disrupted their typical gait. Adam Goodworth, associate professor of kinesiology, says they will apply for an NIH grant in October and present their findings to an international conference in 2021. Students Leila Parker and Christina Dubell, working with Michael Everest, chair of the chemistry department, discovered that hemoglobin sticks equally well to clean glass and glass that has been coated with an organic precursor, similar to Rain-X. “This was a big surprise,” Everest says. “We had seen large differences in previous studies before we returned to hemoglobin.” The researchers bounced a laser off the face of a prism to measure the degree to which molecules would stick or not.
Student-Athletes Score Top Academic Honors
Westmont student-athletes flexed their academic strength as well as their athletic prowess with 52 Warriors earning NAIA Scholar Athlete sta-
“Do something every day that you don’t want to do.” – Mark Twain
Men’s soccer has been a NAIA Scholar Team for five straight years. Pictured here is senior midfielder and 2019-20 NAIA Scholar-Athlete Nick Ruiz.
tus and a dozen athletic programs being named NAIA Scholar Teams. NAIA Scholar Athlete status is given to juniors and seniors who maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.5. Team recognition is given to programs with at least a 3.0 GPA average. The Warriors were also one of 112 NAIA schools to earn the top Gold Level of the 2019-20 Champions of Character Five-Star. Westmont earned 97 out of 100 points for character training, exceptional student-athlete grade point averages, and by having minimal to no ejections during competition throughout the course of the academic year.
Friday Concert Features Faculty
The Westmont Music Department features its talented faculty members in the Friday Concert Series on October 2 at 7 pm. Listen to the free recital at vimeo.com/showcase/westmontmusic. Emily Sommermann (violin), Adelle Rodkey (oboe), Trina Carey Hodgson (cello), Andrea Di Maggio (flute), Kathleen O’Brien (mezzo-soprano), and Miroslava Kisilevitch (piano) will perform individually. The recital will include songs by Bach, Gabriel Faure, Viktor Kosenko, Freiderich Kuhlau, and Gilles Silvestrini. Alumna Megan (Silberstein ‘14) Billings, a soprano, will perform as part of the Alumni Spotlight on Friday, October 9. •MJ 1 – 8 October 2020
SHEELA HUNT
NEW LISTING ALERT!!! MARK & SHEELA HUNT PRESENT
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2123 SUMMERLAND HEIGHTS LANE 3 B E D R O O M S | 4 B AT H R O O M S | 2 , 5 0 0 + / - S Q F T N E W LY O F F E R E D F O R S A L E
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$2,550,000
Dramatic ocean views are yours, just up a few short blocks from the beach, on desirable and “near everything” Summerland Heights Lane. Live just a quick right turn to Miramar Beach and Coast Village Road in Montecito, or a quick left turn to Summerland shopping, dining and beaches. This coastal chic home features a living room and dining area with loft-like ceilings and an inviting family room and ocean view kitchen, all located on the lower level, which features collapsible doors and windows leading to the patio areas, enabling seamless indoor/outdoor living. There are two guest bedrooms and two full bathrooms on the mid-level, as well as the “Wow Factor” ocean view, front door entry landing. Up just a few stairs from the entry level, the ocean view primary suite occupies the top floor of the home and features a separate office, a bright remodeled bathroom and full length, collapsible doors leading to the ocean view deck. A two-car garage with direct access to the home, a hidden room for wine cellar or storage, Air Conditioning added by the current owners and other features such as: wet bar, custom lighting and details, expanded deck with hot tub and a convenient, gated access to the common open space, walking trails and dog park, make this home a complete package, ready for a new owner.
C A L L , T E X T, O R E M A I L M A R K O R S H E E L A F O R S H O W I N G S A N D I N F O R M AT I O N
All information is deemed reliable, but has not been verified and we do not guarantee it. we recommend that buyers make their own inquiries.
RECENTLY SOLD 2896 Hidden Valley Lane | $4,495,000 | Represented Buyer
1 – 8 October 2020
RECENTLY SOLD 1177 Summit Rd | $3,250,000 | Represented Buyer
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
29
Dear Montecito by Stella Pierce
Montecito Alumni Write Letters from Life’s Front
I
don’t often meet other people with the name Stella. So not only was it surprising for me when I was put in touch with the author of today’s letter, but it was doubly interesting to learn that this Stella had also dipped her toe into the waters of journalism. Two Stellas, same industry? Stanley Kowalski would riot. Today’s letter concerns one Stella Vie Peters, 17-year-old Montecito transplant and creator of the social justice publication Folding Chair Magazine. Like many letters in our “Dear Montecito” collection, Stella’s piece examines the power of connection during COVID-19. She emphasizes the importance of engaging with others’ ethos and what it means to connect with an experience that isn’t our own – two values we try to honor every week in this column. I truly couldn’t be more pleased to share both an ambition and a name with this lovely young woman.
Dear Montecito,
My family and I moved here last November after almost 18 years of mom’s stories. I’d grown up hearing about her life here, working at the Biltmore in college, attending UCSB, and spending weekends at Butterfly Beach. I’d always dreamed of what life on the Central Coast would be like. It’s safe to say that Montecito is a place where expectation and reality are never far apart. In just a few
months, I could understand why my mom had spoken about this place so often. I quickly grew accustomed to the sweet hum of Coast Village Road and the new garden growing in our front yard. Being able to move to this magical place has been such a gift. And the fresh tomatoes weren’t bad either. I feel so lucky to be a part of this community, especially during these unique times. When COVID hit, having access to the surf and a space to breathe was the ticket to my mental health, even if our connection with others became somewhat changed. My mom and I exchanged homemade biscuits with our lovely neighbors and Facetimed every person in our digital Rolodex, but not being able to hug friends or extended family, see my boyfriend, or be part of the collective whole in a physical way was tough. So I decided to get to work in pursuit of connection. For two years now, since I was 16, I’ve been gathering stories for publication. My privilege to live in Montecito, with a roof over my head, nourishing food, and health allowed me the space to foster something important to me. The inspiration for this project and the space I found during the virus allowed me to finally bring a desire for social change to fruition. Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to the United States Congress, once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” In light
Excellence in Escrow on Coast Village Road “I have rarely seen even the best escrow officers go outside the box like Danielle did and help with issues that did not strictly having bearing on their escrow role. So, my impression of Danielle as a competent professional who is easy to communicate with was elevated to a new level. She has made herself memorable to me in a super-positive way. I would put her up there with the best of local escrow officers, past and present”
Danielle Drewisch 1127 Coast Village Road Montecito, 93108 805.695.0449 Text: 805.770.6712
30 MONTECITO JOURNAL
Stella Vie Peters, 17-year-old Montecito transplant and creator of the social justice publication Folding Chair Magazine
of this quote, I named my publication Folding Chair Magazine. My goal is to bring people together through an understanding of each other’s values and passion. When you read someone’s story in Folding Chair, it is my intention that you come away with an understanding of the author’s ethos and be able to articulate where their passion comes from. I want you to feel inspired. So, while we can’t hug each other yet, what we can do is work to empathize with and understand each other. Being able to understand each other’s stories creates a sense of empathy that I hope will persevere long past the impact of the pandemic. To encourage this, I’ve curated the stories in my publication to reflect themes of connection, collaboration, and heart. In the magazine, you can read about a women’s empowerment collaboration with artisans in Côte d’Ivoire, a chemistry professor’s hope for the young people that will soon inherit the earth, a college student’s cultural journey as a Salvadoran-American moving to Brooklyn then to the suburbs or Utah, and many more. You can follow this change-making journey on Instagram @foldingchairmag and @stellapeters_. Please purchase a copy of the magazine on our website (foldingchair mag.com), knowing that 100 percent of the profits are donated to Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative. I came up with the idea to start a magazine like this one while taking a walk at Rincon. I was lucky to already know so many people with
“The lack of money is the root of all evil.” – Mark Twain
strong voices and a willingness to share them, but I would definitely say that there was an aspect of vulnerability associated with reaching out to new people, as a young person, and making it clear that this publication would be a safe and reverent place to tell their story. Many people said yes to writing while some said no. I had to get used to the ebb and flow of the process and honor the shape the magazine began to take. I realized as people responded to our questions about their lives and projects in their written stories that, although I was in control of the direction of the magazine, the attitude and depth relied on the contributors’ wisdom. Through this process I learned when to step in to lead and when to step back and listen. As we’ve witnessed through the Black Lives Matter movement, the world is rife with injustice. This cannot be righted until we cultivate a sense of mutual respect and understanding. We must understand that leading and listening can only exist in a conscious relationship with each other. That is how equity takes root. I hope that living in Montecito, against the backdrop of sunsets and swell, we can acknowledge and use the opportunity that we have to be a part of the landscape of change. Let us join this awakening and begin to sow the seeds of change that will one day flourish like the tomatoes in my garden. Yours, Stella Vie Peters •MJ 1 – 8 October 2020
On Entertainment (Continued from page 6) bit and there was a nurse who had a beautiful voice and we would sing together a little bit.
Ken Grand with wife Rebecca Riskin, once a popular professional ballerina turned realtor whose colleagues called “the First Lady of luxury real estate”
Oh, I’m choking up a bit. That’s so sweet. It was very sweet and sad… So much of music is about love and loss. But it’s like that’s an abstraction until it happens to you. In the hospital, and when I was recovering, I started to feel music in a very different way after that event. It pierced the veil. It was no longer on the surface. It was deep inside of me. I get emotional when I’m singing “Then I’ll Cry.” Even right now, I’m tearing up just talking about it. I got broken open and I just feel in a completely different way in a completely different place than I did before. And it comes out in my music.
“Never Get Wise If You Never Get Old” about having two good legs. There was a rumor going around Montecito that both of my legs had been amputated and everybody in town was telling that story. So when I hobbled into Lucky’s again for the first time on my crutches, Leslie, the bartender, just broke down in tears.
