We Got Bank

The Giving List 28 Jan – 4 Feb 2021 Vol 27 Issue 5

SERVING MONTECITO AND SUMMERLAND

We Got Bank

New Beginnings Counseling Center provides mental health counseling to low-income community members, page 30

SB’s COVID Mess

by A.L. Bardach

I

know I am not alone in having friends or family battling COVID – making up a small part of our national tragedy. The more devastating piece for Santa Barbara is those who are fighting for their next breath at Cottage Hospital after being denied or deemed ineligible for vaccination by the County. In

the last two weeks, I know of six new cases of COVID, four hospitalized, three of which were excluded from the County’s rigid tier system because they were not yet 75. Three of them have multiple co-morbidities and two contracted the virus while at Cottage Hospital for their outpatient treatments.

(Story continues on page 5)

Village Beat

WHEN THE FIRST PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM PASSED AS PART OF THE CARES ACT IN APRIL OF LAST YEAR, MONTECITO BANK & TRUST’S TEAM WORKED DAY AND NIGHT TO GRANT AS MANY LOANS AS POSSIBLE. THE SECOND PPP IS HERE, AND ONCE AGAIN MB&T IS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS AND “READY TO HELP THE COMMUNITY UNTIL THE MONEY RUNS OUT.” (STORY BEGINS ON P. 8)

CODA Studio opens in Upper Village, offering customizable furniture and decor in a coastal chic design aesthetic, page 16

2020 YEAR IN REVIEW

$ 110 M T O TA L S A L E S

#1

30

/ 1%

# 1 SA L ES VO LU M E SOTH EBY’S INTER N ATIO NA L R EA LTY SAN TA BAR BARA & M O NTEC ITO

T RA N SACT I O N S

TO P 1% SAL ES VO LU M E SA NTA BA R BA RA M LS IN D IVIDUA L AG EN TS

DUSTY BAKER 805.570.0102 | DustyBakerRealEstate.com

© 2021 Sotheby’s International Realty. All Rights Reserved. The Sotheby’s International Realty trademark is licensed and used with permission. Each Sotheby’s International Realty office is independently owned and operated, except those operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. The Sotheby’s International Realty network fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Real estate agents affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty are independent contractor sales associates and are not employees of Sotheby’s International Realty. Featured Agent: Dusty Baker DRE: 908615

2

MONTECITO JOURNAL

28 January – 4 February 2021

RANCHOTAJIGUAS.COM

Ultra Private • Family Compound • Safe Haven

RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE

M O N T E C I T O E S TAT E S. C O M

The Premiere Estates of Montecito & Santa Barbara CAL BRE 00622258

805 565/2208 28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

3

Inside This Issue

Support Local Beverages at

410 E. Haley St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101 805.965.9555 |

4

MONTECITO JOURNAL

@themillsb | www.themillsb.com

5 SB’s COVID Mess What is happening with Santa Barbara’s COVID vaccine distribution and how can we get back on track?

6 On the Record Outdoor dining finally returns to Santa Barbara; a conversation with Dave Emerson, interim Highway 101 Corridor Manager 8 We Got Bank Montecito Bank & Trust keeps its stellar reputation during the pandemic by tirelessly processing PPP loans 10 Letters to the Editor A collection of communications from readers Laurence R. Pearson, Margery Baragona, Kristen Salontay, Dana Newquist, Elias Chiacos, William P. MacKinnon, Jim Mannoia, and Arthur Merovick 12 Village Beat East Mountain Drive Bridge over San Ysidro Creek to open in February; CODA Studio opens in Upper Village; Friendship Center’s Festival of Hearts goes virtual 14 Summerland Buzz Summerland School’s tennis courts will be undergoing a complete renovation thanks to the Manitou Fund 18 Montecito Miscellany Frinj Coffee leads specialty coffee industry; Gretchen Lieff celebrates birthday over Zoom; Henry Michaels on Jeopardy!; and much, much more 26 Perspectives by Rinaldo S. Brutoco What kind of a word is “filibuster,” how did we get stuck with it, and what the heck does it mean?

The Optimist Daily Miami-Dade County Public Schools to convert diesel school buses to all-electric models thanks to student’s science project; new EV battery fully charges in five minutes 30 The Giving List New Beginnings Counseling Center has provided mental health counseling to the community for over 50 years 32 Real Estate There may not be much inventory in Montecito, but here are four homes in the $10 million and up category still on the market 35 Dear Montecito An infection took Maxx Christal’s sight at age five, but he hasn’t let it slow him down at all

Brilliant Thoughts Ashleigh Brilliant on secrets of all kinds 36 Senior Portrait After eighty years of acting, writing, and teaching, Darryl Hickman’s newest creative endeavor is painting 40 In Passing Remembering Barbara Tellefson’s lasting legacy 42 On Music Steven Libowitz chats with two of MAW’s 2021 Alumni Enterprise Award winners; Henry Michaels appears on Jeopardy!

44 Nosh Town In the kitchen with author-baker-actress Leslie Zemeckis 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

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

28 January – 4 February 2021

SB’s COVID Mess

by A.L. Bardach

James Buckley, seen here receiving his vaccination at the SBCC Wake center, says that “maybe he doesn’t have to cancel his plans to visit France in April yet”

3,000 PROJECTS • 600 CLIENTS • 30 YEARS • ONE BUILDER

Building Peace of Mind.

BUILD WITH US | (805) 966 - 6401 | GIFFINANDCR ANE .COM

U

COVID (Story continued from COVER)

LICENSE 611341

ntil January 18, Kroger Pharmacy at Ralphs was filling in a crucial age gap, vaccinating those 65-plus, per state and CDC guidance – and saving lives. The pharmacy has been the go-to resource for immunologists, pulmonologists, et al for their highest risk patients. After all, state and federal law supersedes County rules except, as is too often the case, in Santa Barbara.

In mid-January, County Health officials ordered Ralphs pharmacy on Carrillo to stop providing vaccines to those 65 to 74, regardless of co-morbidities, the pleas of doctors, or any other health considerations. Those who had waited their turn in line for weeks for their appointments were turned away.

Not surprisingly, the County’s heavy-fisted edict led to chaos, tears and blowups according to doctors, pharmacy staff, and impacted residents. Dozens of expectant seniors were sent home without vaccinations – some visibly ailing, some physically impaired by chemo or radiation treatments. No matter: if they cannot prove they are 75, they’re sent away. “There have been a lot of tears here,” said one of the staff pharmacists, asking not to be identified, “on both sides of the counter; those who showed up and also us.” Changing the rules so many times, an employee added, “has made it real complicated for us and much harder.”

One pharmacy staffer told me it would involve “making hundreds of calls and we simply don’t have the personnel to do so,” though they are attempting to do so, losing valuable time away from vaccinations. One Ralphs/Kroger employee said softly, “We are very, very sorry but County Health told us they could take our license away.” “We are concerned that we can’t get our most at-risk patients vaccinated now,” said pulmonologist Jeffrey Kupperman M.D., former head of Cottage Hospital’s Pulmonary Department. Quite a few Santa Barbara residents are now hightailing it to L.A., San Diego, and Northern California, areas where they follow state guidance to provide for 65 and over.

It goes without saying that the COVID vaccination rollout is an epic federal disaster. Think of it as the Donald J. Trump farewell gift that keeps on giving – and taking. But SB has always had a talent for making a mess even messier.

Exhibit A, of course, is cannabis. While the State offered muddled regulations, our Supervisors succeeded in crafting a Cannabis Ordinance many times worse – one that has prompted untold appeals and lawsuits, a U.S. Attorney investigation, a smackdown Grand Jury Report – along the way, becoming a national cautionary tale and the go-to for How-Not-To-Do.

28 January – 4 February 2021

COVID Page 224 • The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

5

On the Record

by Nicholas Schou

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

With Statewide Lifting of Stay-at-Home Order, Outdoor Dining Finally Returns to Santa Barbara County

BUILDING HOMES THAT

INSPIRE Private & Family-Owned

Residential Construction Company Serving Montecito California + Surrounding Area for 20 years

ManzoCi.com

424 Olive St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

S

U

M

M

E

M

M

E

[805] 705-1207

R

S A L E S A L S A L EE W S S

UI U

N M

T M

EE

RR

R

JJ U U LY 2 2 NNDD TT H U HR RU ND JAUULY G 282 TH

25% – 75% OFF AUG 8TH

THRU AUG 8TH

WE ARE LIMITED 25 TO FOUR CUSTOMERS AT A TIME. – 75% OFF o nLOCKED s e l e c T e d i TPLEASE ems IF OUR DOOR 25 IS BE PATIENT – 75% OFF OR CALLn oOR EMAIL FOR iAN APPOINTMENT. s p e co ia la nl so e lredceTre sd o Tre m s yaway s . w e w i l l b e c l o s e d T U e s d ay j U ly 2 1 s T i n p r e pa r a T i o n .

25 – 75% OFF 805-695-0220

n o s p e c i a l o r d e r s o r l ayaway s . we will b d T TeUde si d y sj U l y 2 1 s T oencsl eolseec T eam i n p r e pa r a T i o n .

INFO@IMAGINEARTFULTHINGS.COM n o s p e c i a l o r d e r s o r l ayaway s . w e w i l l b e c l o s e d T U e s d ay j U ly 2 1 s T i n p r e pa r a T i o n .

1 4 7 0 E A S T V A L L E Y R O A D M O N T E C I T O , C A • ( 8 0 5 ) 6 9 5 - 0 2 2 0

1 4 7 0 E A S T V A L L E Y R O A D MONTECITO, CA • (805) 695-0220

6

J

Tre Lune General Manager Leslie Garofalo and Owner Gene Montesano

ust a day after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the end of a months-long, statewide stay-at-home order, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department officially allowed outdoor dining to take effect at exactly 8 am on Tuesday, January 26. According to First District Supervisor Das Williams, he first heard word of the coming news over the weekend, and at first wasn’t sure if the rumors would prove correct.

“I knew about it on Saturday,” Williams told the Montecito Journal. “I don’t always believe these things at first, but I asked our public health staff to be ready for implementation just in case.” According to Williams, both the County Board of Supervisors and County health officials were all in agreement that the County should move to immediately relax restrictions on outdoor dining and a number of other activities that are allowed in so-called “purple tier” areas of the state where COVID-19 cases no longer threaten to overwhelm the local health infrastructure.

“We were all in agreement that we should return to the purple tier,” Williams said. “My personal opinion, which is based on the relative lack of restaurant workers that were testing positive before [Newsom’s] executive order was in place, is that the ban on outdoor dining caused a lot of collateral damage.”

Although Williams said he expects some critics of Newsom to argue that it is too soon to allow outdoor dining to restart, he doesn’t believe the data supports that argument. “I don’t believe that it was necessarily helpful that it stopped in the first place, and so I am relieved that it is back on again now,” he said. “We will get a slew of complaints, but my perspective is we have a lot of people out of work and that causes serious effects as well and that is something that has to be taken into account.”

Kathy Janega-Dykes, president and CEO of Visit Santa Barbara, said the County’s lifting of COVID-19 closures doesn’t just include a return to socially-distanced outdoor dining, but also allows retail stores as well as hair and nail salons to operate indoors at 25 percent occupancy, and also allows wineries, a staple of Santa Barbara’s tourism economy, to once again provide outdoor tastings.

“This is a long awaited day,” Janega-Dykes said. “We are grateful that our public officials have lifted some of the restrictions that have taken such a heavy toll on struggling workers and businesses so our community can start to recover and do what they do best with cover protocols, so they can welcome both residents and visitors. This pandemic has really illuminated just how central

On The Record Page 204 204

MONTECITO 1 4 7 0 JOURNAL E A S T

V A L L E Y

R O “Let A each D year find you a better man.” – Benjamin Franklin

28 January – 4 February 2021

In light of Governor Newsom’s Regional Stay-Home-Order, please know, your health is our top priority and

Sansum Clinic remains open to care for you at this time.

Sansum Clinic Celebrates 100 years of Medical Excellence 1921-2021

Throughout our history, Sansum Clinic has not just cared about our patients, we care about healthcare.

Today, Sansum Clinic has more than 200 physicians in over 30 specialties, working collaboratively to help our patients live their healthiest life.

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

7

We Got Bank

by Jeff Wing

Bankers Gone Good Reframe the Meaning of Cash

Roger Gilbert, a Relief Center team lead, working through the pipeline of PPP applications

Janet Garufis keeps the MB&T team well energized with baked goods

W

hat – exactly – is a bank? A bank is a financial institution licensed to receive deposits, make loans, and attach ball point pens to countertops with little chains that are inevitably too short by about an inch. A bank, if it chooses, will also advise on managing your wealth, will exchange your greenbacks for hryvnas (if you’re headed to the Ukraine), and offer you a safe deposit box for your chewed bubble gum collection.

Some banks, though, aren’t satisfied to just sit there and house the flow of cash. Some banks are determined to become community members, like the beloved family dog that doesn’t seem to know it’s a collie, or Mike Mulligan the Steam Shovel®. “Dude. You know you’re a steam shovel, right?” Some banks want to noisily tear loose from their foundations and come lumbering down the street in a cloud of brick dust to be active, and not passive participants in the love parade of human progress – giddy, dough-flinging institutions intent on making us better. The subject of this essay is such a bank… Montecito Bank and & Trust – despite its pulse-quickening name – is equal parts engine of human kindness, shoulder to cry on, and village empath. A guy named Michael Towbes made it that way, actually placing himself – his essence, you see – into the intricate workings of his bank (or impact engine, or whatever you’d like to call it). It can thus be said that this Mr. Towbes guy made the most lasting deposit known to banking. Just ask MB&T’s EVP, Chief Strategy Officer, and transplanted New Yorker Megan Orloff.

“When I first moved here, I remember sitting at Lucky’s where we would go all the time. People would ask ‘oh, did you move here for work?’ I’d say ’Yes, I work at Montecito Bank and Trust.’ I was taken aback. Everybody had a story about the bank, and about their knowing Mr. Towbes. It was just that reassurance we needed – we’d made the right decision when we chose Montecito.”

Michael? Let us summarize.