I’ve been moved every time we’ve talked before today. And it’s happening again for me right now, too. It’s hard to get the questions out. I’m sorry. No. I get it. We’ll cry together. These are all tough songs. I’ve started to realize that when someone cries when they Members of the Montecito Fire Department manhear these songs, it means the song aged to rescue Olive from the mudslides worked. I see it as a compliment, even though it’s hard. Rebecca’s friends have a hard time listening to my songs because it’s personal for them. But it’s real. I think that’s why I’m moved. OK, so can you tell me about the process of the writing, how you craft the songs? Usually it starts with a lick or a chord progression that I’m just playing with and that evokes a mood. And then I start to see pictures and I fill them in with words. I think I’m much more competent as a lyricist than I am as a musician. I can’t execute across a broad range like Elton John who can write whatever he wants. I don’t have that skillset. I have to work around what I can do. When I find licks or chords that I like, the words start to come. For example, “Still Alive” had a bluesy ‘thirties chord progression and the words just started pouring out. I realized I was writing a metaphorical rendition of the whole experience, the night of the mudslide, the aftermath, and even the process of becoming a songwriter and musician. So, you know, that song had a lot of thought in it, but it also flowed out very quickly, like almost all of them. “Somehow” came from being really disabled for a year when I couldn’t do very much. I had moved up to a house on the Riviera and I threw a dinner party for some friends. I went and bought placemats and napkins and I shopped and cooked the dinner. And then I stopped and looked up at Rebecca and I said, “You’d be shocked. You’d be so proud of me, how far I’ve come in starting to live a life on my own.” Your songs are all so deeply personal about your experiences with the mudslide and everything since, but each one has a different approach as if they came from a different place inside you. I thought it’d be interesting for you to take us through each of them. I have to tell you that it used to just bug me when I would hear Bob Dylan or somebody say they don’t know how they wrote the songs, that they just showed up. I thought it was so pretentious, like they wanted to be an enigma. They wanted to be mysterious and cryptic. And then it started to happen to me. Now I get it. The songs just come and you don’t really understand how they do. “Somehow” actually recounts a conversation that I had with Rebecca not long before she died. I’d asked her what she would do if I died. She told me, well, I’d probably move on. That’s what people do. I thought it was cold, and I said, I hope I die first because I didn’t want to be alone. But then she died in the mudslide. And that’s been the theme that runs through all of the songs. It’s struggling with what “making it through” really looks like. What does survival mean? I was really wondering, am I going to be the guy with the shopping cart who’s sleeping in front of the CVS on State Street? I was physically beat up and emotionally very raw. Now it’s not so much an open question, but all the songs are about that struggle of what survival means. I am still struggling with it to some degree. It’s about fighting the good fight and trying to be optimistic and keep as good an attitude as I can while understanding that this event has transformed me. I’ll never be perfect, but I’ll be better again. That’s where that line in 1 – 8 October 2020
I can only imagine that was quite a moment. It was pretty emotional. I also want to talk about “Then I’ll Cry,” which is about the first grandchild born after Rebecca wasn’t here, the first one who would never know her in any way, which is really sad. But it is the nature of life. It does keep going. I really like that song because the words you came up with are so simple but they illustrate the cycles in a very real and personal way – the hills turning green and brown, and the days getting short and long again… I’m pausing because I’m feeling tears coming again. Don’t apologize. I understand. Those lines are about Rebecca and Montecito. She was a fiend about roses. She loved them. But there’s sort of a double entendre in that verse about roses keep on blooming and people bleed from thorns. The night I was rescued, the very last hurdle getting dragged out of the mud was going over this wall outside our house that was covered with roses. I was so near death I didn’t care about the thorns, and I ended up with a scar on my left wrist that looks like a number seven. So now when I see roses, which are beautiful, I can’t not think of Rebecca. That’s the metaphor: life is beautiful, and it’s also painful. I love how these lyrics all come from truth. Well, it’s our life here. The whole story is in the hills. That’s how everything happened with the fire and the mudslide and the boulders. When I first got out of the hospital, when I looked up and saw the hills again, I got very scared. We take the earth for granted. But when you get swallowed by it, it’s pretty powerful and you realize that we’re vulnerable because we’re not just living on it, we are of it. I want to ask you about the production of the record. It seems like you and David West really clicked, and the album sounds very organic. David is amazing, and I respected him immensely from the beginning. It’s like we’re cut from the same cloth in that I also love bluegrass and the kind of music that he does. But he does this for a living and at first I was concerned that my songs weren’t worth recording. So I asked him to listen to the songs, and tell me if it’s stupid. If they didn’t have any merit, then let’s just stop making it. I didn’t want to embarrass myself… I had never performed for anybody or recorded. So making the record was the first time I ever had to be accountable to a time signature or accountable to other people to stay on key. It was a strange and wonderful experience. And it’s only now after making it that I will call myself a musician because I spend a lot of time here playing in the park around people and they thank me for it. They seem to enjoy it. So I’m starting to get comfortable with that notion that maybe Leslie Lembo was right and that the songs could be valuable for other people, maybe cathartic for someone other than just myself. I keep getting the sense, both from you and the album, that ego has almost no role in this project. That it’s something you just needed to do and hope that people like. Actually, I’m embarrassed by it, like almost my worst fear. The songs are the thing. I want them to be heard because I’m proud of them, not that I’m filled with pride. I’m proud that I did something difficult and brought it home.
• The Voice of the Village •
On Entertainment Page 344 344 MONTECITO JOURNAL
31
Our Town
Al Bello covering the NFL opener between the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, using the Canon EF600 F4 + 1.4x extender to get 840 mm focal length. Due to COVID19 restrictions, he is only allowed at the end zone first row seats to photograph the game.
by Joanne A. Calitri
Joanne is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@yahoo.com
Arts in Lockdown Series Part 9
Al Bello, Getty Images on Sports & Photography
NBA basketball has been a total bubble situation, as is the NHL, we got photographers scheduled for each sport, but only one photographer is allowed. We had one photographer in each city for the NHL, they had to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel room before they could do anything, until we acclimated in Canada where they are having the playoffs now. It’s a grind. How often are you getting the COVID test? If you are in a bubble situation, like I was in the U.S. Open Tennis, I was getting tested every three to four days, and I was not allowed to work if I did not get tested, and I had eight COVID tests over the course of three weeks. The testing is dictated by the sports governing body of the event you are covering, and it depends on what sport you are covering, for baseball they take your temperature and ask you a lot of questions and for any sport, always have your mask on. You are covering everything solo? Yes, more or less. We get, due to safety concerns at the moment, very limited credentials, and a lot of the other agencies are in the same boat. A game like tonight where it was just an average baseball game, even in non-COVID times I would have done that by myself. However, I just finished covering the US Open Tennis event, which is quite busy and usually we have eight to 10 photographers covering it, but now, I was covering it alone for the day sessions, and we had another photographer come in for the night sessions, and that was it. We were not allowed on the field of play [as usual], we had to stay in the stands for the most part, and they did not grant us access to courtside on the main stadiums until the last weekend. It’s hard; it’s crazy right now.
Joanne Calitri reporting from an empty Yankee Stadium interviewing Getty Images sports photographer Al Bello while he was driving back from Citi Field covering the Mets
I
met Al Bello, sports special correspondent photographer for Getty Images, in 2005 when he called me to photo assist his Getty Images Discovery Channel assignment. We were photographing Lance Armstrong and his cycling team practicing for the Tour de France in Santa Ynez Valley. A consummate and respected professional sports photographer, he started at ground zero as the darkroom manager for The Ring boxing magazine, and photographed boxing on the weekends. Three years later, he landed a job as a sports photographer at Allsport, now owned by Getty Images. From there he transitioned to Getty Images chief sports photographer for North America for 16 years. In 2020, he shifted to sport special correspondent photographer, making him only one of three at Getty Images to hold the position, and the first for sports. He develops his coverage, which includes top sport and news assignments, and the mentoring, hiring, and teaching new photographers. His dedication to photographing sports in a never-before-seen manner using every creative art angle and technology available, Al is at the top of his field, photographing the Olympics and pro-sports team sporting events worldwide. His body of work includes photo-stories, including the impressive Athletes of the World Senior Games. Awards are many, from World Press Photo, The Lucie Foundation, Pictures of the Year International, the New York Press Photographers Association, the Boxing Writers Association, the Football Hall of Fame, the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the International Olympic Committee. He is open, direct, heartfelt with an NYC can-do attitude, a family man, and all around team player. Al is based out of Long Island and he took 15 to Zoom with me about the pro-sports scene during lockdown, while driving home after covering the Tampa Bay Rays win over the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 23. Q. What is it like to cover sports now? A. With sports slowly coming back, it’s not the same, you’re doing all kinds of hoops to get into the game, get the COVID tests, pass the temperature checks, lots of forms, got to wear a mask at all times, everything is a lot different.
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Can you set up remote cameras at sports events? Not really because you are not allowed to get down to the field of play to do anything at all, even before it starts, no matter if it’s a basketball court, baseball field, football field, the photographer has to be in the stands, so it’s a struggle and challenge to make due with what you have and come up with different kinds of pictures than before. I use really long lenses and do the best I can. The stadiums are empty right? Yeah, it’s really weird, there are cardboard cutouts for fans, nobody there, and they have piped in sounds of fans cheering. It’s obvious that the players feel it when they need an energy boost from the fans, and they have said it’s just not the same. And they are right, it’s just not the same, it’s really weird. Can you sense whether the athletes are playing in their top form? The athletes look fine, but I know the NFL is suffering a lot right now because the players got hurt from not having a full training camp, they are paying for it now, a lot of soft tissue injuries, these are the consequences, especially with a contact sport like football. The baseball players are affected too, a lot of nagging injuries that a spring training would have had them in proper shape. Are there any social issues being advocated by the players? BLM? Yeah, in football it’s on the back of their helmets, and at the US Open Tennis there was a player, Naomi Osaka, she wore masks to the court in each of her seven victories with the names of Black people who were victims of violence. The movement is real, and it’s real in sports, NFL, MLB, tennis, hockey, basketball, you see it everywhere. Taking a knee is more prevalent now; all the leagues are doing it. During lockdown, what is the reality for sports photographers? If you are a freelancer in the sports world right now, it’s very, very difficult, not gonna lie. The reason is they are not letting in as many photographers to cover the events as before COVID-19. At Getty Images, we are very limited as to how many credentials we can get for sports events. As a result, with sports closing down for so long, and opening up in little bubbles here and there, work is scarce. It wasn’t anyone’s fault except what’s
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
1 – 8 October 2020
New York Mets outfielder in the batter’s box as cardboard fans look on during September game (Photo credit: Al Bello/Getty Images)
going on right now and keeping everyone safe, and unfortunately the casualty is the freelance sports photographer. If you’re on staff at one of the bigger agencies you are lucky, I consider myself lucky, Getty’s been fantastic the whole time from bell to bell. It’s tough out there right now.