Little House in Brentwood

Michael Towbes, Montecito’s Patron Pal, was born in Washington, D.C., of all places. Photos of little Michael show early versions of that mesmerizing, doe-eyed smile that in his charmed adulthood would come to typify Towbes’ genuine interpersonal mojo. When the Korean War hit, Towbes the Princetoneducated Civil Engineer signed up and was assigned a stateside gig at the Naval Air Missile Test Center in Point Mugu, California. When he met a certain Gail Aronson at a UCLA frat party (as can happen), they fell hard and married – and the destiny train was noisily pulling away from the station. Michael and his new bride were called back to D.C. by the service, where Towbes closed out both his Navy career and tolerance for crummy weather. He and Gail headed back to the sun-drenched West Coast Xanadu from whence their adventure had launched. In short order, Michael met Eli Luria, and a real estate and development juggernaut was born. When the Luria-Towbes Company finally thundered out of the gate – it was to build a single custom home in Brentwood.

8

MONTECITO JOURNAL

Call it Proof of Concept.

Luria-Towbes hit their stride in late ‘50s-era California. Horace Greeley’s 19th century “go west!” imprecations were finding a massive mid-20th century audience, and California became the dream landing for millions. Towbes and Luria went their separate ways in 1960—Towbes continuing to develop thousands of family domiciles and workforce-friendly apartments in the tri-counties, amassing the liquidity that would later allow him to, say, help found a bank. In ’75 a group that included Towbes did just that. Eight years later, he bought out the rest of the shareholders, and Michael Towbes became Montecito Bank & Trust’s sole owner. The guy was determined to make his “bank” a contraption for giving. What an idea.

COVID Relief and the CARES Act (Flinging Open the Doors)

In March of 2020, a viral pandemic loosed itself on the world like something from a B-movie. To slow the contagion and prevent public gatherings, western civ locked down. Millions were thrown out of work. After the usual orating, suspender-snapping, and clever acronym-seeking, Congress passed the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), to make available to stricken small businesses federally backed, forgivable loans – to allay COVID-19 hardship and keep people fluid. One component of CARES was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP); dough sent from the feds to banks around the country to help their desperate local small businesses.

During that first PPP rollout in April 2020, certain of the large banks dragged their largish asses as they feverishly looked for ways around regulations directing them to pay fees to applications preparers, accountants, and other fiduciary caregivers –professionals enlisted by panicked small businesses to help them navigate the CARES rollout. That is, these marquee banks were trying to increase their share of the CARES administrative monies promised them by the act. These are the self-interested shortcuts, cheats, and systemic cash grabs that appear around federal disbursements like dung beetles after an equatorial spring rain. When COVID relief wasn’t inspiring shameless institutional pocket-stuffing, the process scared some well-meaning banks into a slower rollout as they earnestly tried to align their internal systems with the CARES mechanism.

Small Business found little comfort in the banking system’s less-than-immediate rush to help.

One funky little bank, though, just flung open its doors. “We found out about the CARES act,” Megan says. “Within 48 or 72 hours, we’d stood up our system, and we were the only bank to open that day to offer PPP loans.”

Reflexive do-gooders sprint barefoot towards burning cars. There were some complications. “Wells Fargo wasn’t open, Bank of America wasn’t open, Chase wasn’t open. We were open.” Megan’s mild and justified swagger changes like quicksilver to sheepishness, then a bark of rippling laughter. “Uh, we got completely overwhelmed. It broke our system, essentially. We had to kind of regroup and try to come back up online.”

As soon as they realized their server was swamped, MB&T pivoted from the Information Age to the #2 Pencil Age. “We set up a triage team of dozens of individuals, MB&T associates who then spent their hours, days and nights calling these individuals and taking their applications over the phone, handholding them through the process.” Megan pauses. “They were as much financial partners as a collective shoulder to cry on.” In the end, MB&T associates put in 20,000 total hours servicing PPP loans, spent $23K to support

Bank Page 274

“What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.” – Anne Frank

28 January – 4 February 2021

Fresh Air. Fresh Style.

U P TO 3 0 % O F F A L L S E AT I N G Our showroom is currently open during our regular business hours and we are adhering to the reduced 20% occupancy guidelines.

We are also here to help you by e-mail, text and phone if you prefer to shop from the comfort of your home.

7 PARKER WAY SANTA BARBARA 805-966-1390 | haywards1890.com

I

PR

ED

R CE

D

E UC

ROMANTIC MONTECITO MEDITERRANEAN  797 ASHLEY ROAD

S

ingle level style living with an modern commercial elevator in this stunning Mediterranean Villa with beautiful mountain views. Enjoy a peaceful country feeling on a private acre, yet be close to the shops and restaurants of Montecito. This 4 bedroom, 5 bath home is a blend of expert craftsmanship, contemporary amenities and smart home technology. With 3 colossal fireplaces, serene master suite with view terrace and luxurious bathroom, enormous ground level media/family room with a guest suite, expansive high ceiling living room and great room; an enchanting dining room with a wall of tall glass doors unfolding onto a vast wraparound entertainment patio and rolling lawn with awe inspiring views; large wine cellar ready for your collection of fine wines, gourmet kitchen with Miele stainless steel appliances. Large 3-car garage and an oversized motor court provides ample space for luxury RV parking, extra vehicles and perhaps room for a guest house.

Offered at $6,995,000 For more photos and a video tour, visit: www.797AshleyRdMontecito.com

Steve Slavin

Estates Director

805.886.3428 | steve@steveslavin.com | www.santabarbaraluxuryhomes.com DRE# 00493760

The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the company. ©2020 Coldwell Banker. All rights reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. The Coldwell Banker® System is comprised of Company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Brokerage Group LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. The Coldwell Banker System fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. 19PP2V_GLA_9/20

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

9

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

Journalistic Trifecta

I

t takes a good interviewer and writer and selection of a worthy subject to produce a meaningful and touching article.

Leslie A. Westbrook achieved all three for her piece, “At Home with Lou” (August 21-28, 2021). She focused on interviews with the prize-winning, former senior White House Correspondent for The Washington Post, Lou Cannon, and his son Carl, also a respected Washington reporter and Washington Bureau Chief at RealClearPolitics.

Leslie Westbrook was skilled in urging both 87-year-old Lou Cannon and his son Carl to discuss at length their personal and journalistic values. These quotes were fluid and impressive, expressing the ironclad and lofty goals that both men lived by and which helped them achieve success in their fields and honor from their peers. These included The Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting of the Presidency, earned separately by father and son.

I was happy to read this inspiring article. I helped raise my children in Montecito and was a long-time resident until last year. Since moving, I continue to read the Montecito Journal, particularly for news of my friends and former community and for uplifting articles such as this piece by Ms Westbrook.

Laurence R. Pearson

Old Montecito

I was born 90 years ago and grew up in Santa Barbara. I’ve always been interested in and aware of Montecito. My father, Louis Marcus, from England, was a custom tailor. Many of his customers were the established wealthy of Montecito. As a little girl I would accompany him to deliver packages. We were required to use the service entrance. Once I was invited to play in a glorious doll house on Johns Wack’s estate on Fernald Point. If introduced to a customer I was expected to curtsy. Although I didn’t have to curtsy as a teenager, my invitations to parties in Montecito were met with apprehension.

I am sorry that I did not keep a file of all of my father’s illustrious customers, one of interest was Fred Noonan, later lost on Amelia Earhart’s historic flight.

Other of his customers whom I recall were Ronald Coleman, Joan Fontaine, Leatrice Joy, and many other notables. Another reason for my interest, is in the ‘30s and ‘40s my late mother-in-law, Valeria Baragona, did secretarial work. Her skills were perfected in Hollywood as Samuel Goldwyn’s secretary.

Among her clients were Mrs. Bodero Macy (department stores), Lotte Lehman, Ganna Walska (she notes when Ganna bought Lotusland in 1941), Isabel Fields, step-daughter of Robert Louis Stevenson, J. J. Mitchell, Mrs. Robert Wood Bliss (her home is now Casa Dorinda), and Mrs. Proctor (of Proctor and Gamble).

After World War Two things changed. More tennis and golf clubs were built, Coast Village Road and the Upper Village became places of commerce: stores, restaurants, library, offices, boutiques, and gas stations.

Today Montecito is still an enclave of estates, beautifully maintained laws and gardens, but there is a lighter sense of conviviality and neighborliness.

Margery Baragona, 2021

Regarding Seen Around Town

The “roundhouse” at the Hilton is nothing like the Real Maestranza de Sevilla, other than that they are both round.

The bullring is exquisitely baroque, while our rotunda is quite plain and uncharacteristic. Sevilla is the magnificent birthplace of my Sevillano son.

Kristen Salontay

We Have Lost “Montecito’s Prime Mover”

The work and accomplishments of this stellar individual could fill this entire issue of the Montecito Journal. Moving from Orange County with his wife, Anita, in the 1980s, it took no time for Dan Eidelson to become entrenched in Montecito life and leadership.

A few of the organizations and boards Dan was involved with are: Montecito Fire, Montecito Sanitary, Montecito Water, Montecito Community Foundation, Montecito Area Planning Commission, Montecito Association, Santa Barbara Oversight Board Casa Del Herrero.

Due to Dan’s strong beliefs and sound judgement, he Chaired or presided

10 MONTECITO JOURNAL

most of the organizations of his involvement.

Dan has been honored in many deserved ways to include “Montecito Man of the Year” as well as the Village Fourth “Grand Marshall.”

My first encounter with Dan came when discussion of the organization of Casa Del Herrero as a Public Charity with David Myrick and George Bass. Dan made the statement that “Casa Del Herrero is the Focal Point” of Montecito.

“Serve-Serve-Serve” might have been Dan’s motto.

He was tireless, consistent, wise, honest, and had the ability to bring us together.

His devotion and positive attitude will be missed!

Dan always said, “it’s an honor to live in this Great Community.”

Dana Newquist

Dear Ms. Lurie

Thank you very much for your excellent editorial skills and the marvelous changes you have made to the Montecito Journal. Long live local journalism.

Elias Chiacos

The Rest of the Story

In MJ’s issue of 14-21 January, Rinaldo S. Brutoco opened his “Perspectives” column on the subject of insurrection by quoting U.S. Senator Mitt Romney’s apt take on the January 6 storming of the Capitol: “What happened here today was an insurrection incited by the President of the United States.” What Mr. Brutoco did not realize and Senator Romney may have forgotten is that his paternal great-grandfather, Carl Heinrich Wilcken (1833-1915), had participated in a strange variation on this theme in 1857 as a private in Light Battery B in the Fourth U.S. Regiment of Artillery camped near Fort Bridger, Utah Territory (now Wyoming). There, Private Wilcken and nearly one third of the U.S. Army were engaged in President James Buchanan’s attempt to restore federal authority in what Buchanan believed to be a violent, out-of-control Utah. Dubbed the “Utah War,” this conflict was the most extensive and expensive American military undertaking during the period between the Mexican-American and Civil Wars. In his December 8, 1857 State of the Union Address, the president told Congress, “This is the first rebellion which has existed in our Territories; and humanity itself requires that we should put it down in such a manner that it shall be the last.”

Private Wilcken disagreed that this was an insurrection, and two months before Buchanan’s address he voted with his feet. Wilcken deserted his artillery battery, crossed into Mormon lines with a Prussian iron cross decoration in his pocket, converted to a new religion, and begun the rest of his life as a fugitive from U. S. Army provost marshals while working openly as coachman, bodyguard, nurse, and eventually pallbearer for Brigham Young’s two successors as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His involvement was in what became a prolonged territorial-federal conflict that eventually drove the polygamous Romney family out of the United States and into northern Mexico, the reason why Mitt Romney’s father, George Wilcken Romney, was born in Chihuahua rather than Utah in 1907.

In considering Mitt Romney’s recent comments about insurrection and presidential decision-making, it is interesting to think about what radio commentator Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story.” Senator Romney’s stance during the first Trump impeachment and immediately following events was principled but controversial, and I suspect a bit lonely. He was not the first member of his family to face such a major decision by himself. Decades after Private Wilcken deserted, his battery commander (Captain John W. Phelps) ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States on the American Party ticket in 1880. Perhaps Senator Romney may make it to the White House yet.

William P. MacKinnon

It’s Time to Take our Objections Seriously

I am a resident of Carpinteria, on Via Real near Nidever. I want to express my continued frustration and concern that our County Board of Supervisors does not seem to be taking our objections to big cannabis seriously. The CRESCO proposal is only the latest. Not only does it increase the ongoing odor problem, and congest the traffic on our beautiful country road (Foothill/192), but apparently now will build large buildings two stories high. After nearly two years of residents speaking out, little has been done. Never ending meetings of the Planning Committee and the Board of Supervisors seem to have done little to restrain or constrain the growth of this industry. It is changing our beautiful beach community forever, in ways that are not necessary. If our supervisor Das Williams would simply interpret and enforce EXISTING ordinances on odor that require “best available odor abatement technology” (as the Van Wingerdens have done voluntarily with carbon scrubbers), the biggest thorn

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in.” – William E. Vaughn

28 January – 4 February 2021

in our side would be removed. But now, with two-story buildings marring our gorgeous pastoral “skyline” it seems even more intervention is needed.

Perhaps it’s just part of a generational shift in government that unresponsiveness to people goes unchecked while big business seems to get its way.

That does NOT seem to be the mood nationally, but somehow it has taken over our Santa Barbara County representatives here. If there were evidence the tax income from this business was substantial and we could see it happening, that might at least make us feel better. But even THAT argument can’t work since the income has not materialized and our county’s interest in vetting and taxing these businesses properly seems also to have been ignored.

I remain a sad 40-year citizen of Carpinteria!

Jim Mannoia

Coldwell Banker Is pleased to announce the sale of

680 Cowles Road The Sellers were represented by

Dear Madam Speaker

I am an eighty-one-year-old, retired school teacher. I am a registered Independent, the father of five and grandfather of eleven. Further, I am a chauvinistic and devoted lover of our country.

My letter to you is a plea for you to reconsider forwarding the Articles of Impeachment for former President Trump to the Senate for trial. There is little to be gained by putting the country through what will be a nasty, divisive, and drawn out process. Even if he were convicted, which is far from certain, it will deepen the divide and ramp up the acrimony.