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What did you do when sports was shut down initially? We had to come up with our own assignments. I pivoted and helped out the Getty News Team, which I never really did before. You just have to adapt, and to use the new catch phrase, you have to pivot. So I did picture stories on how several boxers are dealing with training on their own, a lot of fitness clubs, and found a lot of other feature news stories. What’s the next step in sports, have you heard anything? It’s status quo right now, to keep doing what we are doing. There is no vaccine, and I don’t know how or when everyone in the country is going to get one, so we are in it for the long haul, I’m talking still next year and maybe just coming out of it. I don’t believe anything is ever going to be the way it was again, this has changed the game in so many different ways, the cleanliness protocol and all that, even if I had the vaccine, I would not be opposed to wearing a mask on a crowded subway. It’s hard to predict the future, but I am not one of those people with rose-colored glasses thinking this is, poof, going to go away. It takes a lot of hard work and a supreme sacrifice by our country, which we are not doing right now, and we are suffering for it. On a personal note, how do you feel about it all? You know, I feel very frustrated. I feel helpless with the situation, powerless with what’s going on, and I am just trying to adapt and thrive in what’s happening in this particular moment, not just in the sports world, but what is happening in our country. I don’t think I’m alone feeling that way, I’ve had deep discussions with my colleagues at work and my competition at events, we’ve had some dear friends who are photographers who have passed away, and it’s affected us deeply, and brought us closer as a photo community. Anthony Causi, sports photographer of the New York Post, passed, and he’s been honored several times by the local teams here. It’s a reminder of what we are in right now, and the tragedy that is 200,000 American people at the moment passed away, and I feel a lot of that could have been diverted and avoided. New York got killed right away, we had it worse because we got hit first. As a New Yorker, I believe in what people tell us as advisement to do, we follow protocol and continue to do so, and luckily we are the only state under one percent because of the simple thing like wearing masks is helping us, trying to stay safe, keep your distance and not do the things that people are doing out there. I know I want to be alive and not get anyone else sick, especially my family. And if you tell me to wear a mask, I’m going to do it. It seems to keep it at bay, not get rid of it. It’s beyond me why it’s such an issue, why people don’t want to wear a mask. I feel terrible for the younger people right now, I feel not only in our photo industry but all industries, these kids in their 20s just getting out of college have nothing to go to. It’s devastating and we’re going backwards; it’s something that doesn’t sit well with me at night whatsoever, keeps me up at night, I am out of answers. I don’t know what to say or do. Advice for sports photographers? I talk to up-and-coming photographers every day; I keep telling them they have to grind through this and keep coming up with new ideas to get through this, and if you have to take a job that’s outside your field, so be it whether it’s temporary or not. I’ve got some really good photographers who have to support themselves to make a living, they are working for Amazon or driving an Uber, but that is the reality right now. 411: Website - www.albello.com, Instagram - albello55 1 – 8 October 2020
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•MJ
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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On Entertainment (Continued from page 31 31)) You wrote that you don’t want to see life as muddy and messy, and that the record is your effort to make peace with that mess and turn tragedy into something meaningful and beautiful. Has that happened for you? The act of finishing this album and putting it out feels like I really turned a corner. If trauma is something that lives inside of you, doing this album was like giving birth to a child that grows up and moves out two years later. That feels relieving to me. I feel a freedom having done that. Singing the songs, or even doing this interview, brings me back to something that’s very tragic… I have tended to be on the overly emotional side since the tragedy. I think I only cried twice in front of Rebecca, and I’ve cried a thousand times in front of complete strangers since. I’m not embarrassed by my emotions. But I don’t want to continue to be that person. I don’t want to carry those emotions with me forever. And I think I’m going to be much better able to move on for having processed all this and birthing it as a record. If a child is successful, it moves out and leaves you. That’s my wish for this child. (Too Real will be soon headed to Spotify and other online portals as well as Amazon. The earlier mix can be heard at https://soundcloud.com/user128146408/sets/too-real.)
6Q’s with Magic Castle Cabaret’s Arlene Larsen
Like every performing arts venue in town, the Magic Castle Cabaret has been closed since March as even private club prestidigitation has been rendered powerless by the pandemic. But the charming year-old establishment that serves as the local Santa Barbara-Montecito offshoot to the famed Castle in Hollywood co-founded by Milt Larsen in the early 1960s has one trick up its sleeve. With Halloween around the corner – giving masks more meaning than mere protection from COVID – the Cabaret is opening its gift shop to the public for the month of October. Arlene Larsen, a longtime member of the Hollywood Costume Designers Guild, has been creating and decorating fashionable masks and plastic face shields and sending them to local celebrities for a few months in the hopes of having the influencers help make wearing masks seem cool and fun. Now regular folks can get in on the goodies, picking up a one-of-a-kind mask for Halloween as well as the upcoming holidays – Turkey feathers, anyone? – or just to lift the spirits with a gift for yourself or others in our still gloomy times. As they say about magic, the hand is quicker than the eye, but it’s the eyes that will be delighted by the designs created by Arlene Larsen, if a quick look at a few designs is any indication. The shop will be opened 11:30 am to 4 pm Tuesday-Saturday, from October 1-31, with customers gaining entry by ringing the doorbell in order to be escorted into the tiny walled-off gift area one party at a time. If they can receive approval in time, owners Milt and Arlene Larsen plan to possibly expand the sale area to the club’s veranda. Arlene filled us in on the fashion features over the phone earlier this week. Q. What drove the idea of selling your masks to the public? A. We’re going to be wearing them for a while, so we might as well have fun with them and use masks to match our outfits or just make a statement. So I’m buying all sorts of different designs and styles of masks – that way I don’t have to worry about them being up to code and correct (for COVID) – and then I’m working with them, trimming them up and jazzing them up with stuff I add. So they’re not like your ordinary masks. And that makes them a lot more fun to wear. You’ve got decades of costuming experience. What goes into making a fun mask? Lots of experience but even more leftover stuff (from my career). I’ve got applique, rhinestones, ribbons, and trim and so much more. If I can put them on the masks and shields I can get rid of all my stuff I don’t really use anymore and yet not have to charge the prices I would if I went out and bought them now. There are things like reminders of harem girls with a little fringe on the bottom, or little pieces of this or that that sometimes could be terribly expensive if you were wanting to make a dress. But I have just enough left over to put on a mask. If you had to shop, it would cost them a fortune and then there’s other stuff you can’t even find because I’ve had it for so many years. How are you figuring out what to do? It’s just what comes to me, anything to make things different. One of the ones for the face masks that everybody just loves was designed by a person who is deaf. She could only read lips. When she went in for surgery everybody had their (medical) masks on and she couldn’t see their lips and it scared her because she couldn’t hear what they were saying. So she designed a (transparent) face mask they could wear in surgery where you could see their faces. I bought a bunch of them and I fix them up with hair on the bottom so that it looks like
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Arlene Larsen’s Magic Castle Cabaret opens its gift shop to the public for all of October and masks are mandatory for more reasons than one
you’re wearing a beard. Women want them too – like a bearded lady. I made a few that are S&M with the spikes and all that, and I’ve got the shields with the plastic in front of the face, which are wonderful to wear when you go out to eat because you don’t have to keep lowering the mask. You can see each other and talk. I put all kinds of things on the sides to decorate them. It seems like whimsy by design. Arlene Larsen, a longtime member of the It’s pretty easy to have some fun. Hollywood Costume Designers Guild, has been You can add nothing but rhinestones creating and decorating fashionable masks and and it’s so pretty. It’s like a woman plastic face shields putting on a piece of jewelry, because you have nothing else you can dress up for anymore. Why not use your mask like another accessory? It’s kind of fun to match your outfit or your shoes. You put on your earrings, your hat, and your face mask. It’s all part of your fashion design or wardrobe. I got a woman in New York who’s matching her masks to her husband’s ties, which is very clever. Looking ahead, have you and Milt figured out how the Magic Castle Cabaret will adjust to protocols when you are able to reopen? We’ve been working on fixing the place up to make it safe. [Even before the pandemic], we’d cut back from a high of 32 people in the cabaret at the same time to just 20. We’ll bring that down to 10 to have enough distance, and in groups so we can clean in between. We have these invisible plastic curtains in front of the stage so singers or magicians don’t have to worry. There are individual air purifiers for every table. And we change our filters and our air conditioning every day. We want to get those things airplanes use where we can spray all the chairs and tables to sanitize quickly. I don’t want to take any chances of anybody ever getting sick from coming to our place. I understand if things stay as they are, movie theaters are supposed to be opening Friday. Have you heard when you can? As a private club that’s very small we probably already could have had the okay a long time ago, but we closed two weeks before they told everybody to close and we’ll probably open up after everybody else does. I’m that cautious. It’s not worth it to jump the gun. I just don’t want to get sick, nor anybody else.
Advocating for Avocados
The California Avocado Festival is going virtual. Celebrate the annual fest devoted to the creamy green fruit with a whole host of events over the October 2-4 weekend, including unique viewing parties for live musical performances, access to Avocado Festival foods, links to commercial vendors and sponsors, virtual contests, and pop-up stores with early access to collectible merchandise, including three T-shirt designs and the 34th Annual California Avocado Festival poster. Visit avofest.com for details and schedule for the free event.
Book ‘em with Bargains, Outside
The 46th annual Planned Parenthood Book Sale will be just a wee bit different than the previous 45 due to coronavirus pandemic precautions. So skip the Showgrounds and head out to Goleta to an outdoor, socially-distanced, protocol-following parking lot sale at Planned Parenthood’s warehouse at 5726 Thornwood Drive. The usual 10-day sale has been trimmed to just 12 total hours over a single weekend, 10 am-4 pm on October 3-4, but you can still select
“Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.” – Mark Twain
1 – 8 October 2020
from thousands of books in 50 categories plus CDs and DVDs to make your pandemic predicament a little more pleasurable. Free admission and parking. As always, all proceeds from the sale support Planned Parenthood California Central Coast. More info at www.ppcccbooksale.com.
Music Notes
Jaya Lakshmi and Ananda – the Oregon-based mantra music mavens who have performed their popular blend of kirtan, healing mantra music, original compositions in English and Sanskrit, and Kirtronica (a fusion of kirtan and electronica) at several venues in Santa Barbara – have a much-anticipated new album ready for release. But due to pandemic restrictions on in-person performances, Lakshmi Dreams will instead be unleashed on October 1 via a livestream concert. Jaya and Ananda will be broadcasting with state-of-the-art technology employing three HD cameras and high sound quality to deliver a soothing transmission of devotional mantras to heal and inspire. Admission is free, although donations are encouraged. Information on registering for the 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm concert from Sedona, Arizona, at jayalakshmiandananda.com...
The KCBX public radio program Freedom Jazz Dance will broadcast The Ever Fonky Lowdown, a new and groundbreaking musical work by Wynton Marsalis, over four successive Monday evenings in October. The funky, jazzy, satirical look at democratic freedom, abuse of power, racism, and cultural corruption was performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, featuring vocalists Christie Dashiell, Ashley Pezzotti, Camille Thurman, Jaya Lakshmi and Ananda’s Lakshmi Dreams will and Doug Wamble with narration be released on October 1 via a livestream concert from Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Treme, Jack Ryan). It airs in four parts over the San Luis Obispo station that produces the annual Live Oak Music Festival from 8 to 8:30 pm each Monday starting October 5, and can also be heard online at www.kcbx.org. •MJ
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Unreserved! Over 15,000 items! Fine Furnishings from The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York Beginning on October 17th, starting at 10AM EDT Kaminski Auctions is set to host one of the largest and most anticipated auctions of the year. With in person previews and online bidding beginning on October 3rd, Fine Furnishings of the Historic Waldorf Astoria New York will be an extensive display of unique objects from the legendary hotel. Proceeds from the auction will go to support St. Bartholomew’s Conservancy Inc. New York.
Exterior of View of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York
Duke and Duchess of Windsor Suite
Presidential Suite
Previews and online bidding are available beginning October 3rd through KaminskiLIVE, Live Auctioneers, and Invaluable. In-person previews will begin on October 3rd at 2 Galleria Drive, Taunton, Massachusetts. The two-week live auction will launch on October 17th, and event organizers have made all preparation to carefully comply with all Massachusetts COVID-19 guidelines.
To view the complete list of inventory available for auction, please visit www.kaminskiauctions.com. 1 – 8 October 2020
• The Voice of the Village •
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Editorial (Continued from page 5) completely against the notion of ‘defunding the police.’ I am for working with all stakeholders to make sure we address systemic change and systemic racial inequalities, and to make sure we bring about reforms. Nobody can deny we need to work to enhance the trust between communities and law enforcement… And some of that involves rooting out those officers that are doing illegal things, violating people’s civil rights. They should be brought to justice… we must modify our law enforcements’ policies to insure we root out police abuse, and we can get to a point where we can continue to trust our police officers in a way that everybody’s happy.”
On the Environment:
Carbajal helped end the practice of “fire borrowing” by working to establish the first ever Fire Disaster Fund. “Year-round fire season is in great part due to climate change,” a position on which he and his opponent disagree. “I’ve initiated and co-sponsored legislation that provides resources to our firefighters and our forest service personnel to have the resources they need to be more effective in fighting fires, in having access in developed roads, infrastructure... So they could get back there and fight fires. To be able to do field management throughout the year in a way that reduces the likelihood of future fire.”
On Veterans:
“As a veteran myself, I have worked hard in Congress to ensure our service members and veterans have access to the services and benefits they have earned. I’ve successfully fought to improve the VA’s phone systems and transportation services so our veterans can get timely medical care, and I’ve worked across the aisle to address veteran homelessness. Our service members have stepped up to defend our country and our freedom, and I will continue working to provide for our veterans when they return from service.”
On COVID and the Economy:
“There are many people out there that are still hurting, people, unemployed, businesses that still haven’t recovered, families, institutions, local governments, workers. We need to do a lot more… our 1.5 trillion-dollar proposal meets the Democrat bottom line and the Republican top line… We think a good starting point is starting in the middle. That means pretty much funding most of the things that were included in the CARES Act. Including additional funding for areas that we have not quite covered like some frontline essential workers and schools and local governments. Continued PPE funding, idle funding. Continued unemployment insurance.”
Carbahal’s Thoughts on the Importance of this Upcoming Election:
“When it comes to the pandemic… the only conclusion you could reach is that this president botched this up. Many more lives were lost than needed to be lost… Secondly, as just decent human beings, we have a president that day in and day out belittles people, calls people names. That is not the type of leadership we want in our country at any level, let alone the presidency… The third issue I would say be fearful. Look at what this president has done embracing dictators. Look at all the lies that this president tells... He fabricates. He’s pathologically lying every day to the American people… I would ask people to be honest with themselves and to vote for somebody who is going to unite us and take us into really becoming the nation that we are all aspiring to be and that we would be proud of.”
Salud Carbajal’s Superpower:
“My willingness to work with everyone, those that think like me and those who don’t think like me. So we can find common ground so that we can make life better for everyone.” Amen.
For District 19 State Senate Seat
MJ Endorses: Monique Limón
M
onique Limón is a passionate and caring leader who is readily rolls up her sleeves and does the nitty-gritty work of protecting and advancing the interest of her constituents. Bottom line, Monique Limón consistently shows up for us and we’re lucky to have her. Limón grew up in Santa Barbara and has done an impressive job representing this county in the State Assembly over the past four years. We’ve been spoiled to have hometown representation in both the 37th Assembly District, which Limón took over from Das Williams, and Senate District 19 with local resident Hannah-Beth Jackson at the helm. Jackson terms out of office in January. Our next representative in the Assembly will likely not be from here, so by sending Limón back to Sacramento as our State Senator, voters will ensure that we will continue the strong tradition of not just local, but capable representation working on our behalf in Sacramento. Seemingly desperate to stoke fears of a socialist takeover of America, Republican businessman Gary Michaels has attempted to smear Limón as a radical leftist.
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“Miss Limón was trained as a socialist at Berkeley and Columbia,” Michaels states in his campaign’s YouTube video. But even a cursory look at Limón’s political career – six years on the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Trustees and a stint as Assistant Director for the McNair Scholars Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her recent work in the Assembly – reveals her to be the epitome of a moderately liberal Democrat. And by the way, since when is getting a pair of degrees at UC Berkeley and Columbia University either the equivalent of joining the Communist Party or a disqualifier for seeking public office? A detailed review of Limón’s legislative track record shows that, of the 39 bills she has authored which were signed into law, 37 of those had broad bipartisan support. A 94.8 percent record of bipartisanship (on everything from oil spill management and protecting lobster fisheries to providing fair access to credit) is about as close as you can get to being the exact opposite of a Sacramento hack. In her four years in the Assembly, Limón has fought hard to protect the interests of all her constituents in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, a much more diverse group than most realize. “When it comes to water, agriculture, and jobs, all these communities from Guadalupe and Santa Maria to Goleta or Oxnard, which is the 18th largest city in the state, look very different,” she says. While her diverse constituency helps explain her bipartisan success in Sacramento, Limón has never lost sight of Santa Barbara and its own unique challenges. She worked on a bill that, while it failed to become law, would have improved insurance protections for victims of natural disasters such as the 2018 Thomas Fire and debris flows. “It’s an issue you are facing in Montecito, but also elsewhere,” she says. “After the Thomas Fire, we secured $25 million for prepositioning, so firefighters will have the funding in place to put people where they need to be and get them ready in time.” Limón also secured financial help for both Santa Barbara and Ventura County governments as well as cities and special districts to backfill their budgets in the wake of the recent disasters. “These measures were voted on in a bipartisan way,” she says. “These are the issues that matter, and how you make people whole. The past four years have definitely not been without their trials and challenges, but now I have experience that allows me to not just be effective in the State Senate, but to hit the ground running.” We couldn’t agree more and look forward to another four years of hard work, intelligent, thoughtful leadership and solid bipartisan efforts in Sacramento from Monique Limón. This time in the State Senate.
37th District California State Assembly Seat MJ Endorses: Steve Bennett
W
e like Steve Bennett’s emphasis on Good Government and we believe he has three key things going for him: the experience, the grassroots temperament, and the propensity to think outside the box. Bennett’s 20 years as a public school teacher and administrator will serve him well in the state legislature, given that 50% of the state’s budget is spent on education. And his five terms on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors dealing with health, welfare, and safety issues will also allow him to hit the ground running. As examples of his commitment to Good Government, Bennett points to his work on, among other things, two big issues: preventing urban sprawl and campaign finance reform. Bennett sees himself as a grassroots candidate who specializes in staying independent from special interests and challenging conventional solutions to problems. For example, SOAR, an anti-urban sprawl initiative championed by Bennett. SOAR put a check on independent special interest money and its contribution to L.A.’s urban sprawl by necessitating that exceptions to building development plans must be brought before the people for a vote rather than being fought project by project which Bennett describes as “piecemeal destruction.” Another example of Bennett challenging conventional thinking can be seen in his work on campaign finance reform: “I wrote the toughest campaign contribution limit law in the State of California for Ventura County to try to decrease this influence of that money… I voluntarily limited myself to $500 because I wanted to show that we ought to have candidates that collect a little bit of money from a lot of people. That’s better government.” As a result, contributions to a County Supervisor campaign in Ventura County are now limited to $750.
How to Regulate Disrupter Industries, Like… Cannabis:
On regulations around cannabis and other disrupter industries, we like Bennett’s approach and find it instructive for how to deal with some of Santa Barbara Counties most pressing issues. Bennett raises hemp as an example of a disruptor industry/crop in Ventura County where they allowed one-year permits in order to study the impacts. Once they had some evidence the county was in a better position to roll out meaningful regulations. “So that’s how I would handle disruptor industries… to find the way to common sense roll out the regulations for that, whether it’s regulations on accountability in schools, or whether it’s regulations on crops you’re growing, or regulations on plastic bags.”
“Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.” – Mark Twain
1 – 8 October 2020
“We have to recognize that’s the nature of democracies,” Bennett says. “If you try to legislate and say, In two years this is going to be this really big problem and I’m going to take some of your freedom away from you right now because there’s going to be a problem in two years... But if you can move quickly when you see the problem, and if you can move appropriately and not overreact, or not under react, you can do good government.”
Homelessness and Other Local Issues:
Bennett sees great benefit in incentivizing local communities to tackle their own problems and he sees in the issue of homelessness a perfect opportunity. “We need to do this for the homeless,” Bennet says as an example. “Identify the homeless. This person’s name is Gwyn Lure,” he says, using the intervieweer as an example. “These are the homeless people we’re going to solve the problem for. Now you’ve personalized them… It’s not just ‘a homeless person’… Make it manageable. Make it by community by community. And that community can take pride and say, ‘We solved the homeless problem for the one hundred homeless people that we have in our community.’
Collaboration with Our Local Leaders:
“I have a great working relationship with Salud Carbajal… we built the bike trail in front of La Conchita, that finally links our two counties together with a safe connection for people to ride.” Together Carbajal and Bennett created an organization called Cycle California Coast, to promote the improvement of the bicycling community, the bicycling infrastructure, the bicycling attractiveness of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Bennett is also working with Monique Limón around shared issues like the handling of the Ventura River watershed. Together they have convened the leaders of all of the water agencies in the Ojai Valley to meet three times yearly. “I think we have done an amazing job because the grant funding that we’re able to get is coming because they’re saying, We’re funding you guys because you’re a regional applicant. There are so many examples of synergy that are coming out of that.” Still, Bennett says he is committed to gaining an even better understanding of Santa Barbara County. “I recognize I have a lot more I need to do. And it’s put in the time. It’s sit down and talk to people… because those deep connections only come from these kind of conversations.”
Santa Barbara Unified School Board
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ocal school boards represent the most basic workings of democracy. They play a critical watchdog role in keeping our schools on track and setting vision and policy that directly and profoundly affects our children. But individual board members cannot do their job alone. A board is a team that is most effective when each member contributes their unique talents in working together to build consensus on important issues facing the district. The clarion calls of school board candidates challenging incumbents often include: the need for greater transparency, more responsiveness to parental opinion, and a myriad of curriculum ideas. These are all important, but only when one serves on a school board do they understand why certain things cannot be transparent – personnel issues, for example, are often confidential. They come to understand that while parental input is important, it’s also complicated because every parent wants what’s best for their child, but there is often no consensus on what “best” means. As for creating curriculum, this is not within the purview of a school board – though setting over-arching policy to require certain types of curriculum is. Public school boards always matter. But like so many things in this high-pitched moment, they matter more than ever. How and what our children are taught may be the single most important factor that determines our nation’s future. We spoke with seven of the eight candidates vying for the three open seats on the Santa Barbara Unified School Board. (We were unable to reach or locate one candidate.) Every candidate we spoke with seemed genuinely committed to improving public education. While important and interesting points were raised by every single candidate, three candidates stood out as forward-thinking, independent and fair and open-minded team players from whose unique brand of leadership Santa Barbara’s public schools will strongly benefit.
MJ Endorses Incumbents: Laura Capps and Wendy Sims-Moten and Up-and-Comer Virginia Alvarez Laura Capps: SB Unified School Board President
Laura Capps stands out as a courageous leader willing to stand up for what she believes, even when politically risky – exemplified by her lone opposition to removing the San Marcos Principal in what resulted in a 4-1 vote. Laura also remained an important check on Cary Matsuoka, former SB District Superintendent who we believe lacked important communication skills and inclusivity practices necessary for effective leadership.