President Biden has taken office in a uniquely challenging time. His heartfelt desire to “lower the temperature” and restore civility have been met with widespread, if not universal enthusiasm and good will. History has indicated that he will enjoy significant leverage during the honeymoon of his initial months in office. This will allow him to take steps and provide a model to end this “‘uncivil war.” But a Senate trial on the impeachment charges has the inevitable potential to end that honeymoon before he has had a chance to take advantage of it. A trial could squander that fertile ground of reconciliation and the attempt to regain the mutual respect that must govern the differences which are an essential, and necessary aspect of our messy democratic experiment.

A great deal of lip service has been paid to reestablishing “common decency.”

But a Senate trial, with its accompanying vengeance, posturing and partisanship, guarantees a closing of minds and hearts. It may lead to a retreat into the paralyzing armed camps that have plagued recent decades in Washington.

Trump has been impeached, tried, acquitted, impeached a second time, and thoroughly disgraced. No one in our history has experienced such a public reprimand. Rather than submitting the Impeachment Articles for trial, an outcome which is in doubt and which we know will result in deepening ill will, I urge you to work with Senator Schumer, to introduce a “motion for censure” which need not involve a protracted trial and which, given the make-up of the Senate, is certain to pass (simple majority needed). You and Schumer can send the important message that the time has come to press the “restart” button on the way our elected representatives confront the challenges of governing and how they deal with one another. Censure can close this tragic chapter and allow us to move on to face this formidable agenda of challenges.

If you believe in what President Biden is trying to accomplish, you are in a position to take bold action, to model real leadership, to quell the vengeance and histrionics and to provide the intestinal fortitude to break the counter-productive malaise in our legislature. You have the opportunity to show the strength and character to lead to compromise and model the goodwill which has been so badly eroded. I am not alone in my frustration in apologizing to my grandchildren for the despicable modeling of our elected leaders, who behave more like petulant adolescents than thoughtful representatives. When talking with friends from other countries, I want to end my embarrassment in acknowledging the nastiness and callow grandstanding which typifies the behavior of “our leaders.”

Please give President Biden a chance to make good on his promise to heal this fractured nation. He cannot do it alone. Do not undermine his efforts by allowing a return to the implacable rancor which will emerge from a Senate trial and which has marked Washington for too long.

Seventy-four million people voted for Donald Trump. Although significant numbers of those have condemned his actions surrounding January 6, but do not be deceived, millions of others continue their support. A Senate trial will only further alienate them and another acquittal, should that occur, will embolden them.

The unprecedented number and complexity of serious crises faced by President Biden demand that responsible citizens put aside the shameful way in which many of us have conducted ourselves when it comes to dealing with our roles in a representative democracy. I have not always agreed with you Madam Speaker but I now choose to believe that you will put “turf” and partisanship aside. Please seize this opportunity to break this suicidal spiral. Take the lead in reestablishing common decency, open mindedness and honesty in pursuit of finding solutions for the enormous challenges we face.

Arthur Merovick •MJ 28 January – 4 February 2021

KEITH C. BERRY

GLOBAL LUXURY SPECIALIST Cal RE #363833 ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES DIVISION SPECIALIST 1482 E Valley Road 17 Santa Barbara, California 93108 Cell (805) 689-4240 Mail: PO Box 5545 Santa Barbara 93150 Keith@KeithBerryRealEstate.com • www.KeithBerryRealEstate.com

©2021 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

FREE IN HOME CONSULTATION

www.MontecitoKitchens.com

• The Voice of the Village •

Don Gragg 805.453.0518

License #951784

MONTECITO JOURNAL

11

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.

New Bridge at San Ysidro Creek

N

early three years to the day after the 1/9 Debris Flow that damaged or destroyed over 600 homes as well as debilitated Montecito infrastructure, the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department made a significant step in the rebuilding process with the replacement of the East Mountain Drive Bridge over San Ysidro Creek. The bridge, which was and will continue to be used primarily as bicycle and pedestrian access, was a well-used connection between the San Ysidro Ranch and the San Ysidro Trailhead before being washed away on the morning of January 9, 2018.

The 75-foot-long structure will be closed to vehicular traffic except during emergencies, when first responders will have access. The $285,000 bridge was paid for with Southern California Edison settlement funds and constructed by Peter Lapidus Construction, a local vendor. Approach roads are expected to be built in the upcoming

weeks, and the bridge is scheduled to open this February.

In addition to washing away the bridge, the 1/9 Debris Flow damaged 21 (and completely destroyed three) of the San Ysidro Ranch’s 41 luxury guest cottages. The property endured significant damage to most of its infrastructure, including sewer and power lines, as well as technological lines.

Support areas including maid service building, laundry, emergency power generation, and shipping and receiving were all lost during the mudslide, and the resort’s two eateries, Plow & Angel and the Stonehouse, were also damaged. After 15 months of rebuilding and renovation, the 500acre resort, owned by Ty Warner, was back open for business in April 2019.

According to Public Works PIO Lael Wageneck, the new bridge is the latest in a series of projects that County Public Works has completed in the past year in Montecito. In February

A highly anticipated sign of recovery from the 1/9 Debris Flow: a new walking/biking bridge connecting San Ysidro Ranch and the San Ysidro Trailhead

2020, the $1.8 million Ashley Road Bridge that connects East Mountain Road to Sycamore Canyon Road was opened to the public. The new bridge is a structural improvement and maintains the aesthetic beauty of the previous bridge. It includes a higher arch and longer span to allow a 100-year storm event to pass under the bridge.

Last summer, the County also finished a $5.7 million project to repair 28 lane miles and microsurface 17 lane miles of road damaged during the fire and debris flow.

This coming year, County Public

Works will proceed with additional projects as part of the Thomas Fire and 1/9 Debris Flow recovery. Signs are already in place on Hot Springs Road, where work will begin this month on the Hot Springs Shoulder Improvement project. This project includes improving walking shoulders from the Santa Barbara City Limits to Middle Road, that will increase connectivity and enhance recent work by the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade and Montecito Trails Foundation; the proj-

Village Beat Page 164 164

Let us support you in achieving your real estate goals

Janet Caminite Associate Manager

Wade Hansen Broker Associate

805.896.7767 JanetCaminite@bhhscal.com www.SantaBarbaraLuxryRealty.com DRE 01273668

805.689.9682 Wade@WadeHansen.com www.WadeHansen.com DRE 00511980

We are so proud to be on the Berkshire Hathaway Luxury Collection team and to share the exciting news that our 2020 sales volume exceeded $2.9 Billion ranking our branch as Number 1 in Santa Barbara/ Montecito and in the United States. Clearly, we have a winning Company, group of agents and marketing team.

We’ve been listing and successfully selling residential properties for a combined 51 years. It’s our pleasure to continue serving our community utilizing all the expertise and networks available to support your real estate goals creating a positive outcome for you. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your goals and to be your resource. We’re here for you! ©2021 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC. BHH Affiliates LLC and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that information.

12 MONTECITO JOURNAL

28 January – 4 February 2021

RANCHO MONTE ALEGre

Santa Barbara

210LindbergLn.com Private Gated Community Ocean & Mountain Views 40± Acres Land

Riven Rock Retreat

830RivenRockRd.com Ocean & Mountain Views 1 Bed Guest House 1.34 ± Lush Acres

PERKINSGROUPRE.COM The Perkins Group Real Estate | +1 805.265.0786 | team@perkinsgroupre.com | DRE: 01106512 ©2020 Compass is a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdraw without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. Exact dimensions can be obtained by retaining the services of an architect or engineer. This is not intended to solicit property already listed.

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

13

Summerland Buzz

by Leslie A. Westbrook

A third-generation Californian, Leslie, currently resides in Carpinteria but called Summerland home for 30 years.

She can be reached at LeslieAWestbrook@gmail.com

Love, Anyone?

W

e can’t think of a sweeter Valentine’s gift than the one from generous Summerland resident and philanthropist Nora McNeely Hurley and her husband, Michael Hurley.

Summerland School’s very tired tennis courts will be undergoing a complete renovation thanks to a two-year grant from the Manitou Fund. Nora McNeely Hurley is a Trustee and Chief Programming Director of the fund. The $1.3 million gift seems in keeping with the legacy of Hurley’s Minnesota based family grant-giving foundation created by her late father, Donald G. McNeely, that has traditionally bestowed gifts that have benefited the environment and education.

Not only will the tennis courts be a joy to Summerland School students, but the courts will be available on weekends and after school hours to Summerland residents.

Known for her generosity to Heal

Summerland School’s tennis courts will be undergoing a complete renovation thanks to a grant from the Manitou Fund

Nora and Michael Hurley enjoying a sunset by the beach

the Ocean, including funds donated to help with the leaking oil well capping efforts, Ms Hurley has tennis in her bones. She credits her all-girl’s high

Gardens Are for Living

Gardens Are for Living

14 MONTECITO JOURNAL Montecito Journal newspaper.indd 8

6/8/17 2:12 PM

school days tennis matches as contributing to making friends, teamwork, and all the other benefits of being outdoors and exercising.

“This is a way I can give back to a sport that has brought so much to my life. I enjoy playing tennis to this day. What an incredible location for the kids and it’s also wonderful for the community. A win-win for everybody,” the bubbly Summerlandian said, adding, “The kids deserve it and I love their name for their sports team: The Waves! Let’s do it!”

The Hurleys discovered the disintegrating courts during their exploratory walks through the town and decided this was something they could do for Summerland School and “these deserving kids” as well as the community.

The grant funds will support design, engineering, and construction costs of the new courts in their current location at the corner of Valencia Road and Lillie Avenue. This renovation project will be managed and overseen by the Carpinteria Unified School District and is a collaboration of “highly motivated participants” including Manitou Fund, Summerland Elementary School, CUSD, and USTA Southern California, which will provide world class tennis equipment.

The projected finish date is by late 2022, so there is time to get those old tennis rackets restrung.

Site planning for the courts cannot begin to take place until the new Summerland School is complete – more info on that, forthcoming soon!

The CUSD press release states that tennis offers students great mental and physical benefits that include “better grades, higher college aspirations, improved behavior, and proclivity to be involved and volunteer in their communities.”

The renewed facility will have the support of the United States Tennis Association Southern California, thanks to coordination by Nora with

“A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” – William E. Vaughn

the foundation. The progressive and diverse not-for-profit organization is dedicated to promoting and developing the growth of tennis. The USTA So Cal is the local arm of the U.S. Tennis Association, the governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States.

The Manitou Fund, according to a report in the Minnesota Star, is one of Minnesota’s top philanthropic nonprofits now run under the watchful eye of Hurley, her two brothers, and a family friend. The Manitou Fund at Hurley’s direction has also restored the Japanese Garden at Lotusland and provided an endowment for ongoing care, and has installed state-of-theair technology in theaters, performing arts venues in Santa Barbara, and at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Montecito for those with hearing challenges, inspired by Nora’s own hearing loss.

This generous gift to the community will benefit generations to come and complement the new Lookout Park improvements along with 101 Highway and intown upgrades in the heart of the burgeoning business community.

Great teamwork and good sportsmanship is expected on the road to completion ahead and bravo to Nora and Michael Hurley for their foresight in upgrading this neglected sports facility for the tiny, but mighty, Summerland School.

Summerland is lucky to have you!

A Final Note

Please don’t let your guard down and be sure to practice mask wearing, safe social distancing, and hand washing – even if you have gotten your first vaccine. Summerland has had cases of COVID-19 in the community, including amidst business owners and shoppers. I’ve noticed that all the shops and businesses I have visited have very nice hand sanitizer liquids at their entrances – be sure to use ‘em and continue to stay safe!

•MJ 28 January – 4 February 2021

NEW LISTING

San Ysidro Ranch Style Montecito Compound 3 BED + 2 OFFICES | 4 FULL & 2 HALF BATHS | POOL | POOL CABANA 1BD/1BA GUEST COTTAGE | GYM | 2-CAR GARAGE | 1.71 ACRES

Offered at $7,995,000

8 30 RO M E R OCA N YON .COM

MARSHA KOTLYAR ESTATE GROUP MONTECITOFINEESTATES.COM 805.565.4014 | Home@MKGroupMontecito.com Lic. # 01426886 © 2021 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC. BHHS and the BHHS symbol are registered service marks of Columbia Insurance Company, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. BHH Affiliates LLC and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Information is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that information.

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

15

Village Beat (Continued from page 12 12))

pm, and noon to 5 pm on Sundays.

Located at 1482 East Valley Road, Suite 50. Visit www.coda.studio for more info.

Festival of Hearts Goes Virtual

CODA Studio store manager Brian Pickler; the store is located right next to Tecolote Book Shop in the Upper Village

The new bridge will be open for use in the coming weeks

In addition to washing away the bridge, the 1/9 Debris Flow significantly damaged the San Ysidro Ranch in January 2018. The 500-acre resort has been back up-and-running since April 2019.

ect is tentatively scheduled to finish by mid-February, weather permitting.

The County will also repair segments of North Jameson Lane that sustained damage to the bridge approach guardrail, crash cushions, and drainage facilities. The County installed temporary concrete barriers and crash cushions that have remained in place for the last three years while the project was designed, permitted, and authorized for construction. Construction began in December and will finish by the end of January. Other projects scheduled for 2021 include the Hot Springs Triangle, and the Sheffield Drive Bridge at Ortega Hill Road and North Jameson Lane.

For more information on

16 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Transportation Division projects, visit www.pwsb.net.

In Business in the Upper Village: CODA Studio

A new design studio and custom furniture showroom is open daily in the Upper Village, located next to Tecolote Book Shop, in the space once occupied by Oliver and Espig.

CODA Studio offers an elevated style of distinct furnishings, artwork, home décor, and lounge wear.

The studio, which is a subsidiary of their manufacturing business, Coda Industries, is owned by Nikita Lazarus Putnam and Braden Richter. Coda Industries was formed in 2007 and has

furnished dozens of commercial projects for companies including the Four Seasons, Starbucks, Wynn, Hard Rock, MGM, and Bellagio Hotels in Las Vegas, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, and many others. The Montecito location of CODA Studio is the fourth to open in the U.S. after outlets in Malibu, California, and Denver and Aspen, Colorado.

According to store manager Brian Pickler, the CODA style of furnishings and design is “coastal chic,” and the company offers a variety of wood finishes and unlimited fabrics to choose from; clients are invited to use their own imaginations or work with the in-house design team. The studio offers any and all furnishings from sofas, coffee tables, accent chairs, and dining tables, to beds, dressers, armoires, and much more. The company is known for its quick turnaround time of four weeks for customization.

“Everything is made in the U.S., with materials sourced from California,” Pickler explained, adding that factories in Bali and Mexico produce the final product. Pickler went on to say that the company’s sofas can be made with a down-like product made from recycled plastic bottles, in an effort to reduce CODA’s carbon footprint.

In addition to the stunning furniture, the studio has a plethora of other home décor items on display, from pottery and throw blankets, to table top items, candles, art, and more.

A cozy apparel brand from Canada, called Paper Label, is also available in-store. The studio is carefully curated to show off various home vignettes, demonstrating how CODA pieces can be styled in various ways, using multiple different brands of décor. “We arrange the store to best show off both the furniture and style of CODA, and we invite anyone to stop in and have a look around,” Pickler said. From an $11 candle holder to a $48,000 piece of wall art, the store offers items at all price points.

CODA Studio is open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5

“Strength shows not only in the ability to persist, but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

For the last 22 years, Montecito’s Friendship Center has hosted a funfilled pre-Valentine’s event to raise funds for the Center’s HEART (Help Elders At Risk Today) Program, subsidizing the cost of adult day services for low-income aging and dependent adults and their families. This year, thanks to the pandemic, the event is going virtual, and is going on now until Saturday, February 6.

The virtual event includes a video with interviews, song, and dance, and a link to a page in order to purchase Valentine’s Day gift baskets, bid on one-of-a-kind “heart art,” bid on unique experiences, or to simply sponsor membership fees for low-income seniors.

Since the first Festival of Hearts in 2000, the centerpiece of the event has been the exquisite “heart art” sold at silent auction, which has been created by local artists and celebrities, including Jeff Bridges, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Askew, and Rod Lathim, over the years. This year’s artists include Susan Tibbles, Steven Gilbar, Ginny Speirs, Jeff Bridges, and others.

Provided with a blank papier-mâché heart, the ever-inventive “heart-ists” paint, sculpt, and decorate in a multitude of ways to create these unique works; bidding is available now.

Unique experience packages include paddle boarding and lunch for two at Brophy Brothers; a watercolor painting class for up to six people; dog training classes; round of golf for four at Santa Barbara Golf Course; and a seafood dinner party for eight at the home of diver Matt Lum. Sponsors for this important event include SB Home Improvement Center and Gary Simpson, Union Bank, Jackie Quinn and Quinn Fiduciary Services, Boone Graphics, First American Title Company, Matt Lum, Nate Cultice of Castle Wealth, John and Gloria McManus, Sally Hall, Al Anglin and Vangie Herrera, Penny Mathison and Don Nulty, Noozhawk, David and Louise Borgatello, Karolyn Hanna, Pat Forgey, Garcia Architects, Kenneth and Frances Jewesson, Kathy Marden and Pamela Vander Heide, Marty Moore, Mary Walsh, Dana and Randy VanderMey, Sue Adams and Marcella Simmons, Janet and Harvey Wolf, and Quinn Sellars and Mossaad Family.

To join the event, visit www.friend shipcentersb.org/foh2021. Friendship Center is located at 89 Eucalyptus Lane in Montecito. While currently closed during the pandemic, the center is offering a virtual program. Visit www.friendshipcentersb.org.

•MJ 28 January – 4 February 2021

Exclusive Member of

LOCALLY OWNED | GLOBALLY CONNECTED LEARN MORE AT VILLAGESITE.COM

2069 China Flat Rd | Santa Barbara | 5BD/6BA DRE 00837659 | Offered at $7,895,000 Patricia Griffin 805.705.5133

525 Las Fuentes Dr | Montecito | 3BD/4BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $5,295,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

2709 Vista Oceano Ln | Summerland | 7BD/10BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $19,800,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

1583 S Jameson Ln | Montecito | 9BD/9BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $17,900,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

545 Toro Canyon Rd | Montecito | 7BD/12BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $14,900,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

975 Lilac Dr | Santa Barbara | 5BD/8BA DRE 01815307 | Offered at $14,900,000 Riskin Partners Estate Group 805.565.8600

4465 White Pine Ln | Santa Ynez | 3BD/3BA DRE 00753349 | Offered at $4,950,000 Carey Kendall 805.689.6262

5651 W Camino Cielo | Santa Barbara | 4BD/3BA DRE 01813897 | Offered at $4,795,000 David M Kim 805.296.0662

2975 Calle Bonita | Santa Ynez | 6BD/5BA DRE 00753349 | Offered at $4,495,000 Carey Kendall 805.689.6262

3331 Baseline Ave | Santa Ynez | 4BD/5BA DRE 01351981 | Offered at $4,495,000 Darin Guglielmo 805.969.8900

516 Crocker Sperry Dr | Santa Barbara | 4BD/5BA DRE 01440591 | Offered at $4,488,000 Elizabeth Wagner 805.895.1467

1556 La Vista Rd | Santa Barbara | 4BD/6BA DRE 00520230 | Offered at $4,395,000 Ed Edick 805.689.1153

4506 Creek Ln | Santa Barbara | 4BD/4BA DRE 01964710 | Offered at $3,100,000 David Magid 805.451.0402

2203 Hill Haven Rd | Solvang | 3BD/3BA DRE 00753349 | Offered at $2,950,000 Carey Kendall 805.689.6262

1049 Tunnel Rd | Santa Barbara | 5BD/3BA DRE 01155355 | Offered at $2,895,000 William M Reed 805.896.3002

215 Las Ondas | Santa Barbara | 3BD/3BA DRE 01813897 | Offered at $1,995,000 David M Kim 805.296.0662

5150 E Camino Cielo | Santa Barbara | 5BD/4BA DRE 00835438 | Offered at $1,795,000 Jackie Walters 805.570.0558

18 W Victoria St 310 | Santa Barbara | 1BD/2BA DRE 00678233 | Offered at $1,725,000 Hunt/Hunt 805.895.3833

WE REACH A GLOBAL AUDIENCE THROUGH OUR EXCLUSIVE AFFILIATES. GREATER EXPOSURE WITH UNPARALLELED LOCAL EXPERTISE. All information provided is deemed reliable, but has not been verified and we do not guarantee it. We recommend that buyers make their own inquiries.

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

17

Monte ito Miscellany

Masked and social distancing to celebrate Gretchen Lieff’s birthday is Elena Wegner with her catered gourmet hors d’oeuvres for guests, Nancy Caponi, Robert Adams, Gretchen, Miles Hartfeld, and Jan Wesemann (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.

Leading the Way in Specialty Coffee Agronomist and farmer Jay Ruskey, co-founder of Frinj Coffee, situated on 42 acres at his family-owned and operated Good Land Organics Farm in Goleta, is trying to make the humble bean into a premium brand worthy of adjectives more associated with wine.

Carved out of a 120-acre property formerly owned by Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale and now their son, Geoff, just a tiara’s toss or two from the Reagan Ranch, owned by the former president and his wife, Nancy, Ruskey first planted a trial crop 19 years ago and, as consumers have gained appreciation of the craft of coffee, the booming market has made room for rare and specialty coffees such as those grown in new and unique places, not just Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Brazil, and Indonesia.

As Ruskey found success in inter-planting his avocados with coffee, he realized the opportunity the coffee crop had to benefit California agriculture.

Frinj Coffee was incorporated four years ago, setting out to provide California farmers an opportunity to diversify their farm portfolios.

“Today, we support a growing number of farms on coastal Southern California,” he says. “Our science-forward services span from production to post-harvest to product marketing, ensuring excellence from the field to the cup.

“One of our greatest assets is our

18 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Coffee tsar Jay Ruskey and Montecito travel writer William Tomicki

location. Although we sit 18 degrees north of the tropics, we also sit right in the middle of a coastline riddled with world renowned agricultural universities, thriving technology hubs and just over the hill from where pioneer farmers began the California wine industry. These outside perspectives have shaped our approach to coffee.

And for those reasons we are leading the way for California in becoming a coffee growing innovation center.”

Today there are 60,000 trees planted at 64 participating farms from Gaviota to North San Diego County, with orders coming from as far afield as Japan and the U.K. From growth to crop takes three months and Ruskey’s estate has a capacity of 1,000 pounds.

“Before 2011 high prices were around $132 a pound, but now it’s around $1,332 a pound,” says Ruskey, whose co-founders are Lindsey Mesta, Andy

Mullins, and Juan Medrano. “Coffee has been reinventing itself over the centuries and it continues. This is the fifth wave of coffee. There is so much science to this, much like wine. It’s a matter of achieving the best price for our producers, but some coffees are now going for $16 a cup.”

After a dozen years of research with the Coffee Center at UC Davis after being a student in Hollywood and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Ruskey’s premium coffee is recognized as some of the finest and most expensive coffee in the world.

He sees plenty of return on investment for the California farmer as the specialty coffee market is valued at around $125 billion and is predicted to double in the coming years.

“We offer the coffee enthusiast a refined, unmatched coffee tasting experience!” he adds.

Having tasted his product, made and poured with the precision of a fine sommelier, I can attest to that.

Happy Zoom Birthday to You

Anne Towbes, perfectly donning the birthday hat, bestowing her birthday wishes to Gretchen (screenshot by Priscilla)

been irresponsible, not to mention dangerous,” says Gretchen.

“So it was suggested we do a Zoom call and the result was an extraordinary outpouring of love.

“It was deeply gratifying. We all need to feel that sense of connection... of community.”

Among those “attending” were Anne Towbes, Nancy Gifford, Francis Shannon, Corinna Gordon, Ann Smith, Robert Adams, Nancy Capone, Iris Rideaux, Alana Tarkington, Gwyn Lurie, Brendan Twigden, Miles Hartfeld, Tracy Rochestie, Sarah Chrisman, Kristi Newton, and Ariana Katovich.

Lowe Looks Back Jeanne Kennedy and Gretchen’s father Walter Bortz wishing Gretchen a “Happy Birthday” (photo by Priscilla)

Normally the party animals are out in force when Gretchen Lieff hosts her birthday bash at her Arcady estate, but the pandemic restrictions put paid to that.

So the annual fun fest became Zoom with a view when friends from far and wide “attended” the party on their computer screens, while the few real guests present noshed on a host of comestibles, including jumbo prawns, miniature burgers, and three-day simmered onion short rib papiniarde, from Montecito caterer Elena Wegner and quaffed Prosecco and wines from animal activist Gretchen’s Santa Maria vineyard.

“Having any kind of gathering, except for just a very few suitably socially distanced guests, would have

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.” – Henry David Thoreau

Montecito actor Rob Lowe gave up alcohol and drugs in 1990 and has been open about his road to sobriety for the past 30 years after he first began drinking at a very young age.

Rob, 56, reflected on his past battle with addiction as a teen idol and member of The Brat Pack in the 1980s on NBC’s Today Show.

“The thing that really blew my mind is, I look back at that eighteen-yearold in The Outsiders and realize my kids are way, way, way older than that and I would be worried putting them now in that position,” reflected the star of 9-1-1: Lone Star.

“Nobody’s going to have a pity party or have a telethon for all the suffering eighteen-year-old movie stars.

I get it. Like everyone goes through their time in the barrel.

“You either come out on the other side of it way, way, way better, or way,

Miscellany Page 344 28 January – 4 February 2021

San Valentino 14 febbraio 2021

BURRATA CAPRESE Fresh burrata cheese, heirloom tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, basil.

RAVIOLI ALL’ ARAGOSTA House-made fresh lobster ravioli, creamy saffron sauce.

FILETTO ALLE ERBE 8 oz prime beef tenderloin grilled with fresh herbs.

Served with vegetables of the day.

VESUVIO AL CIOCCOLATO Warm chocolate cake, mixed berries compote.

BEAU JOIE, BRUT CHAMPAGNE Elegant and perfect balance between dryness and sweetness with a clean, crisp taste. $250 PER COUPLE $175 PER COUPLE WITHOUT CHAMPAGNE Tax and gratuity not included

TRELUNESB.COM 805 969-2646 28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

19

On The Record (Continued from page 6) tourism is to our economy.”

Tourism and visitor spending typically infuses $2 billion into Santa Barbara’s economy each year and supports more than 13,000 jobs. “This is just the first step and we have a long road ahead,” she said. “The county’s hospitality industry has been devastated and we will need additional progress in months to come: indoor dining, spas, fitness centers, and hotels finally being able to book large events.”

Another piece of good news for Santa Barbara’s tourism economy, said Janega-Dykes, is that the County is also allowing an immediate reopening of leisure travel to local hotels and other lodging businesses. According to California’s Employment Development Department, Santa Barbara County’s lodging sector lost 37 percent of jobs last year, with a total of 2,100 employees laid off jobs in the last year. “Hotel occupancy countywide plummeted to just under thirty percent in December and January,” she said, “and we also saw the temporary closure of about a dozen hotels who had to close doors and furlough staff, so the pain they are experiencing is very real.”

However, Janega-Dykes is optimistic about Santa Barbara’s resiliency as a tourist destination. “With an eye to the future, we do have some big opportunities, because our region is well positioned to attract the pent-up demand for travel,” she argued. “We saw this last summer, when hotels were able to reopen for travel. And Santa Barbara sees a lot of repeat visitors, which is a key target of all our businesses.” She also pointed to the fact that, last week, Santa Barbara Airport announced it is now welcoming more direct flights. “We now have 715 seats on five flights a day coming into our airport,” she noted. “It’s ideal timing, because this is the time many of our visitors plan for their late spring and summer travel seasons.”

Gene Montesano, an outspoken critic of the ban on outdoor dining, who owns Lucky’s Steakhouse and Tre Lune on Montecito’s Coast Village Road, as well as Joe’s Café in Santa Barbara, said he was excited about finally being able to reopen outdoor dining after two long months of take-out only service, not to mention his brand new Lucky’s location in Malibu.