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As Board President, Capps led the search to hire new SB Unified Superintendent, Hilda Maldonado. Maldonado enters the district at an extremely challenging moment given the complicated marinade of issues facing the district and will have in Capps a partner who is a strong collaborator, but not a yes person. Laura does her homework, absorbs the views of the gamut of stakeholders, and then applies her grounded, analytical, and compassionate thinking to come up with thoughtful and reasoned positions. Having worked both in national and local politics, Laura understands the large implications of local issues and possesses a deep bench of relationships and knowledge in order to tap into best practices near and far. We appreciate Capps’ arms distance but thoughtful approach to decisions involving school curriculum. Capps supports the recent unanimous adoption of the district’s new Teen Talk sex education program, a comprehensive sexuality education curriculum designed to help educate middle-schoolers about sexuality and sexual health. This program has generated some controversy for its graphic and personal nature. “As much as I am a progressive and I’m a person of faith, that has to stop when I’m making a funding decision because ultimately curriculum, there’s a cost involved and that’s why it comes to the board. We are a fiscal agent, but we are not charged with determining whether or not students learn in a particular way.” On the topic of racial equity, while Capps is a strong advocative for implicit bias training, she points out that the current program is not perfect and has some transparency issues. “I think the program itself can be improved… but what I don’t like is that the whole topic of implicit bias training itself has come under assault at a time when we should be even more attuned to what students face every day… We need to do a better job of not playing a role in the systemic racism that pervades not just Santa Barbara, but our country.” We appreciate how Capps balances her passion for education for all children and issues of equity and fairness, with her nuanced understanding of a school board member’s key role, which is to see clearly the forest while holding accountable those hired to focus on the trees. “What I’ve learned is that it’s less about being on the right side of an issue. That’s actually not that hard. The challenge, what makes a good board member and what I believe I’ve been, is somebody who impacts a decision by asking the tough questions of the folks in charge… I kick the tires, look under the hood, and make sure that everybody else can look under the hood, too.”
Wendy Sims-Moten: SB Unified School Board Member
The seeds for a child’s success in school are planted long before they enter kindergarten. As the Executive Director of First 5 Santa Barbara County Children and Families Commission, created to support the health, early learning and well-being of children prenatal through age five and their families, Wendy Sims-Moten not only understands this, but it informs her all around perspective as a Santa Barbara Unified School Board Member. Sims-Moten believes it’s important for every kid to feel connected. “That’s a huge piece of me continuing to run for the school board, to make sure that kids are being connected. Because education is the foundation that really sets us up for success… As a board member it is crucially important to look at the overall environment that we are governing… to make sure that students have the best educational experiences. So when they walk out of our district, they know they’re ready and they feel that they can really contribute and they feel visible and ready to take on the next role whatever that is.” We support Sims-Moten’s focus on the importance of all students feeling connected and having a positive educational experience – from high achieving kids to those in the middle. More than any other candidate, Sims-Moten stresses the importance of data as opposed to the anecdotal, as a critical tool for assessing how and if things are working. “Good data is really important to guide us, not necessarily to be the end-all, but to guide and say, Here’s what we’re seeing and is that really what’s happening here? And how is that matching up with the policies and programs that we’re doing?” We endorse Sims-Moten’s commitment to using data to closely evaluate programs in order to assess their success. For example, while she supports her board’s commissioning of the current program meant to deal with issues of cultural bias, she believes strongly in closely evaluating such programs to make sure they continue to meet the district’s needs. And so do we. On the larger subject of systemic racism, segregation, and cultural divides, we appreciate Sims-Moten’s commitment to exploring more deeply what other districts are doing, and how they’re addressing such important issues. As for the board’s recent and controversial unanimous approval of the Teen Talk sex education junior high curriculum, Sims-Moten is matter of fact. “These kids already have this information, but we want to make sure that the information they see makes sense… That they really understand what they’re seeing and the impact of that… that kids can get good information and balance it with what they’re seeing.” As for parents who don’t agree, Sims-Moten supports every parent’s right to do what they feel is appropriate for their children, and thus supports their ability to
• The Voice of the Village •
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Letters (Continued from page 22) The result of that early awareness has guided my tzedekah efforts throughout my life. Also, I hate to feel hungry myself and thus don’t wish it on anyone else. I remember the pain I felt when I learned that my own cousins often ended the month short of money to buy food when they were at college. Of course they had too much pride to ask my family for help but I thought if they were food insecure there must be even more people who face this problem on a daily basis. I tell you all of this because the pandemic in an interesting way brought this problem front and center to me in my professional life. Some of you may know that I run a small nonprofit, the Center for Successful Aging, that serves the needs of seniors in our community. In mid-March a local philanthropist called me and with great foresight told me of his concern that with the stay at home orders low income seniors would soon be hard hit and that he wanted to help some local organizations deal with the pending food problems facing seniors in our county. I thanked him for his concern but referred him to a larger organization since I knew ours would not be able to undertake such a large geographic task. After he approached the Family Service Agency, its director called and asked me if my group would run the program from Santa Barbara to Goleta. I gladly accepted and for the past six months we have offered two programs; one offering groceries for people who can prepare their own meals and the other for more debilitated individuals who can’t prepare food. We received a government grant to offer the latter group a hot meal program and when its funder asked me how many people I’d like to serve I said, “Well, there are probably 50-60 people who are really desperate but why don’t we start with 100.” She secured the federal funding and we publicized the program to all the low income people and agencies I knew. To my shock we got 150 calls within the first three days. “Wow,” I said to myself, I had no idea that many people were food insecure. After raising some local funds and screening all of the applicants, we
were able to offer a five-day-a-week hot meal program to 115 seniors and serve the others in the grocery program. After doing some additional research I have learned that the reality is that in our wealthy enclave there is an underbelly of great poverty where over 25 percent of seniors in our county live. Too many don’t even have the funds to purchase food and others are physically unable to make food. Should seniors who lived and served our community throughout their lives and now live alone, are blind, suffer so much pain they can’t stand or don’t have the cognitive ability to cook a meal be relegated to eating something out of a can? The pandemic has brought home to me the stark reality that food insecurity is a huge issue among seniors. I have joined a group that is bringing this issue to government, foundations and other philanthropists for all of us to solve. It was hidden before the pandemic and is now a major social issue that I feel compelled to respond to. I hope as this issue rises to the surface in the media that you will decide to add your voice in support of this important effort. Gary Linker
Friends of Tibet
October 1, 2020 is the Global Day of Action against the CCP, the Communist Government of China, signed on by 160 groups around the world including ours, Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet (SBFOT). Groups calling out the CCP in October include Tibet supporters, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese, Uighurs (2-3 million in work prisons), Southern Mongolians, Falon Gong practitioners, freedom loving Americans and anyone in the world affected by the CCP virus. Also countries next to China like India, Bhutan and in the South China Sea report increasing border hostilities. Our very own Thepo Tulku is one of the 150,000 refugees forced to flee Tibet after the 1950 CCP invasion. We at SBFOT join concerned citizens around the world condemning China’s lack of respect towards basic human rights. Unlike people in China with no freedom of speech, you can
Laughing Matters did the Buffalo say to his son when he left for college? W hat Bison Send us your best joke, we’ll decide if it’s funny. We can only print what we can print, so don’t blame us. Please send “jokes” to letters@ montecitojournal.net
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show your support by signing on the wall at www.resistchina.org. One final thought: Chinese lives matter. We in the Tibet movement increasingly acknowledge it is not the Chinese people that the world is protesting; it’s the Communist Government of China. Kevin Young, Thepo Tulku Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet
Build Consensus Before You Spend
I read reporting on the Cold Spring School bond proposal. I am a seven-year alum who graduated sixth grade in 2010. I then went on to Santa Barbara Junior High where I was elected ASB Treasurer. Fiscal and voter accountability was my job at SBJH, where I experienced the difference in school cultures and wealth. I transitioned having spent years at Girls Inc. gymnastics, in-band and strings which always seek money. Resources are tight at SBJH. I remember going back to CSS to make copies and get things not available at SBJH. What I missed most: 1) classroom aides at SBJH, which isn’t efficient; and 2) better campus facilities beyond the spectacular Luke Theatre. Living responsibly within one’s budget is required at SBJH. In third and fourth grade I was schooled in the Cold Spring portables that were bought seven years earlier by some parents to teach kids like my MIT brother advanced math; and for all students to learn foreign language, journalism, and typing. My two years in portables were made exceptional by what happened inside. We were the special class: the one assigned the portables with wonderful Mrs. Wooten. Safety was an issue when I attended with talk of moving the office up front to the kindergarten classroom, an easy
low cost swap. Never happened. When the Tea Fire hit – while Westmont jammed into its gym to be spared – within seconds, CSS had every kid jammed into available cars headed for safety with alerts sent to parents where to fetch us. Security was again a topic. Nothing changed. It seems Cold Spring expenditures need parents to talk to all residents paying the bills to build consensus. There are people who can’t afford any more in taxes and money must be better spent at Cold Spring. There’s no excuse for waste when needs elsewhere are great, especially now. What happens within a school matters most. Cold Spring is a great school because the community was involved. I’d vote no for now to figure where tax money goes and to get everyone on board. I’d exempt by request only longtime residents over age 70 without pensions who don’t have money to pay more taxes. Alyse Adams
Kudos to Gwyn Lurie
What an excellent article “Whose Montecito?” At many different levels: It is a measured, mature long-term view of the topic. The writing is articulate, interesting, easy to understand the insights. It feels wise. Good word choices – “living diorama” snow globe of better times. Good use of examples, images. There’s sensitivity to “a lot of people were excluded from the joys of that special time, and many suffered from the very systems that others remember so fondly.” Nice, thoughtful. Bringing in the concept of “kaizen” – very nice. The mention of how many generations of the Chumash have been here and the concept of the
The best little paper in America (Covering the best little community anywhere!) Executive Editor/CEO Gwyn Lurie • Publisher/COO Timothy Lennon Buckley Editor At Large Kelly Mahan Herrick • News and Feature Editor Nicholas Schou Associate Editor Bob Hazard • Copy Editor Lily Buckley Harbin Arts and Entertainment Editor Steven Libowitz
Contributors Scott Craig, Julia Rodgers, Ashleigh Brilliant, Sigrid Toye, Zach Rosen, Kim Crail Gossip Richard Mineards • History Hattie Beresford • Humor Ernie Witham Our Town Joanne A. Calitri Society Lynda Millner • Travel Jerry Dunn • Sportsman Dr. John Burk • Trail Talk Lynn P. Kirst Account Managers Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Casey Champion Bookkeeping Diane Davidson, Christine Merrick • Proofreading Helen Buckley Design/Production Trent Watanabe Published by Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA 93108. How to reach us: Editorial: (805) 565-1860; Sue Brooks: ext. 4; Christine Merrick: ext. 3; Classified: ext. 3; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Letters to Editor: Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA 93108; E-MAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether twenty or eighty.” – Mark Twain
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Rainbow Bridge was a vivid, enlightening reminder. The idea of not looking down or back but to look forward. Gwyn, your taking the time to writing with depth and substantive viewpoints are appreciated. With regards, M. Greg Stathakis
Decision Time, America
The time is near. 2020 isn’t a normal year and it certainly is not a normal election. The 2020 high stakes election is about a lot more than winning. It is about the survival of our free republic. It is a battle between socialism and freedom. And law and order and anarchy. Finally, it is about protecting and preserving the American Dream. It is up to all of us to keep America free, prosperous, safe, and strong. Hopefully rampant voter fraud (ballot harvesting, double ballots, and dumping ballots) will be kept under control. Diana Thorn
County School Board Incumbents Don’t Deserve to be Reelected
For the first time in a generation, the incumbents on the Santa Barbara County Board of Education have opponents running against them
for their board seats. The former County Superintendent of Schools appointed these incumbents and has been actively campaigning for them, claiming the County education office needs them because of how effective they have been. Keep in mind, no board incumbent or superintendent has had to run for their respective office for over 30 years. Is it true that the board incumbents are the people this county needs right now because of their effectiveness? Over 30 years ago, our public schools were first-rate. Unfortunately, since then they have been in a steady state of decline, to the point where we are now witnessing a generation of kids from this area who are graduating without the requisite academic or vocational skills necessary to succeed in the workplace or life. Now we would understand if some readers might think we are exaggerating this pitiful situation with our schools, so we are prepared to cite relevant information. In 2019, only 44 percent of the students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District were meeting the standards for math and 54 percent for English. If you thought this was bad, you might be surprised to learn that only 35 percent of students in Santa Maria were passing math and English.