“We are really happy to be open,” Montesano said. “Our customers are happy, too.” Montesano said he only wished he had more advanced notice because of all the work that needs to be done in order to get outdoor service up and running. “We still have to finish work on the decks outside,” he said. “But it’s great, it’s really good; everybody is ready to get back to work. We are ready.”

Meet Dave Emerson, Interim Highway 101 Corridor Manager

Dave Emerson, Interim Highway 101 Corridor Manager

Last time in this ongoing series of profiles of the people leading the 101 Freeway widening project currently taking place in Carpinteria, Summerland, and Montecito, we introduced you to the project’s head honcho, Fred Luna, director of project delivery and construction for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. This month, we introduce readers to another high-level supervisor, Dave Emerson, followed by the latest construction and traffic updates on the project. “Dave is a big part of our wonderful 101/HOV team that continues to deliver much needed transportation upgrades to south coast communities along this busy corridor,” Caltrans District 5 Director Tim Gubbins told the Journal.

Q. What is your job title and basic job description, and what is your key role in the

20 MONTECITO JOURNAL

On The Record Page 284 284

28 January – 4 February 2021

Exclusive Member of

Exclusive Member of

Village Properties is excited to announce it has joined

Forbes Global Properties as the Exclusive Member for Santa Barbara, Montecito, Santa Ynez, Ojai & Ventura

VILLAGE PROPERTIES HAS ELEVATED THEIR SERVICES AGAIN. With this partnership, we are able to provide unique exposure to more than 130 million monthly visitors using forbes.com. Our expert REALTORS

®

are here to serve you with unparalleled local

expertise, leveraging targeted domestic and international distribution.

forbesglobalproperties.com

28 January – 4 February 2021

villagesite.com

• The Voice of the Village •

DRE 01206734

MONTECITO JOURNAL

21

COVID (Continued from page 5) Nor has the County’s COVID response to date disappointed expectations: Santa Barbara County scored a recent #1 spot for most cases per capita in the state – hence, the most in the U.S. Meanwhile, COVID has proven an irresistible backdrop for political showboating and has provided excellent cover for burying legislation that Supervisors would prefer not be known.

Since COVID, a relentless stream of cannabis permits has been quietly pushed along, opponents sidelined or silenced and enforcement funds and personnel slashed.

But unlike their cannabis mismanagement, the botched COVID response could cost lives. Consider that in mid-December, vaccinations began at hospitals and medical offices for all doctors, nurses, clerical staff – employees.

Cafeteria staff, custodians, cleaning personnel were reportedly all included.

That’s good all good news. There was just one ommission: patients. Hence, cardiology, cancer patients and others whose immune systems have been compromised or leveled, were not on the list. Somehow, the most vulnerable in the community didn’t make the cut.

There was just one omission: patients. Hence, cardiology and cancer patients whose immune systems have been compromised or leveled – were not on the list. Somehow the most vulnerable in the community didn’t make the cut.

I know some of them. I also know people who were just shy of 75, hence unable to get a vaccine, and then contracted COVID during their outpatient hospital visits.

I understand there are shortages. I am not a doctor. Then again, neither is Director of Public Health Van Do-Reynoso, who seems like a diligent, hard-working public servant, assisted by Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg.

But the COVID crisis has led some to revisit the Supervisors’ puzzling decision not to install Charity Dean, M.D., a well-regarded epidemiologist, who was both SB’s Health Officer and Acting Director of Public Health. Dean was also an outspoken patient advocate who long championed vaccination.

The top job went to Van Do-Reynoso in 2017, not Dr. Dean who was promptly hired by Governor Jerry Brown to be deputy Director of the California Department of Public Health.

SB’s COVID crisis would seem to demand a COVID A-Team of epidemiologists and statistical whizzes. A logistical genius, preferably an MD in daily contact with the county’s immunologists and oncologists should be on the team.

At the current rate with guidelines that rank age ahead of co-morbidities, a 16-year-old leukemia patient, a 25-year-old with cystic fibrosis, or a 40-yearold with melanoma will likely get vaccinated this summer. Age is an important factor but should not be a sole factor.

J ARROTT & CO.

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS

SPECIALIZING IN 1031 TAX-DEFERRED EXCHANGES AND

TRIPLE NET LEASED

M ANAGEMENT F REE

INVESTMENT PROPERTIES WITH NATIONAL TENANTS

Len

CALL Jarrott, MBA, CCIM

805-569-5999

http://www.jarrott.com

22 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Real Estate Appraiser

Roger and Edith Wells freshly jabbed at Ralphs

I was one of those who received a group email from a mortified immunologist that her patients’ vaccine appointments at Ralphs were suddenly being cancelled per County orders, despite some having an abundance of co-morbidities.

With Ralphs’ pharmacy being shut down word spread that Dignity Health in Santa Maria was filling the void. One friend, 64, phoned from Dignity saying she had just been “vaxed” by a nurse who told her, “so happy you are here.” We made our appointments online and raced north the next day. When I approached the nurse, I tentatively asked if there was “some age limit.”

Without a beat, she smiled and said, “we don’t turn away anyone. We’re just glad you’re here.” I’m not much for public displays of emotion, but I felt my eyes well up.

Driving home, I called Ralphs hoping to give my “cancelled” appointment to a needy family member. The staffer asked if I knew anyone who wanted a vaccine who was 75. “When?” I asked. “Now,” she said. It was 4 on a Sunday and they were open two more hours. But they had some extra vaccines, presumably from all those 65-plus they were forced to cancel. Other pharmacies, I’m told, faced the same dilemma after the County read them the Riot Act for the 65-plus crowd.

I called a 78-year-old Vet friend named Tony. An hour later he was vaccinated. He wept. The next day, same thing: spare vaccines were available in the afternoon. We sent over another needy friend.

Although it’s not in my neighborhood, I will forever shop at Ralphs. And I’m praying for the nurses and volunteers at Dignity Health who have refused to turn away people. Pray the County keeps their Big Foot out of it. [As of press time: responding to ostensible political pressure, Dignity has reportedly stopped providing vaccines to those in need, regardless of tier group.]

Today, I found out that one friend with COVID had gotten out of Cottage but then relapsed and is back in the COVID ward. That makes four people I know – all older than 65 – who are fighting for their lives in Cottage Hospital.

Had they been vaccinated – when hospital clerical and custodial staffers were – they would be home, safe… and breathing.

A.L. Bardach is a PEN/USA Award winning journalist and the author/editor of four books.

•MJ

Greg Brashears California Certified General Appraiser Serving Santa Barbara County and beyond for 30 years

WENDY GRAGG 805. 453. 3371

Luxury Real Estate Specialist for 20 Years

V 805-650-9340 EM gb@gregbrashears.com “Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.” – Guy Finley

Lic #01304471

Luxury Real Estate Specialist

28 January – 4 February 2021

FY21 STORM DRAIN REPAIRS AND LINING PROJECT Bid No. 5867A 1.

Bid Submission. The City of Santa Barbara (“City”) will accept electronic bids for its FY21 Storm Drain Repairs and Lining Project by or before February 4, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. through its PlanetBids portal. Bidders must be registered on the City of Santa Barbara’s PlanetBids portal in order to submit a Bid proposal and to receive addendum notifications. Each bidder is responsible for making certain that its Bid Proposal is actually submitted/uploaded with sufficient time to be received by PlanetBids prior to the bid opening date and time. Large files may take more time to be submitted/uploaded to PlanetBids, so plan accordingly. The receiving time on the PlanetBids server will be the governing time for acceptability of bids. Telegraphic, telephonic, hardcopy, and facsimile bids will not be accepted.

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

Bid results and awards will be available on PlanetBids. The PlanetBids technical support phone number is 818-992-1771.

2.

Project Information.

2.1 Location and Description. The Project location and scope of work is outlined below: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Cul-de-sac at Rialto Lane due west to St James Drive: Repair and lining of 420 linear feet of a 15-inch diameter CMP storm drain Between 865 and 869 La Milpita Road and running 150 linear feet southwest to its outlet: Lining of a12inch diameter CMP storm drain W. Carrillo Street starting at State Street and continuing to Canon Perdido Street: Lining of a 420 foot segment of the 24-inch diameter concrete storm drain Pedregosa Street at Chapala Street south 1,900 linear feet to the outlet into Mission Creek south of the Islay and Castillo Streets Intersection: video capture of the large diameter storm drain system with elevations

2.2 Time for Completion. The Project must be completed within 40 calendar days from the start date set forth in the Notice to Proceed. The City anticipates that the Work will begin on or about March 15, 2021 but the anticipated start date is provided solely for convenience and is neither certain nor binding.

2.3 Estimated Cost. The estimated construction cost is $240,000.

3.

License and Registration Requirements.

3.1 License. This Project requires a valid California contractor’s license for the following classification(s): California General Engineering License Class A. 3.2 DIR Registration. City may not accept a Bid Proposal from or enter into the Contract with a bidder, without proof that the bidder is registered with the California Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”) to perform public work pursuant to Labor Code § 1725.5, subject to limited legal exceptions.

4.

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

5.

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

6.

Prevailing Wage Requirements.

6.1 General. Pursuant to California Labor Code § 1720 et seq., this Project is subject to the prevailing wage requirements applicable to the locality in which the Work is to be performed for each craft, classification or type of worker needed to perform the Work, including employer payments for health and welfare, pension, vacation, apprenticeship and similar purposes.

6.2 Rates. These prevailing rates are on file with the City and are available online at http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSR. Each Contractor and Subcontractor must pay no less than the specified rates to all workers employed to work on the Project.

The schedule of per diem wages is based upon a working day of eight hours. The rate for holiday and overtime work must be at least time and one-half.

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

7.

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

8.

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

9.

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

10.

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

By: ___________________________________

Date: ________________

Bill Hornung General Services Manager Publication Dates:

January 20, 2021

January 27, 2021 END OF NOTICE INVITING BIDS

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

23

REL IA BLE WATE R Montecito Water District delivers water that meets the highest quality standards so customers can continue to use and drink tap water as usual. California’s comprehensive safe drinking water standards include disinfection processes for drinking water which are effective against viruses, including corona viruses such as COVID-19. hours (8am - 5pm) and can be reached by calling 805-969-2271.

• Most business can be conducted online at: www.montecitowater.com where you can access account information and the online billpay portal 24/7. The web site is also a great resource for available forms, instructions on how to read new meters, and the District calendar which shows meter read and public meeting dates.

Nick Turner, General Manager

While we miss seeing our customers in person, safety remains a top priority. We want to be in tip-top shape to provide water, and we want our customers to be in tip-top shape to receive it.

Technological advancements made in recent years had MWD well poised to switch to remote operations when called for in March. We continue to adhere to strict protocols for COVID-19 prevention and response. Here are some helpful tips: • While counters remain closed, MWD’s dedicated customer service staff is available Monday – Friday during regular business

24 MONTECITO JOURNAL

• For public health and safety, all meetings continue to be conducted virtually. Web access and Teleconferencing information is available on the agenda for every meeting.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY When it comes to the financial arena, the District takes pride in its unyielding stance in the face of the pandemic and delivering what it considers to be truly remarkable achievements in service of its customers. In 2020 MWD implemented a new rate structure that supports a more reliable water supply and achieved significant savings through restructuring debt.

S A F E S E RV I CE

N E W R ATE S TR U C TURE We heard from our customers, who want their drinking water to come from local, reliable supplies with stable, predictable, and affordable rates.

After rates having not increased since 2016, new rates were adopted in June, 2020. MWD has established rates and charges necessary to maintain an adequate and reliable supply of high quality water. District rates and fees are developed using careful engineering and financial analysis of the cost of service. They are then subject to a rigorous public review process.

All charges reflect a fairness principle that all customers pay for the cost of providing safe and reliable water services—no more and no less. The majority of the District’s costs are fixed, and customers are charged based on a combination of fixed cost and how much water is actually used. With the new rate structure approximately 56% of customers will see a decrease in their bills for the first year, assuming their water consumption remains the same as it has been in the past.

DEBT REDUC TION Sophisticated transactions, significant savings.

MWD Board and staff coordinated a highly successful multi-faceted refinancing transaction in September, 2020 that will save the District approximately $3.3 million in the coming nine years.

Recognizing the unprecedented low interest rates this year, the District’s Finance Committee

moved swiftly to uncover opportunities to restructure long-term debt obligations.

Two outstanding debts were combined: $13,360,000 in 2010 Certificates of Participation (COP) bonds at approximately 5.17% interest rate and $4,962,107 in a Department of Water Resources (DWR) State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan at 2.513%. At the time of refinancing, debt was further reduced by a $3,000,000 cash payment made possible by settlement funds from Southern California Edison. Consequently, the District has reduced its refinanced debt obligation to $11,390,000 at an interest rate of 1.21%.

Note: At the December 15, 2020 Board Meeting the annual independent audit for Fiscal Year 2020 presented an unmodified opinion, which is the most favorable rating available.

WATER SUPPLY The District shored up supplies this year and is better-positioned for the longterm with a more diversified portfolio of water sources.

On June 25, 2020 the District approved a 50-year water supply agreement with the City of Santa Barbara, backed by the City’s Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant. This agreement provides the District with 1,430 acre-feet of water annually irrespective of 28 January – 4 February 2021

T h a s D o b

hydrologic conditions. This new local water supply is nearly 100% reliable and will help mitigate the impact of ongoing and future regulatory, environmental and climatic challenges affecting the District’s current water sources.

Deliveries will commence in January 2022 and will drastically improve the District’s long-term water supply outlook, providing approximately 40% of needed supply annually.

to keeping the public informed on continued progress.

CO N S E R VAT I O N The District’s water shortage emergency continues at Stage 1, and current customer water use restrictions (Ordinance 96) mirror those mandated by the State’s campaign “Conservation is a California Way of Life.”

Customers are encouraged to call us at 805.969.2271 to schedule a complimentary “water efficiency check-up” which can be virtual or in-person, in English or Spanish, with our Conservation Specialist.