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, October 13, 2020, 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 Scott Wenz of Cars Are Basic of the Planning Commission’s decision to approve a Coastal Development Permit for the Olive Mill Roundabout Project located at the intersection of Olive Mill Road, Coast Village Road, Jameson Lane, and Highway 101. If the City Council approves the project on appeal, then it is appealable to the California Coastal Commission under California Public Resources Code §30603(a) and SBMC §28.44.200. 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, October 8, 2020, an Agenda with all items to be heard on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, 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) /s/ Sarah Gorman, MMC City Clerk Services Manager September 23, 2020 Published September 30, 2020 Montecito Journal
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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: The Mission Group Property & Estate Management, 1435 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. Shane M Amburn, 1435 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 25, 2020. 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. 20200002451. Published September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 2020. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Gadzooks Brands, 327 W Figueroa St, Unit B, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. Nathan Silverglate, 327 W Figueroa St, Unit B, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 24, 2020. 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. 20200002433. Published September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 2020. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Fog City Investments, LLC, 4141 State Street Suite E2, Santa Barbara, CA, 93110. Fog City Investments, LLC, 4141 State Street Suite E2, Santa Barbara,
Not to be outdone by neighboring districts, as few as 28 percent of students at Lompoc Unified met the standards for math and a paltry 44 percent for English. Let’s not forget Santa Ynez High School, where only 36 percent of the students are up to snuff with math. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be easy to turn this around, since it has developed over many years. Logic would dictate that there is absolutely no way it can be fixed when the same people who oversaw this sharp decline in our schools are now asking voters to keep them in office for another term. In any other positions where performance is highly valued, these incumbents would have lost their jobs. Finally, since most voters do not know what the County Education Office does, we think it might be helpful to understand what this bloated behemoth has become. This agency spends $58 million every year, employs over 500 people, many of them administrators, and directly oversees the education of 175 students. This costs taxpayers $330,000 per student. Yes, they do some other things, but you would be hardpressed to find anyone, including the teachers in our schools, who would know what they are. County superintendents could have used their posi-
CA, 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 23, 2020. 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. 20200002428. Published September 30, October 7, 14, 21, 2020. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: South Coast Fine Arts Conservation Center, 1807 Cleveland Ave., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. Patty West, 1807 Cleveland Ave., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 18, 2020. 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. 20200002393. Published September 23, 30, October 7, 14, 2020. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Bree’Osh, 1150 Coast Village Road Suite E, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Artisan Sourdough Bakers, 27 West Anapamu Street, Suite 101, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 16, 2020. 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 Voice of the Village •
tion to pressure the district schools to improve their performance, but sadly they didn’t. The voters will decide if the school board incumbents deserve another term in office. We believe voters deserve better schools than what they are now getting. The citizenry can reclaim their schools by voting the School Board incumbents out of office. Anything less is a vote for business as usual. We are two of the opponents who are energized, ready to serve and bring a fresh set of eyes, ears, and ideas with a focus on reversing the downward trend in reading, writing and math proficiency. Also running against County Board incumbents are Cage Englander and Bruce Porter in their respective districts. We will foster greater transparency and fiscal responsibility. We will emphasize innovative programs that engage, inspire, and prepare our youth to develop skills that are relevant in today’s economy. Lou Segal, Candidate for County Board of Education, District #6 Santa Barbara Michelle de Werd, Candidate for County Board of Education District #4 Los Olivos •MJ
the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20200002374. Published September 23, 30, October 7, 14, 2020. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Mission Terrace Convalescent Hospital, 623 W. Junipero Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. Cliff View Terrace, INC., 1020 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 11, 2020. 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. 20200002330. Published September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 2020. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Drain Masters, 5983 Cuesta Verde, Goleta, CA 93117. Christopher J Dorn, 5983 Cuesta Verde, Goleta, CA 93117. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 31, 2020. 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. 2020-0002194. Published September 9, 16, 23, 30, 2020. FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The fol-
lowing person(s) is/are doing business as: Ninaya’s Healing Journeys, 604 Rockwood Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. Nancy Strandberg, 604 Rockwood Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on September 2, 2020. 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. 2020-0002228. Published September 9, 16, 23, 30, 2020. ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 20CV02573. To all interested parties: Petitioner Tao Chadwick Gia Doan filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Chadwick Gia Doan. The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed September 10, 2020 by Elizabeth Spann. Hearing date: October 27, 2020 at 9:30 am in Dept. 3, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7
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Editorial (Continued from page 37)
opt out of this program. “That’s hugely important to know that you can opt out based on your values,” she said. “For me, it’s bringing an expectation that you will and you can (succeed) and we’re going to be here to provide the opportunity for you to do so. So when we leave you, you’ve got the key.”
Virginia Alvarez:
After 30 years working behind the scenes in Santa Barbara public schools (10 for Santa Barbara Unified and the past 20 at our very own MUS – half as the District’s Chief Financial Officer) Virginia Alvarez is stepping out as a leader in her own right. Having worked with Alvarez during her eight years on the MUS School Board, our editor believes this is a good thing for SB Unified. No candidate has a greater understanding of fiscal management and public-school finance and that how and where we spend money directly reflects our values. Like MUS, Santa Barbara is a community-funded district – which is where Alvarez’s vast experience lies. School boards need at least one or two members who deeply read and understand budgets, and in this regard, Alvarez can hit the ground running. Prior to the last three decades as an employee at SB Unified, Alvarez was a student in SB Unified from kindergarten through her time at SB City College. Having entered school as a Spanish speaker, she understands the challenges that face a significant percentage of Santa Barbara’s student population. “I’m bilingual… So, I think that’s going to be helpful to reach out to the community.” Given that 60% of Santa Barbara Unified composition are Latinx, and 20% are English learners, we agree this is very important. “I started as a kid below grade level, a non-English speaker, sitting in the back of the classroom. And eventually I went up to the high achieving programs. So, I have that perspective,” Alvarez said. When asked about the board’s role in moving the needle on issues concerning racial equity, Alvarez is both unequivocal and practical. “Cultural competency is so important. That’s what makes a well-rounded individual. Compassion, understanding, equity, empathy, our world would be a better place if we exercise those values… As a board, of course, we need to address those important issues and we have to do it in not only a compassionate manner, but in a very smart manner… so before making a decision of what training program to bring into the district, a board has to do its due diligence and evaluate different programs.” Alvarez is speaking about the implicit bias training program commissioned by the district’s current board. “My feeling is that we could have done better, because I think right now the issue is being confused with the fact. The fact is we need this training, this cultural competency. But the issue is the process, the way it was done. And unfortunately, I think that’s where it’s getting convoluted. So, I think we need to have a better process, definitely… We have to make sure that this curriculum… is building bridges and not divisiveness.” “It’s time for our community to start healing,” Alvarez says. “And feeling heard is the beginning of healing and that’s something I would really push for.” With Alvarez on the board, we believe all SB Unified stakeholders will feel more heard, including the 20 percent English Learners that can benefit from a native and fluent Spanish speaker serving on the School Board.
Montecito Fire District Board
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f you live in Montecito, you likely have an appreciation for the critical role played by our incredible Fire Department. The Fire District’s five-member Board chooses its Fire Chief, helps to set budget priorities and directs resources so that the agency can provide the best (and swiftest) fire and emergency services as possible to all Montecito residents. One of the biggest issues facing the District is whether to build a second station on the east end of Montecito. This is currently being looked at through a joint study with Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria. All candidates took a similar position on this issue. In fact, in our conversations with all four candidates vying for three open seats – three of whom are incumbents – there was very little disagreement on anything. And even the one non-incumbent challenger, Robert Kemp, agrees that the current board is doing a fine job. So, despite Kemp’s genuine enthusiasm for serving Montecito in this capacity and his efforts to join this winning team, we are subscribing to the old adage: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
MJ Endorses the Three Incumbents: Sylvia Easton:
Appointed in 2015 and elected in 2016, Easton is on her second term as Board President. Easton talks openly about the collaborative and supportive nature of the current board and is particularly proud of being on the team that promoted Montecito’s current Fire Chief, Kevin Taylor. Easton believes we have a strong district and that Montecito Fire should remain a special district. On the question of whether Montecito needs a second fire sta-
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tion on the east end of town, Easton is clear: “I think that’s really important and it’s certainly important to save a life in a medical emergency. I want to do everything we could in whatever form is recommended.” Easton beams with pride when speaking of Montecito’s entire fire team. “They took us through the Thomas Fire, the ensuing debris flow, and everything. They couldn’t be more professional or kind and just amazingly well trained.” She is equally enthusiastic about the current Fire Board. “I can’t tell you how well our board works together… and if somebody has a question or isn’t sure about something, we talk about it. And there’s no drama.” No drama? We’re in!
Michael Lee:
A 50-year resident who grew up in Montecito and still resides in the same house, Michael Lee has seen a lot. A self-professed “apolitical person,” Lee has served on the Fire Board for five years. “The Fire Department is an important aspect of the community. And I kind of look at it as I’m the go-between person for both the finances and also what the Fire Department has to support in the community. I look at the big picture.” Lee too would like to see another station on the east end of Montecito. “I think it’s really important for people that live on that end of town to have the same quality services as somebody in the central part of Montecito. We asked Lee how vulnerable he thinks we are to another big fire. “The front country has recouped pretty well within the last three years… but I think the general fire risk in the front country is an ongoing thing, especially if you are watching the whole state. We have less risk right now because the fuels aren’t as developed, but that’s just a ticking clock… I would like to see more fuel control in the upper front country. Some of that is not in the Montecito Fire jurisdiction; it’s in Forest Service. So, there’s an issue there. But I think Montecito and this city, and Carp, have worked on trying to establish a line all the way across the front country… and I think that’s important to continue.” We agree. Lee on the importance of board members being out there communicating with their constituents. “I believe the best idea wins,” says Lee. Again, we agree. Lee’s superpower? “When I look at things, I look at what’s the best benefit for the community as a whole. When I look at the finances... I’m looking at what’s the best use of money that we get the biggest bang for our buck that supports everyone almost equally. I know that sounds a little cliché, but it’s not just the front country people; it’s the whole community.”
Abe Powell:
As a co-founder of the Montecito Bucket Brigade and its current Executive Director, Abe Powell is likely the most visible Fire Board member currently serving. Powell has served on the board since 2012, but his community engagement on issues of emergency preparedness and recovery dates back much further. Powell grew up in Montecito and has been involved in community resilience for 25 years. He served as the Director of Relief Services for the Mountain Drive Community Association and did a five-year stint as a volunteer firefighter with the Mountain Drive Bush Six under the umbrella of Montecito Fire. It was after the 2008 Tea Fire, to which Powell’s mother lost her home, that he decided this community needed a stronger focus on community protection, fire prevention, and direct community engagement. “That’s why I originally ran for the board with a focus on improving our safety service, modernizing equipment and methods and reconnecting the fire department with the communities. Especially the most vulnerable communities,” Powell says. Since 2012, Powell believes they have comprehensively revamped Montecito Fire, which includes the creation of a new community Wildfire Protection Plan, widely credited with creating conditions that allowed for the protection of Montecito during the Thomas Fire. A plan that has since been updated to address post Thomas Fire conditions. Like his fellow board members, Powell would like to see better emergency coverage on the east side of town. But most of all Powell stresses the value of and need for greater neighbor-to-neighbor communication and relations especially for the purposes of sharing information during a crisis. “The most important thing that we are trying to encourage is that neighbors get to know each other… this is a really important thing that we’ve seen in the debris flow or in earthquakes or in a fire; that neighbors know each other and that they discuss the idea of helping each other in a crisis… And that is the goal moving forward, to get as many neighborhoods as possible engaged in this way and working cooperatively to help each other get through these challenges we face. Powell is not shy about his belief that his credentials are unparalleled. “I think if you look at my body of work just on this board, in terms of my dedication and time spent out in the community and helping people either recover from the Tea Fire or from the debris flow, I think that there’s just nobody that’s putting in anywhere near the level of work and energy and time that I’ve put into this.” Whether you find it endearing or immodest, it’s hard to argue with that.
“Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” – Mark Twain
1 – 8 October 2020
Montecito Sanitary District
O
kay, admittedly not the sexiest work in town, but the Sanitary District, as the agency responsible for the collection, treatment, and disposal of our wastewater, plays a vital role in our community’s safety, health, and well-being. Beyond the traditional purview of sanitary districts, increasingly they are, literally, ground zero for detecting impending widespread community infection with coronavirus and other infectious diseases. Reason enough to say: this race is not a waste of your time. (We couldn’t resist.) On the Sanitary Board there are three open seats, for which four candidates are vying. The biggest issues seem to be: • The viability and value of a new multi-million-dollar district office building. • Ocean discharge and its possible uses for Montecito as recycled water. • Montecito’s exorbitant water rates.
MJ Endorses the Three Candidates: Don Eversoll:
With 50 years of experience in the building and expansion of sewage treatment plants, Don Eversoll has a deep understanding of the important role our Sanitary District plays in our lives and many ideas about how we can put our water and our dollars to better use. On the controversial subject of the very expensive new district building long in the works, Eversoll laments the district having spent almost $175,000 to grade the land in preparation for a new essential services building that Eversoll believes is anything but. He also objects to the grading project having commenced without a permit. “It was sold to the community as an essential services building and unfortunately, it only houses four people. My sense is, that’s a waste. They’ve already spent more than $500,000 on architecture and grading and they haven’t even started it.” On the subject of our water rates being notably higher than Santa Barbara’s, he offers some thoughts. “We don’t get any break anywhere,” Eversoll says. “It seems to me that what we need to do is to hook people up to a sewer and get them off sanitary systems. We’ve got an ocean discharge and we’ve got to discuss issues with other districts to understand how we can be more efficient.” Better uses for ocean discharge is another thing on which we support Eversoll’s thinking. “My feeling is that we can recycle the water and it should be a significant recycle, not just used for the cemetery. The irony is that Montecito Water District has the right to sell water at the cost of recycling water, it would cost more for the cemetery to purchase it than the purchase of potable water… So in my view we need to service the Miramar hotel, the San Ysidro Ranch, the Valley Club, Biltmore and the other (community) major users of irrigation water.” Eversoll is both knowledgeable and passionate about the subject of sewage and may be the only candidate who can boast: “I know what a drop manhole is. I know what a force main is… I actually went on a tour of the sewers of Paris.”
Dorinne Lee Johnson:
We like Dorinne Lee Johnson’s land-use experience, her commitment to process and compliance issues and most importantly her successful track-record on consensus building. As the current chair of the Montecito Association’s Land Use Committee, and a former member of the Architectural Review Board for the City of Santa Monica, Johnson brings to the table strong management, engineering, and design skills; and equally strong feelings on the importance of building code and permitting compliance. This might seem like an odd skill for a Sanitary Board Member, but with a controversial pricy building front and center, maybe not. The other main focus for Johnson is community outreach and consensus building. And with controversial issues like this building and water recycling on the table, we could probably use a little Kumbaya. “Process to me is the main thing that I really support. I really like to work with homeowners and rate payers to help them understand the process. I take the extra time to really work with people.” Because the usage of ocean discharge will soon be state mandated, Johnson would like to see recycled water used for hotels and other big water users. “You have the golf courses and things like that… we’d love to have homeowners, but I just don’t think that’s going to be feasible right now.” On this we think it’s important that the board’s long-term planning includes a path for homeowners to have access to recycled water, especially in light of the recent advances in toilet to tap. Of all the candidates, Johnson is the most focused on constituent services and consensus building. “I like to bring actual consensus to the board… I’ve always been the one to go to when a board wants to outreach to the community... Even when I was working in Santa Monica. I’d be the one that would go out to the different communities… when I was doing work for the Asian Business Association, the Black Business Association, Latinos, we all worked together…”
1 – 8 October 2020
Johnson’s secret power: “Working with people… The mission is to make sure that there is transparency, that we engage in the community with rate payers. I think that… our mission is really to protect, preserve, and enhance our community.”
Edwin Martin:
We found Edwin Martin to be a breath of fresh air. At his core Martin strikes us as an unlikely politician who takes a “says it like it is” approach to, well, everything. And we believe that more than ever there is room for such honest transparency in public service. A trial lawyer by training (in toxic issues no less), Martin says he’s been asked many times to consider a seat on this board but this is the first time he’s felt compelled to step up. Why? Because he felt there was room in the sanitary district for a little more transparency, and we agree. “I started hearing about this project to build a building and the cost of it, it was going to be like six million dollars if not more, and I was looking around, what’s the need here? Can that money be spent on some useful service rather than someone’s vanity project? And I became convinced that that’s exactly what it was. There were mutterings of deterioration and asbestos and I’m somewhat of an authority on asbestos as a trial lawyer but there was never any documentation of such findings.” Edwin came to the conclusion that the building was allowed to deteriorate because they wanted to tear it down. On the subject of ocean discharge, Martin says, “This is where the affluent bathe in the effluent… I wouldn’t want to go swimming in that stuff.” Martin described attending a recent Board of Directors meeting. “They were talking about a letter they wanted to send out about how they discharge ‘clean water.’ Director Barrett said wait a minute, you can’t say that, it’s treated but it’s not clean… and they backed off of the use of that word. You’ve gotta tell the truth and explain it in factually correct ways and avoid the use of weasel words. That’s got to change and I’d like to be part of that change!” What should that water be used for? Martin believes that 100% of the water should be treated because economies of scale is the only way you can make sense out of recycling water. “To make it useful at all it has to be treated. I think it all has to be done in harmonious cooperation with the water district because their people excel at it. But you can’t do less, and you can’t do it alone.” It is here that Martin sees an important opportunity for the Sanitary and Water Districts to work more closely together. “The treatment expense is typically borne by the water district. It’s a collaborative effort because the water district participates in the cost of treatment and the disposition of it. The MSD can in no way deal with it alone.” Martin’s superpower: “I would like to bring to the board a sense of honest transparency, no fooling around. I have spent decades asking questions. I read things… I would not participate in anybody’s failure to tell the community the truth. It’s a personal responsibility.”
The MJ Gives a Qualified YES on Measure L
C
old Spring School District is asking the community to support a 7.8 million-dollar bond to build three new classrooms to support legitmate needs of its growing student population – even greater since the emergence of the need for safe social distance education. The district also needs to upgrade much of its water and electrical infrastructure. The last renovation to the school was done over 20 years ago, and no doubt it’s time to do this work. Personally, we will vote for it. Cold Spring does in fact need the money and at the end of the day it’s about supporting our community’s children and our commitment to them receiving a top-notch education in safe classrooms that are conducive to learning. But reservations and ambivalence on the part of some community members are valid and we would be remiss to not address this. It can be argued that in some ways this bond rewards Cold Spring for not attending to long simmering financial problems left unaddressed. The district had the money, but due to what could be argued as poor fiscal management and questionable choices, the funds were spent elsewise. In fairness to the current board and superintendent, this issue has been building for the better part of two decades, during which reserves should have been built up and cuts could have been made. So while the current leadership did not cause the problem, nor have they necessarily been part of the solution. That said, Cold Spring (like the rest of us) has weathered the Thomas Fire and debris flow and now a world-wide pandemic. These have been a mind-spinning tough few years for us all so we are choosing to grant them the benefit of the doubt and support their earnet effort to provide our community’s children the safety and education they deserve.
For Next Edition:
Please tune in for next week’s Montecito Journal for our Presidential endorsement, as well as our staff’s analysis of the complicated and important California State Ballot Propositions for which we will provide endorsements. •MJ
• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
41
Monte ito Miscellany
Zach Gill, popular singer/songwriter and member of Animal Liberation Orchestra and Jack Johnson’s band, during the virtual WCN fundraiser (photo by Priscilla)
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 13 years ago.