The District’s three-year water supply planning outlook projects water supply availability through 2023, with heavy reliance on local surface water supplies, i.e.

G R O U N D WAT E R Cachuma Project and Jameson The Montecito Groundwater Lake. The increase in available Basin Groundwater Sustainability local surface water supplies has Agency (Montecito GSA) formed provided the District with an under the Montecito Water opportunity to store surplus State Water Project allocations in District in 2018 to address long-term sustainability of the a regional groundwater storage basin as required by California’s bank, i.e. Semitropic Water Water Supply by Source (cont’d) Sustainable Groundwater Storage District Groundwater Banking and Exchange Program, Management Act. Public participation in the Agency’s for use in future drought years work is highly encouraged. or periods of below-average To learn more about the rainfall. The charts below Montecito GSA, the importance illustrate the contrast in water supply utilization between 2018 of groundwater in this community, and the status of the actuals—during the historic drought—and 2020 projections. Groundwater Sustainability Plan, please visit the web site: more please see TheFor District’s utilization ofdetails, its available supplies over the next three-year planning period relies heavily local surface water supplies, i.e. Cachuma Project and Jameson Lake. The increase in available local surface water supplies has provided the District with an opportunity to store www.montecitogsa.com. the complete Quarterly Water surplus SWP water in a regional groundwater storage bank, i.e. Semitropic Water Storage District Groundwater Banking and Exchange Program, for use in future drought years or periods Supply update on our web site. of below-average rainfall. The charts below illustrate the contrast in water supply utilization Source

Banked Water

Water Debt

Conservation

Current Condition (As of September 30, 2020) ▪ Water Banked in Semitropic Groundwater Banking & Exchange Program totals 2,000 AF (less 10% losses) ▪ Per contract, a total of 4,500AF of groundwater storage capacity available to District

Projections (thru 2023) ▪ Project having 500 to 1,000 AF per year available for banking in Semitropic in 2021 through 2023 depending on annual SWP allocations

▪ Total 193 AF of water debt owed to Mojave Water Agency (MWA) ▪ Repaid 507 AF in 2019 ▪ Scheduled to repay 193 AF of water debt in November 2020 ▪ 12-month running average water conservation of 37%

▪ Do not anticipate acquiring any additional water debt over the 3year planning period

▪ 30-35% conservation for compliance with SBX7-7

between 2018 actuals and 2020 projections.

State Water Project & Supplemental Jameson Lake Doulton Tunnel

2018 2018Actuals Actuals

Lake Cachuma Groundwater

2020 Projected 2020 Projected

R E C YC L E D WAT E R

The District remains focused on efficiently, effectively, and affordably implementing a recycled water project. Recycled Water would extend drinking water supplies, further enhance water supply reliability, and better prepare the District for future droughts. A Request for Proposals for preliminary design on appropriate facilities has been issued in accordance with the District’s Recycled Water Facilities Plan. We look forward 28 January – 4 February 2021

FACILITIES & CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS

The District is at work constantly, upgrading aging infrastructure to help prevent unanticipated water loss and improve water delivery reliability. The District operates and maintains over 110 miles of water distribution pipes, 4600 service connections, groundwater wells, pump stations, Juncal Dam, Jameson Lake, nine reservoirs and two water treatment facilities. Many District-owned pipes, reservoirs, and facilities were built in the 1920s. While timelines had to shift in response to changing circumstances a bit more than normal this year, MWD has

Section 5-B Page 8

Juncal Dam at Jameson Lake, February 2020

pushed through on important projects nonetheless. Here are a few worth mentioning:

JAMESON LAKE

Water deliveries are steady from Jameson Lake after the District’s successful implementation of treatment enhancements to address water quality issues resulting from the Thomas Fire incident and subsequent debris flows into the lake. Construction is currently underway to replace the caretaker’s cabin and Alder Flume both of which were also destroyed. FEMA funding has essentially supported all of these recovery efforts.

with extensive analysis to ensure compliance with all State and Federal water quality standards.

Only the highest quality water that meets all stringent state and federal drinking water requirements is delivered to customers, as detailed in our annual Water Quality Report available at www.montecitowater. com/doc/ccr2019/ Results are released annually by July 1st.

For more information on Water Quality, please contact Chad Hurshman, Water Treatment and Production Superintendent at 805-689-6408.

SMART METERS

In 2020 more than 4,600 aging water meters were replaced with new ultrasonic water meters and transmitters. The next step is activating the automatic data collection process. We anticipate having the complete system in place before the end of 2021.

S A N TA R O S A WAT E R M A I N R E P L AC E M E N T

Approximately 1-mile of nearly 100-year old water mains were replaced on Santa Rosa Lane from San Ysidro Road to San Leandro Lane.

WATER QUALITY The District employs statecertified water treatment professionals who combine round-the-clock monitoring

• The Voice of the Village •

Chad Hurshman, Water Treatment and Production Superintendent

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2021: THE CENTENNIAL! November, 10, 2021 will mark the District’s 100th year! Established in 1921, the District has supplied the community’s water needs through growth and challenges, seen and unforeseen. In anticipation of the century ahead, the Board has initiated a Strategic Planning process to identify priorities and focus resources.

Over the coming year, please be on the lookout for more information as we establish a vision for the future and celebrate 100 years of reliable water service.

MONTECITO JOURNAL

25

Perspectives

by Rinaldo S. Brutoco

Rinaldo S. Brutoco is the Founding President and CEO of the Santa Barbara-based World Business Academy and a co-founder of JUST Capital.

He’s a serial entrepreneur, executive, author, radio host, and futurist who’s published on the role of business in relation to pressing moral, environmental, and social concerns for over 35 years

Escaping Minority Rule: The Filibuster Challenging the Tyranny of One

W

hat kind of a word is “filibuster,” how did we get stuck with it, and what the heck does it mean? Those of us old enough to remember seeing the 1939 classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring the legendary Jimmy Stewart, grew up with a badly distorted view of what the filibuster actually is today. In 1939 to stall a bill through a filibuster in the U.S. Senate required one to take the floor of the Senate and literally stand there talking until you physically collapsed or until one or more Senators joined with you in taking turns talking to prevent a vote on a particular bill. It required enormous dedication, as the brilliant Frank Capra displayed in the movie, and was only undertaken for the most extreme reasons. Think of a filibuster as the ultimate tool in Minority Rule – one person can block the rest of the entire U.S. Senate and every single piece of legislation by engaging in a filibuster.

Unfortunately, the committed “Mr. Smith” would not recognize what the filibuster has evolved to.

Today, any single Senator can “filibuster” without even opening their mouths. All they need to do is put up an objection saying they are thereby filibustering, and the Senate comes to a halt. No Jimmy Stewart ever has to take to the floor to gain news coverage of the issue they are standing for. In fact, they don’t even have to give a reason why they are filibustering. They just express the objection and then they can continue playing golf if they like.

That’s so unworkable it is crazy.

In today’s dysfunctional Washington, the power of the filibuster remains enormous. Any Senator can block any piece of legislation despite every other Senator being for it, the House of Representatives having passed it, and the then-serving President committing to sign it if it passes. How can we tolerate such an inequitable and foolish practice? More to the point, must we?

The U.S. Senate has a long tradition of unrestricted time for debate. The theory is that any Senator should be allowed the opportunity to say as much as s/he wants as an inherent privilege for members of that body. Long speeches are not merely a modern inconvenience. Historians record that Cato the Younger spoke for endless hours on the floor of the Roman Senate, unsuccessfully, to block Caesar’s rise to power.

This ability to speak endlessly has been the source of major unpleasantries in the past, like when Southern segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond set the record for the longest speech on the Senate floor. He stood and spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in 1957 to filibuster, that is say prevent the passage of a major civil rights bill. Even worse was an 83-day filibuster to stop the Civil Rights Act of 1964! That filibuster was ended only when two-thirds of the Senate voted for cloture, which is a fancy word for stopping debate. You read that correctly, if one single Senator wants to hold any and all legislation hostage s/he can do it unless a super majority (60 percent) of the Senate wants to stop them. Given our highly partisan political reality that number will almost never be achieved.

So, if one person can hold 365,000,000 Americans hostage to their policy decisions, we have the absolute perfect example of Minority Rule. Clearly that shouldn’t be acceptable to any of us. What can we do about it?

The good news: there is no requirement to allow filibusters anywhere in the Constitution. Also, good news is the fact it is not enshrined in any lawful statute. You see, the filibuster “rule” is merely a creation of whatever the Senate wants at any given session. Right now, there is a pitched battle going on where Mitch McConnell, now the minority leader who only recently took joy in referring to himself as “the grim reaper” (because he stalled all legislation in the Senate) trying to blackmail Senate Leader Charles Schumer into keeping the filibuster alive. McConnell wants veto power over President Biden’s agenda.

We can’t persist in allowing this logjam that leaves the nation in a constant state of crisis. The best way to stop this insane “procedural” rule is to eliminate it. Let the filibuster go the way of the dodo bird and we’ll all be better off. Our democracy could actually work again!

So why don’t we? Some give the spurious answer that: One day the Democrats will be in the minority and they’ll want to enjoy filibuster pro-

26 MONTECITO JOURNAL

The Road to All-Electric Vehicles

Student science project convinces school district to switch to electric buses

M

iami-Dade County Public Schools will convert all their diesel school buses to all-electric models by the end of 2021, but this change wouldn’t have happened without the help of Holly Thorpe, a local middle school student.

Thorpe created a science fair project on the benefit of electric vehicles and presented it to the school district board with a proposition to convert the local school buses to electric models. She pointed out that carbon dioxide fumes inside the buses were 10 times more than the levels recommended by the EPA. According to Michele Drucker, environmental chair of the county’s PTSA Council, the school district has the financial flexibility to make the change, but Thorpe gave them the needed push to change their mindset on the issue.

The buses will be safer for student health, reduce emissions, and the smooth electric drive also allows drivers to monitor students more effectively in a quieter environment.

“Students know they will be faced with the dire consequences of climate change and they are the ones motivating the district to feel a sense of urgency and care about becoming the greenest, cleanest, most innovative, and most equitable school system it can be,” Drucker told Inhabitat.

No more range anxiety: New EV battery fully charges in five minutes One major barrier that stands in the way of mass EV adoption is range anxiety: the fear that you will either run out of charge and get stuck on the highway, or you’ll end up sitting at a charging station for hours.

Looking to overcome range anxiety, Israeli company StoreDot has developed new lithium-ion batteries that are capable of fully charging in just five minutes. According to the Guardian, the company had already demonstrated its “extreme fast-charging” battery in phones, drones, and scooters.

In order to produce their battery, StoreDot replaced the graphite that is typically used in lithium-ion batteries with semiconductor nanoparticles, which allow ions to pass more quickly and easily. Currently, these nanoparticles are based on germanium, but StoreDot’s plan is to use silicon, which is much cheaper.

While the batteries can be fully charged in five minutes, the charging infrastructure we use today isn’t powerful enough to do just that. However, StoreDot is aiming to deliver 100 miles of charge in five minutes using the existing charging infrastructure by 2025.

•MJ tections. Preposterous! When Mitch McConnell was afraid, he wouldn’t be able to pack the Supreme Court by adding arch conservative Neil Gorsuch he immediately suspended the filibuster rule, thereby denying the Democrats the ability to use it, so he could proceed with a simple majority vote on Gorsuch. Object lesson: McConnell only wants a filibuster rule if Republicans are in the minority – never when they have a majority and he’ll pull it away for momentary convenience on a heartbeat.

So, what’s the holdup? Senator Joe Manchin, a “Blue Dog” Democrat – meaning a Democrat when it is convenient and a conservative when he can get away with it. It would be wise for the progressive elements of the Democratic party to threaten a primary challenge to Manchin as a way of demonstrating that no one, not even a Democrat, is allowed to “play politics” with their responsibility to vote for what they know to be right. For Manchin to provide that much “protection” for McConnell means he should be removed by Democrats as he’s not really one of them anyway. Enough with playing politics for momentary advantage.

For those who believe that we can’t immediately eradicate the filibuster as a toxic control device to enshrine Minority Rule, we could at least require that any Senator who really wants to be heard must stand on their own feet, utilizing their physical reserves, to speak as long as they want – and when they sit down, the filibuster ends. That would be a “halfway” measure, but 1,000 percent better than we have now. Better yet, how about we run the U.S. Senate as a “one woman, one vote” establishment and get on with the business of democracy. It’s long past time we freed ourselves of what President Barack Obama called “this Jim Crow throwback” and let democracy prevail over Minority Rule.

•MJ

“Every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all of our lives.” – Steven Spielberg

28 January – 4 February 2021

Bank (Continued from page 8)

MB&T Relief Center team morning meeting

local eateries and retailers, and made a total of over $206M in PPP funding.

But who’s counting?

PPP2 – “We will stay open and ready to help the community until the money runs out.”

At this writing we are in the midst of the Small Business Administration’s second disbursement. MB&T’s President and COO George Leis – silver-haired, sharply bespectacled, and so upbeat ordinary bankers shrink from him like goblins nearing sunlight (I’m speculating here) – weighs in on the 2020 and pending 2021 PPP efforts. “In November we started our Forgiveness process for the 2020 PPP loans, and in late December quickly began assembling and planning for the 2021 PPP program. We’ve accepted over 920 applications so far for this newest round, totaling over $86 million.”

MB&T’s “nose to the grindstone” approach is more like a family throwing their backs into the task than – you know – a bank. George explains.

“Seeing and hearing first-hand the economic devastation, and knowing that our efforts will make a difference, however small; that’s our team’s North Star.

We’re happily working every day – including weekends and evenings – to get our community through this. It’s a source of pride for us that in the last PPP round, we had a role in saving over 22,000 jobs. I’m so grateful to our team for all of their continued efforts and determination to assist our communities throughout this unprecedented time. For 2021 PPP we are open and actively accepting applications from our clients. You can find info on our web site or please call 1-833-628-4722. We will stay open and ready to help the community until the money runs out.” We’re all grateful too, George. Thank gosh you’re not just running a bank.

with such ease about many topics! When I asked him how he came to be a banker he said, ‘I’m not a banker – I am a very experienced borrower.’ His belief was that banking was all about service, service, service.” One idea in particular had captured Towbes’ imagination, and he shared it with Janet that day.

“He told me with great satisfaction and pride about his new philanthropic initiative: Community Dividends. He wasn’t sure how it could evolve but he was sure that because of it he and the bank could have a positive impact in the communities we served.” Established in 2003, the Community Dividends program hands a yearly million dollars (“…it’s varied over the last couple of years, but it ranges between 1.3 and 1.5 million dollars annually.” – Megan) to hundreds of 501(c)(3) designated orgs. Nonprofits are the large- George Leis at work reviewing and approving ly unsung heart and soul of a place’s spir- PPP loans in his office it, enhancing individual lives and aggregating community love and cohesion.

Towbes was all over it. “He loved his work,” Janet says simply. “He loved his capacity to give back, he loved his life, and he lived every minute to the fullest.

I am so privileged to have worked with him and to call him my friend.”

Michael Towbes lost his Gail in 1996, later finding with Anne Smith Towbes a sun-splashed new springtime. They married at Lotusland in 2005, Ganna Walska’s lovably haywire life projected the perfect setting for the young marrieds. By 2015 the lovebirds were camping at Burning Man, for instance. So… yeah. It’s a life of radiant surprises, folks (stop the presses). Michael’s departure in 2017 was roundly and genuinely lamented, his achievements feted, his legacy acknowledged with raised glasses. Awkward then to realize the guy is still clearly hanging around, tall and graceful as a heron and beaming that serene smile, gently inhabiting MB&T’s courtship of this village in the woods. He must really like it here.

•MJ

Towbes Is

Michael Towbes bestrides Montecito like a serenely happy colossus, and seems to more deeply inhabit the sun-dappled Shangri-La with each passing year. I had one inanely broad question on that front: “What is it about Towbes?”

MB&T’s Chairman and CEO Janet Garufis speaks ringingly to that.

“I met Mike in the fall of 2004,” she says, “when I interviewed with him for my first role at MB&T. I was new to Santa Barbara and really didn’t know anything about Mike or his bank. I was struck by his grace. We very quickly found we had a common appreciation for writing and grammar. We talked

C A S T A N E D A Pro Tint & Design Auto ~ Commercial ~ Residential Call today

for your free estimate Protec t Your Home, Auto & Business Interiors

Keep cooler

in hot summer months

Professional Window Tinting Services 18 + Years of Experience

805-331-4512

w w w. c a s t a n e d a p ro t i n t . c o m

28 January – 4 February 2021

Enjoy the Benefits of UV Protection

Reduced

Energy Costs

Added Privacy

castanedatint@gmail.com

You may be able to avoid major orthopedic procedures and joint replacement procedures with a less invasive alternative utilizing an injection of your own stem cells. Harvard trained experienced orthopedic surgeon Richard Scheinberg has extensive experience with technique that may save you from surgery.

Call 8056821394 for consultation

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

27

On The Record (Continued from page 20 20)) Highway 101 widening project?

A. I’m a Caltrans Project Manager and the Interim Highway 101 Corridor Manager. I manage the Highway 101 segments in Carpinteria and Summerland as a project manager. As the Interim Highway 101 Corridor Manager, I work with Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), legislators, permitting agencies, and our local city and county partners on everything concerning Highway 101 south of Milpas Street.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and other projects you’ve worked on in the past?

I’m a landscape architect and graduated from Cal Poly. Prior to joining Caltrans, I worked in the private sector for 13 years with a key focus on large scale design for residential and commercial projects in California’s Central Valley. At Caltrans, the challenge is to create landscape designs that are as effective at freeway speed as residential projects are for someone walking into their home. After blending plantings with new transportation improvements, it made sense to move into project management to help entire projects effectively blend a mix of uses for people and circulation.

Can you explain a bit about your work so far on the Highway 101 project?

I started with this project in 2007 as the project landscape architect. At that time, our team task was to create project alternatives and technical studies for

This project has unique and interesting design themes. Because the improvements will stretch from the City of Santa Barbara to Carpinteria the design needs to account for creating some unifying elements for this beautiful coastal stretch while recognizing the differences in our local communities. It is challenging and rewarding to work with hardscapes (i.e. concrete, walls, and bridges) and mix in landscaping to help these segments improve safety and reduce traffic congestion while at the same time maintain the magnificent viewsheds, celebrate local architecture, and fit into the subtle changes in surrounding neighborhoods.

What is something most don’t people know about the project?

The engineering expertise that goes into a project with this complexity and scale is enormous. The greatest challenge presented to designers is working to achieve our high goals while fitting everything into a very constrained area.

Our team members and consultants have an expectation for engineering excellence and push to prioritize safety and fixing traffic congestion issues. I am not sure many people realize that this includes talented landscape architects who play a vital role in the project, from the environmental process, the design development, permit acquisition and ultimately to see these changes through construction.

Paul Madsen Finally Digs Out of Debris Flow that Buried His Home Excavators at Madsen’s Posilipo Lane property (courtesy Floyd Wicks)

the environmental impact report that matched the character of the area while minimizing impacts, improving safety, and addressing traffic congestion.

This helped me become intimately familiar with the existing vegetation, what works and what doesn’t, and how we can incorporate more local sensibilities into our choices. In 2016, I transitioned to project management and have since been working with our local partners to help bring these options forward to create effective solutions that we can all use.

What is the most exciting work going on in the Highway 101 project?

INTERESTED IN SELLING AT AUCTION TO A GLOBAL AUDIENCE? If you are considering consigning fine art, furniture, silver, jewelry, wine, coins, rare books or other collectibles

"Totem" by Keith Haring

Auction Liaison helps clients sell items for record-breaking prices

28 MONTECITO JOURNAL

For a complimentary consultation contact Leslie Westbrook, broker (805) 565-3726 LeslieAWestbrook@gmail.com

www.AuctionLiaison.com

Three years after a January 9, 2018 debris flow half-buried Paul Madsen’s home, the Montecito resident who lives on Posilipo Lane adjacent to the Rosewood Miramar Beach has finally dug himself out of the mud. Excavation work that has been underway for the past few weeks is scheduled to wrap up later this week.

According to Madsen, the next step is to set in place his future home’s foundation. “It will be put in as soon as possible,” Madsen said, adding that while COVID-19 hasn’t helped, the weather also hadn’t exactly cooperated. “The rain we had kind of put us behind schedule,” he explained. “The whole lot just got full of water and mud and we had to let it dry out enough to where we could scrape the mud and start all over again.”

Supervisor Williams said he was glad that Madsen had finally been able to complete the important phase of removing all the dirt from his property, although he said he regrets the fact that so much work remains to be done.

“Some people have been really lucky to move back into their homes, but others haven’t been able to do that yet,” said Williams. “But still, it is good to read something in the news every once in a while that’s actually good, and not entirely bad, you know?”

101 Freeway Construction Update

N. Padaro Interchange: Concrete recycling continues.

Highway 101 @ Padaro: The Padaro segment is located between North Padaro and South Padaro/Santa Claus Lanes. This project will add a new third freeway lane in each direction and new bridges over Toro and Arroyo Parida creeks. At the South Padaro Lane Undercrossing, the bridge and on- and offramps will be replaced. At the North Padaro Lane Interchange, new on- and off-ramp improvements will be built. There will also be three new sound walls built.

Over the next few weeks, to comply with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife requirements related to bird nesting, crews will undertake pre-construction work to clear trees and vegetation so that construction can begin this summer. The majority of work will occur in the median and near the South Padaro/Santa Claus Lane on- and off-ramps.

•MJ

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

28 January – 4 February 2021

JUST ADDED VIRTUAL EVENTS

FEB - MAR Winter Virtual Pack $60 (Includes the six virtual events slated for Feb - Mar)

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

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

More events will be announced soon.

Feb 2 / 7 PM Pacific

Feb 5 / 5 PM Pacific

Anna Deavere Smith

Minnijean Brown-Trickey

Feb 11 / 5 PM Pacific

Return to Little Rock: A Seminal Moment in American Civil Rights and Education

W. Kamau Bell

Feb 23 / 5 PM Pacific

Feb 25 / 5 PM Pacific

Mar 4 / 5 PM Pacific

Dr. Mae Jemison

LaToya Ruby Frazier

Michelle Alexander

Notes From the Field / Snapshots: Portraits of a World in Transition

Overcoming Obstacles, Breaking Barriers and Reaching for the Stars

Art as Transformation: Using Photography for Social Change

Ending Racism in About an Hour

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Lead Sponsors: Marcy Carsey, Connie Frank & Evan Thompson, Patty & John MacFarlane, Sara Miller McCune, Santa Barbara Foundation, Lynda Weinman & Bruce Heavin, Dick Wolf, and Zegar Family Foundation UC Santa Barbara Campus Partners: Department of Black Studies Center for Black Studies Research Division of Social Sciences Division of Humanities and Fine Arts Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences Division of Student Affairs

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

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

Community Partners: Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli Anna Deavere Smith Event Sponsors: Jody & John Arnhold Special Thanks:

(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu 28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

29

The Giving List

by Steven Libowitz

New Beginnings New Beginnings Counseling Center’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families program operates from a housing first model to help end veteran homelessness within Santa Barbara County

W

hen COVID-19 first closed down in-person meetings, everyone hurried to figure out online opportunities. But New Beginnings Counseling Center (NBCC) had a leg up, having already nearly completed a partial pivot to Zoom before the pandemic opened the floodgates toward the platform.

It turns out the nonprofit had recognized a need to find a way to serve community members suffering from mental health challenges who, for distance, logistical, or other reasons, aren’t able to come into the clinic’s downtown Santa Barbara offices. So when COVID hit, the 50-year-old nonprofit benefitted from having already partnered with Zoom to provide a platform on virtual counseling sessions for those in need.

“It was sheer dumb luck that we’d already made that deal and received a

Price, Postel & Parma is proud to announce that Shannon DeNatale Boyd is now a partner with the firm.

Education Law Employment Law Civil Litigation Public Agency 200 East Carrillo Street, Ste. 400 Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2190 www.ppplaw.com 805 962-0011

30 MONTECITO JOURNAL

grant to develop and implement a telehealth counseling system countywide to help people who weren’t able to comes to us,” said Executive Director Kristine Schwarz. “It was important to reach people who wouldn’t be able to get counseling otherwise.”

Still the pandemic made the niche program look microscopic in comparison to the burgeoning demand for online services once the lockdown prevented nearly all in-person meetings from taking place.

“We had just developed the foundational aspects, the operating manual, the structure for this kind of a program just as the COVID (crisis) happened,” Schwarz explained. “We had just literally pressed the button to start it and suddenly we had to train every one of our counselors on how to do sessions online all at the same time. And we surely hadn’t anticipated having to transition every single client to telehealth.”

The good news is that New Beginnings did have the protocols and the manual already in place, so ramping up was reasonable. And when other agencies reached out to NBCC and asked to take a look at what they’d done, Schwarz said, NBCC “were very happy to share whatever relevant information could help.”

Of course, transitioning to Zoom has been just one of the adjustments New Beginnings Counseling Center has had to make to cope with COVID, said Development Director Michael Berton. “Mental health was already a huge and growing need in our community as people are looking for access to services. And with COVID, we’ve had a huge uptake in clients who are reaching out at the same time we’ve also received a request for reductions in fees due to job losses by our clients,” he said. “We’ve taken a big hit in clinic income because our mission is to not turn anyone away for inability to pay. But we continue to stand strong in the counseling center and offer those services.”

Of course, that’s nothing new for NBCC, which has come up with several important new programs during its half a century in town, including Safe Parking, its innovative Shelter and Rapid Rehousing Program that provides safe overnight parking to individuals and families living in their vehicle since 2004. Safe Parking has served as a model for dozens of other communities throughout the country and currently manages more than 150 spaces in 26 parking lots throughout Santa Barbara, Goleta, and the neighboring unincorporated areas of the county, toward the goal of ending homelessness for individuals, families, and veterans.

NBCC’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, which operates from a housing first model to help end veteran homelessness within Santa Barbara County, has also had challenges with the pandemic, including an immediate need to shelter 16 chronically homeless former servicemen who suddenly had to shelter in place.

COVID caused other havoc, taxing NBCC’s staff, who nevertheless stepped up in innovating ways, according to Schwarz.

“The last year was like triage, with constant crises every day,” she said. “I was always wondering, what’s today’s catastrophe going to be?”

Dozens of NBCC’s clients and other vulnerable members of the community either from homelessness or with mental health issues had all of their support essentially pulled out from under them, Schwarz said, necessitating handling whatever emergency presented itself, Schwarz said.

“Almost immediately we had people coming to us saying, ‘I have no food, I have no place to go to the bathroom.’ So I was going to Ralphs at seven in the morning twice a week for five months getting literally baskets of food. The other thing that was a huge effort is using the CARES funds to put medically frail people into motels. We’re up to about sixty of them over the last ten months, so we built new partnerships with Holiday Inns and Super to get people off the street.”

The astonishing part is that New Beginnings has been handling all this while dealing with a significant reduction in financial support, to the tune of a more than 70 percent drop in income from the counseling clinic at one point last year, Schwarz said. “That’s our main source of earned income for the agency. But almost everybody asked for a fee reduction and you can’t say no.”

That’s because, not surprisingly, the need is greater than ever, she said.

“For the second quarter in a row during COVID, we’ve seen an increase in the level of distress, even with clients receiving counseling. That’s never happened in the nine years I’ve been here. There’s been an overall decrease in symptomatology but we do assessments every eight weeks to see how people are doing, and almost everyone is really stressed.”

Meanwhile, New Beginnings is facing reductions in potential funding from the second round federal aid due to technicalities. Meaning donations can really help ease some of the burden at the moment.

“Donations from people really do help us to continue to support those who really need a lot of assistance and don’t have any money, whether it’s counseling, or rental assistance or food,” Schwarz said. “There’s only so much to go around. And the more resources we have, the more we can help more people who really, really don’t have any.”

New Beginnings | (805) 963-7777 | https://sbnbcc.org

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

•MJ

28 January – 4 February 2021

Just Added Virtual Events for Feb - Mar Intimate, interactive online events you won’t find anywhere else.