Wild Night In
Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network sponsors (from left) John Woodward and Jeanne Hollingsworth with hosts Gretchen Lieff and Miles Hartfeld next to homemade safe owl habitats (photo by Priscilla)
Among the appreciated SBWCN volunteers attending were Harumi Etzi (left) and Sherri Harris (photo by Priscilla)
Violet Cota, Nancy Callahan, and Ariana Katovich (photo by Priscilla)
I
t was Zoom with a view when the 32-year-old Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network hosted its first virtual pandemic fundraiser, Wild Night In, which raised around $125,000 for general funding in helping rescue, rehabilitate, and release 3,500 animals annually. The popular organization, which since 2004 has been located in the foothills of Goleta, is about to start breaking ground on a new multi-million dollar hospital complex, so money raising is more important than ever, says executive director Ariana Katovich, who kicked off the boffo technical bash for the 800-plus party animals in a number of different locations around our Eden by the Beach and on the internet. My trusty shutterbug Priscilla and I attended a limited celebration for 20 people at the Montecito home of
42 MONTECITO JOURNAL
Feeding of a rescued raccoon (photo by Priscilla)
animal activist Gretchen Lieff and her beau Miles Hartfeld, where guests were shown a 50-minute film describing the work of the network for all creatures great and small. The presentation included appearances by multi-instrumentalist and singer Zach Gill and Animal Planet host Forrest Galante extolling the vir-
tues of the charity, which relies heavily on volunteers with some 6,000 feedings a day for young birds alone. Gretchen also took the opportunity to launch her Wild Rose from her eponymous vineyard near Santa Maria which was eagerly quaffed by the beastly bunch of benefactors turning out for the sunset shindig. “This was very, very different from the norm, but seems to have worked out quite sensationally thanks to the technology of Zoom and cell phones,” added Ariana. “We really couldn’t be happier given the amount raised.” Among those attending from far and wide were John and Connie Pearcy, Roland and Joyce Bryan, Thomas and Nancy Crawford, Jack and Judy Stapelman, Will and Sarah Borgers, Dan and Darcy Keep, Dan and Debbie Gerber, Robert and Ellen
“The greatest thing you can do is keep your mind young.” – Mark Twain
Stacey McMullan, SBWCN animal communicator (photo by Priscilla)
Lilley, Richard and Connie Kennelly, Parry and Aylene Gripp, Nigel and Connie Buxton, John Woodward, Clay and Sally Dickens, and Jeffrey and Anne Donahue. Overall a celebration giving considerable paws for thought... •MJ 1 – 8 October 2020
In the News
AUDIOLOGY AND HEARING AIDS
by Joanne Calitri
Montecito Deli’s 19th Anniversary
HEARING SERVICES OF SANTA BARBARA
EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE FOR OVER
Montecito Deli has been a Montecito mainstay since 2001
10 Years Your First Step To Better Hearing Health
M
ontecito Deli celebrated 19 years on Friday, September 11, on Coast Village Road. The deli has stayed open throughout the lockdown to keep its regulars and new customers going, with takeout or outdoor patio dining. “Our menu is the same as it’s always been – create it and we will make it,” said owner Jeff Rypysc. “We’ve been eighteen years on Coast Village Road, longer than anyone who serves food! As for the lockdown, we go one day at a time. We have been open and never closed since COVID-19. Once again my customers have taken
great care of us. Only in Montecito – anywhere else I would have closed. The locals are unbelievable; one told me he would pay my rent. We are surviving because of my customers; they don’t want to see me close. The best customers in the world.” Montecito Deli handles pickups or can deliver at no charge depending on staffing. 411: Menu available at www.montecitodeli.us. Call 805-969-3717 or email montecitodeli@gmail.com. 1150 Coast Village Road.
Back, Together
•MJ
Amelia Kramer-Pollard, AuD, CCC-A Doctor of Audiology, AU 3108
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• The Voice of the Village •
AmericanRivieraBank.com 805.965.5942 Santa Barbara • Montecito • Goleta San Luis Obispo • Paso Robles MONTECITO JOURNAL
43
NOSH TOWN
by Claudia Schou
COPUS FAMILY UNVEILS CALIFORNIA-STYLE BRASSERIE ON COAST VILLAGE ROAD
S
tep into the al fresco dining area at Coast & Olive, the new California-style brasserie that recently opened at the historic Montecito Inn, and you get a sense of its history. The hotel, built by silent film star Charlie Chaplin in 1928, has been a beacon of hospitality for nearly a century with its Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture along Coast Village Road’s eucalyptus-lined byway. Coast & Olive opened its doors in June with European-inspired, chef-driven dishes elevated by fresh herbs, sauces, and other quality touches. The restaurant’s website welcomes guests to indulge in California cuisine prepared with culinary techniques inspired by the French Riviera. The new look and taste is a far cry from the past. The eatery has seen a few incarnations over the years, most recently as The The culinary team at Coast & Olive re-interprets recipes and Monarch and for 30 years prior to avant-garde presentation, including this ahi tuna tartare Waldorf Astoria that as the Montecito Café. “We wanted to create a menu that was accessible enough that diners would come back any day of the week,” said Jim Copus, whose parents Kathy and Dewayne Copus purchased the property more than three decades ago. Now, along with brothers Danny and Jason, he runs the hotel and new restaurant. Interior renovations and menu development for Coast & Olive took nearly a year. With seating for up to 65 diners inside, the décor features muted toned banquette seating with mid-century modern furnishings (which is currently on the patio shaded by umbrellas), light blond wood flooring and plenty of gold accents. Outside, seating is available for up to 70 guests. A border of olive trees in large planters provide a sense of seclusion and serenity, while a professional and jovial staff dressed in white shirts and black aprons gracefully navigate around diners. The fall menu will include a lineup of inventive dishes such as a butternut squash soup with quinoa and toasted pumpkinseed crust; pomegranate and shaved fennel salad; ricotta and organic egg ravioli stuffed with spinach and mushrooms in sage brown butter; and seared scallops with pumpkin risotto. Like any great brasserie, Coast & Olive offers a nice selection of sizzling chops served hot off the flame. Two cuts of beef are offered here: filet de bœuf served with horseradish potato gratin, grilled asparagus, and béarnaise sauce; and Wagyu bavette steak dressed in a salsa verde dressing made with lemon, capers, and anchovies, served with Chianti butter and smoky cranberry beans. Sauces are key here. The culinary team uses a variety of aromatic herbs, veal stock, oils, ports, and wines for a deglazing process that enlivens the flavors of the dishes. Two local favorites include the pan-roasted king salmon (farmed Sous-vide Jidori chicken breast served with potato purée, roast- off the coast of New Zealand), ed Brussels sprouts and baby carrots and a truffle sauce served with bacon-braised greens,
44 MONTECITO JOURNAL
roasted fingerling potatoes, confit beets, and blood orange tarragon beurre blanc; and a sous-vide Jidori chicken breast poached in buttermilk, herbs, and truffle oil, served with potato purée, roasted Brussels sprouts, baby carrots, and truffle sauce, finished with a sprinkle of chopped chives. Coast & Olive pays homage to a classic era with ahi tuna tartare Waldorf Astoria, an ensemble of blistered plump red seedless grapes roasted in olive oil and balsamic vinegar scattered around a heap of chopped Japanese ahi tuna with diced shallots, apples, and celery and topped with microgreens. Similar to the iconic art deco building’s architecture, this tart creation is a For dessert, an almond cake served on a vanilla pastry crème, marvel of design. If you’re a burger lover, try lemon curd, blueberry compote, and a scoop of lemon sorbet the Snake River Farms Wagyu blend, seasoned, grilled and served on a brioche bun with a spread of balsamic mayo, rosemary caramelized onions, arugula, tomato, and Taleggio. For dessert, a favorite is an almond cake served on a vanilla pastry crème, lemon curd, blueberry compote and a scoop of lemon sorbet. There is also a cinnamon-y apple cobbler on the menu for an autumn treat. Find Coast & Olive at 1295 Coast Village Road. Open Monday through Friday, 11 am to 10 pm. Saturday and Sunday from 3 pm to 10 pm. Brunch is served on weekends from 8 am to 3 pm. For information or reservations, call (805) 690-3920 or visit coastandolive.com.
TASTING NOTES WITH BELMOND EL ENCANTO SOMMELIER JORDAN DEVILLE
I
t’s no secret that California’s Central Coast is a renowned wine destination, and one of the region’s greats is Daou Vineyards in Paso Robles. Its home on Daou Mountain has an extraordinary phenolic output – among the highest in the world – that yields rich, precision-based wines of prodigious color, texture, and structure. One of our favorites is the winery’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2016. This elegant wine offers notes of blackberry, plum, and currant, surrounded by black olive, anise, leather, and just a hint of cool mint. The first to explain the notes perfectly is Fred Dame, master sommelier at Daou Vineyards. He is an incredible figure in wine, achieving major industry milestones consistently throughout his career. He’s certainly an authority in Central Coast wine, which is why our team at Belmond El Encanto invited Fred to co-host our second “Master Sommeliers of the Central Coast” dinner. Fred will walk guests through six delectable courses, sharing the nuances of each vintage he has carefully selected. Seats for the November 13 dinner are available by emailing reservations.ele@belmond.com or by calling (805) 845-5800. Cheers! •MJ
Daou Vineyards in Paso Robles yields rich, precision-based wines of prodigious color, texture, and structure, including a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
“The most interesting information comes from children.” – Mark Twain
1 – 8 October 2020
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• The Voice of the Village •
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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(805) 969-1575 969-1575 (805) 969-1575 (805) STATE LICENSE STATE LICENSENo. No.485353 485353
STATE LICENSE No. 485353 MAXWELLL. HAILSTONE MAXWELLL. HAILSTONE MAXWELL L. HAILSTONE East Valley Road, Suit 147 1482 East Valley Road, Suit 147 1482 East Valley Road, Suite 147 Montecito, California 93108 Montecito, California 93108 Montecito, California 93108
www.montecitoelectric.com www.montecitoelectric.com 1 – 8 October 2020
ADVERTISE IN THE LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY (805) 565-1860 Outdoor Seating & Carryout Service Place carryout orders at
nuggetbarandgrill.com ARCHITECTURAL FACTORY
FINANCIAL PLANNING AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE
We design We fabricate We build We install
William T. Toner, Jr. CFP AIF
Local Contractor
805-855-0292
Licence #911243 Cristian Salamanca (805) 696-8507
www.plainscoastal.com bill@plainscoastal.com 1482 East Valley Road, STE 10, Montecito, CA
www.larenaissanceofart.com WE BUILD
ARGENTINE BARBECUES Custom made Stainless Steel/Iron Cristian Salamanca - (805) 696 - 8507
www.larenaissanceofart.com/argentinebarbecue
CAL STATE HAULING
“You Load or We Load & Haul Away” • Debris Removal • Material Pickup (sand, rock, gravel, mulch etc.)
• Move Out Clean Ups • Residential and Commercial Fully Licensed and Insured
805-259-4075
lic#974407
$5000 PREMIUM HOME DEFENSE PACKAGE THIS CONCIERGE SERVICE INCLUDES: • Training:
Three training sessions (two introductory / safe handling lessons, one live-fire session at a local area gun range) provided by a certified firearms instructor.
• Firearm:
One high quality pistol
• Ammunition:
50 rounds of home defense ammunition and 200 rounds of practice ammunition
• Accessories:
Holster, carrying case, fast access home lock box, ear protection, protective glasses, and cleaning equipment.
• Confidentiality:
We do not disclose our clients’ names or contact information.
We only have 1 package available at this time due to the unprecedented national shortage of firearms and ammunition. 2 additional packages may become available in October. Terms and Conditions: Firearm and ammunition must be transferred in full compliance with state and federal law through a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder. Services will not be provided to anyone prohibited from legally possessing a firearm. The three training sessions are provided by a certified firearms instructor that is both former military and law enforcement. He is firmly committed to providing safe, professional and effective training and services in a manner that is accessible for individuals with little or no experience with firearms.
1 – 8 October 2020
• The Voice of the Village •
Contact us at: (805) 225-4510 CSSdefense@protonmail.com
MONTECITO JOURNAL
47
“Good Food for Good People”
LUCKY’S steaks /chops /seafood /cocktails
Dinner & Cocktails Nightly, Lunch Monday-Friday, Brunch Saturday & Sunday Montecito’s neighborhood bar and restaurant. 1279 Coast Village Road Montecito CA 93108 (805)565-7540 www.luckys-steakhouse.com Photography by Alexandra DeFurio