Two of Today’s Most Exciting Classical Musicians

Alisa Weilerstein, cello & Inon Barnatan, piano Fri, Feb 12 / 5 PM Pacific An Evening with the Founder of Patagonia

Chefs in Conversation

Yvon Chouinard Protecting Public Land Tue, Feb 9 5 PM Pacific / FREE

Major Sponsors: Heather & Tom Sturgess Additional support provided by Forces of Nature series sponsor Audrey & Timothy O. Fisher in memory of J. Brooks Fisher

Samin Nosrat and Yotam Ottolenghi Moderated by Sherry Villanueva, Managing Partner/Owner of Acme Hospitality

Sun, Feb 28 / 11 AM Pacific

From Parnassus Books in Nashville

Grammy-winning Mandolin Virtuoso

Chef, Restaurateur and Humanitarian

Chris Thile

Ann Patchett

José Andrés Changing the World Through the Power of Food

Tue, Mar 9 5 PM Pacific

in Conversation with Lily King, Author of Writers & Lovers

Sun, Mar 14 5 PM Pacific

Sun, Mar 7 11 AM Pacific Major Sponsors: Marcia & John Mike Cohen Community Partners:

House Calls - Winter 2021: $60 (Includes the six virtual events slated for Feb - Mar)

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

Special Thanks:

(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu 28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

31

Real Estate

by Mark Ashton Hunt

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

A New Year, but Not a Lot of New Listings

W

e will likely start February off much as we started January, with very few homes available for sale in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Montecito. As of January 23, there were only 76 homes and condos on the market in all of Montecito and the entire 93108 zip code, when normally there would be closer to 150 at this time of year.

The existing inventory includes homes that have been on the market a while, a few new re-listings of homes that were on the market more recently, and a few new listings here and there for agents and their buyers to bargain over. Two new listings caught my eye this week, both on prime streets and well-priced under $3,500,000 near the Lower Village. If they are still available in a week, I will feature them next time, but I suspect they will be in escrow before this article hits the newsstands, so I left them be for now.

What draws my attention the most with our market at this moment is that our “pending pipeline” (properties under contract and in escrow in the MLS), which has been 50+/- properties deep month to month during the rush from May to December, is now quite low, with only 18 homes in escrow in Montecito on January 23. Fewer homes in escrow now, means fewer homes closing escrow and changing hands in the coming weeks or month. So, I expect January sales to be more in line with other years (20-25 sales) and perhaps February to be the same, give or take.

However, the stat that inspired my focus for this article is that three of the 18 homes in escrow are priced over ten million dollars. That sector of the market has really been moving. Montecito normally sees on average five or seven homes selling each year in the $10,000,000+ range. In 2020 we had more like 20+ homes over $10 million sell, between those reported in the MLS (15) and those that were sold off market, (5+/- that I am aware of).

Here is a look at four homes priced over $10,000,000 that have been on the market a while now and are surprisingly still available. One is on a prime, 2+ acre lot on Picacho Lane, another is a 9+ acre compound on Toro Canyon. And please note that one could purchase both featured properties on Lilac Drive and bring them together under one owner (properties share a private drive and are adjacent to one another). If a buyer did this they would have 5.6 prime acres, 10 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms in over 20,000 square feet of living space between the two homes, not to mention two pools, three cottages/guest houses, parking for dozens of cars, multiple garages, etc… all on a private drive. Now these two properties are listed separately and with different companies and agents, but if combined they are listed at $32,000,000+/-. Not bad if you need a compound of that magnitude. I would seriously consider doing this if it were my lottery year and I had a bigger family and entourage. Enjoy the view.

848 Picacho Lane - $13,750,000

T

his elegant, Jon Sorrell-designed and newly built home, combined with ocean and mountain views from this beautiful site, provide an incredible opportunity to purchase the only home actively for sale on the prestigious east side of Picacho lane, where recent sales include a four-acre estate that just closed escrow for $15,750,000 as well as two off market sales that were both over $40,000,000 in the past few months.

This is currently THE street and this home is on THE side of the street where the lots (and prices) are generally bigger (except for the historic Las Tejas estate of course on the west side of Picacho). Enjoy custom details and stone accents throughout this two-story estate home. The voluminous entry expresses open-

ness, providing a worthy introduction to the remainder of the home.

Spread out in the 7,200+/- square foot residence and enjoy the five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a ground floor bedroom and air conditioning throughout. The artful blend of hardscape and landscape elements merge and utilize the 2.19 acres of premier outdoor living spaces. This offering comes complete with a private well and is located within the Montecito Union School District.

975 Lilac Drive - $14,900,000

O

cean views, timeless architecture, and world-class craftsmanship coalesce in a magical Montecito location. Designed by Marc Appleton and built by Unander Construction, Villa Ravello is an incredible estate with understated elegance and an easy sense of sophistication. Long sitelines showcase thoughtful details throughout the 10,500+/- square foot home.

Nearly every room opens to a terrace and different natural beauty: the sea, mountains, lacy oak trees, or lush lawns. Here, indoor/outdoor integration is seamless. The guest house is ideal for extended visitors and the pool/cabana call for fun. Meander the property, find private outdoor spaces, and spend time on the patios and balconies overlooking the lawn, ocean views, and quiet tree covered areas.

A detached office lets you keep work at bay and is perfect for creative endeavors. With ample spaces for formal entertaining as well as casual everyday moments, Villa Ravello is a luxury estate, in a prime location within the Montecito Union School District.

545 Toro Canyon Road - $14,900,000

T • Available to care for our neighbors, and accepting new patients.

• Infection control protocol followed, with all areas sanitized including wait area and exam room.

1483 E. Valley Road, Suite M | 805.969.6090

32 MONTECITO JOURNAL

oday more than ever, Valley Heart Ranch (VHR), has come to define the effortless appeal of a modern ranch where one can live, work, exercise, pursue hobbies, and more. Spread out over 9.5 acres on three parcels in the lower foothills of Toro Canyon, VHR is home to orchards, ocean views, a barn, coops, corrals, and much more. All of this in a close in location just up the hill from Padaro Lane.

Through the expert eye of Becker Studios, VHR has become a modern oasis. In addition to the four-bedroom main residence, resort-style amenities include: two guest houses, ocean-view pool, equestrian arena with chic event

“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.” – Brad Paisley

28 January – 4 February 2021

barn, ocean-view gym, sport lawn, garage/indoor sport court, fully operational, state-of-the-art ranch infrastructure, and award-winning coffee bean orchards.

A playground for all things California, Valley Heart Ranch presents an opportunity to own a significant piece of paradise along the Santa Barbara coast and is surrounded by other estate level properties including the house Ellen DeGeneres sold last year for $33,000,000, I believe.

945 Lilac Drive - $16,995,000

E

xceptionally private and secure, this 9,400+/- square foot home and property have been extensively remodeled, creating a European-inspired Contemporary estate showcasing the breathtaking ocean, island, and mountain vistas.

Nestled serenely on approximately three picturesque acres in one of Montecito’s most sought-after neighborhoods, this grand estate is the result of the collaboration between award-winning builder Allen Construction, inter-

Matthew Pifer, MD

nationally acclaimed architecture and design firm Harrison Design, and the visionary landscape architects of Arcadia Studio.

The impressive list of luxurious amenities includes an infinity pool and spa, two expansive porticos designed with alfresco dining in mind, an outdoor kitchen and generous seating areas, a movie theater reminiscent of Old Hollywood, an impressive wine cellar/ tasting room, air conditioning, a sizable guest house, and a spacious four-car garage.

Walls of folding and sliding doors invite an abundance of natural light while capitalizing on the stunning grounds and panoramic views, and double as a welcoming gateway to the alluring porticos beyond. Additionally, homes on Lilac Drive are within the Montecito Union School District.

•MJ

“Santa Barbara’s Premier Shoulder Expert”

Specializes in Shoulder, Sports Medicine and Biologic Therapies

Board Certified in Orthopedic Surgery, Specializing in Shoulder, Sports Medicine & Biologics (with an Emphisis in PRP & Stem Cells)

SERVICES

Shoulder Surgery | Knee Surgery | Sports Medicine | PRP Stem Cell | Rotator Cuff Repair | Shoulder Replacement Shoulder Instablility Treatment 28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

Contact us to schedule an appointment today.

805.967.9311 matthewpifermd.com MONTECITO JOURNAL

33

Miscellany (Continued from page 18) way, way worse,” he reflected, before crediting “recovery, sobriety, and therapy” for saving his life.

CEO and founder of Tempus, Eric Lefkofsky

Sticking it to Him

Montecito funnyman Steve Martin has received his coronavirus vaccination.

The Father of the Bride star was given the first dose of the COVID-19 shot in New York and praised “the smooth as silk” service.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “Good news/bad news. Good news: I Just got vaccinated. Bad news: I got it because I’m 75. Ha!...Thank you all and thank you science.”

Steve, who lives in Toro Canyon, signed up online through a New York City government website and waited in line at Javits Center for his injection.

At the age of 67, I am in the next tier – over 65 – eligible for the vaccine and will happily be making an appointment in due course.

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Serial real estate flipper Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, sold their 10,674 sq. ft. Balinese-style Montecito estate for $33.3 million, pocketing a handsome $6.3 million profit in November.

But the buyer of the five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bath home on three parcels over 9.3 acres, remained a secret until now.

Our rarefied enclave’s latest resident is Eric Lefkofsky, 51, CEO and founder of Tempus, a technology company that enables physicians to deliver personalized cancer care, and co-founder and chairman of Groupon, a global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with

local merchants.

Lefkofsky’s net worth is around $4.2 billion, according to Forbes.

Home Videos

It may be good news or bad news for Montecito resident Meghan Markle, wife of Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson.

Her father Thomas Markle, 76, is making a documentary about his life and says the film will feature previously unseen home videos and photographs of the Duchess of Sussex.

Meghan, 39, has not seen her father since before her 2018 wedding to Harry at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, when he had to cancel walking the former actress down the aisle because of a heart problem.

Markle, a retired Hollywood lighting director who lives in Mexico, says the documentary “begins with my life, my family, my love of theater and television, and how I got there.

“Then my life and Meghan, growing up, her school days until she went off to college, and when her career began.”

I’m sure Meghan can’t wait...

Youth Symphony Concerto Competition Goes Virtual

The Santa Barbara Symphony has announced the annual Youth Symphony Concerto competition, a longstanding tradition of providing

the county’s finest young musicians the opportunity to be featured as a soloist with the youth symphony.

For the first time, the event will be virtual, and this year’s competition, normally only open to members of the symphony’s programs, is now open to any student up to the age 18 residing in Santa Barbara County that studies an instrument other than a traditional orchestral instrument.

“During these uncertain times, our music programs are more vital than ever, given their ability to support the social and emotional well-being of students, and their ability to foster community,” says Kristine PachecoBernt, the symphony’s director of education.

“While this year ’s Concerto Competition will look a little different, we’re so excited to be able to continue this prestigious opportunity for our students and show case their talent.”

Students interested in applying must complete an online application available on the symphony’s website

by February 7.

Young Artists Shine

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara has named 22 student artists as winners of its art scholarship competition.

Each will receive a colleague scholarship for the 2021-22 academic year.

“Under normal circumstances we would hold the competition at the Ridley-Tree Education Center and host a reception for the winners at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art the following week,” says foundation president and CEO Barbara Robertson.

“We worked hard to adapt to the current moment, and are proud to recognize these talented young artists.”

Each year the foundation invites high school seniors to submit a portfolio of original work for its scholarship competition. Prominent local artists Anthony Askew and Patti Jacquemain judged the submissions.

Forty-seven students competed this year, with each winner receiving a $2,500 scholarship, with the Schall

Family best of show winner, Isaac Babus, a senior at Dos Pueblos High, receiving an additional $1,000.

Mighty MOXI Members

MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, has six new members on its board of directors, with incumbent director Alixe Mattingly, who has been on the board for nine years, as the new chair.

Her new cohorts are Lily Hahn, Stephen Leider, Kirsten McLaughlin, Deji Olukotun, Amber Kaplan Sprague, and Casey Summer.

The volunteer board works directly with museum’s president and chief executive officer Robin Gose to oversee and support the organization’s commitments to its mission to ignite learning through interactive experiences in science and creativity.

Remembering a Broadcasting Legend

On a personal note, I remember TV talk show titan Larry King, who has died in Los Angeles aged 87.

Recognized by his trademark suspenders and black rimmed glasses, I appeared on his CNN show innumerable times over the years talking about the Royal Family.

Initially I started doing the show from the network’s studio at Manhattan’s Penn Plaza, but in later years I would catch the Amtrak train from Penn Station to Washington, D.C. to meet him face to face, which I preferred to the then Eastern Airlines shuttle.

Given his international outreach, friends in London and Cornwall, where I started my career, could watch me gushing forth on Queen Elizabeth and her family from 3,000 miles away.

Larry, who held the job for 25 years making it CNN’s longest running show, was eventually replaced by another old friend, Piers Morgan, who now co-anchors a U.K. morning show and writes as a columnist for the London Daily Mail, my former employer.

He collected innumerable accolades, including several Cable ACE and Peabody Awards.

A true broadcasting legend...

Sightings are suspended during the total lockdown ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom, hopefully to return in due course.

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

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

34 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Scholarship Foundation Best in Show winner Isaac Babus (photo by Isaac Hernandez)

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” – Oprah Winfrey

Pip! Pip! - Be safe and wear a mask •MJ

28 January – 4 February 2021

Dear Montecito

Brilliant Thoughts

by Stella Haffner

Montecito Alumni Write Letters from Life’s Front

T

oday’s letter is a guided tour of Santa Barbara from Maxx Christal. Maxx is a Crane and Laguna Blanca alum who was known as something of an adrenaline junkie back in our high school days – almost certainly a reputation he earned after volunteering to go first on every climb and zip line during class trips. The infection that took his sight at five years old has not managed to impede his accomplishments as a camper, surfer, or skier; all of which I find very impressive since going downhill on a bicycle gives me the willies.

Although you might expect the loss of one’s sight to define a person, anyone who talks to Maxx’s friends or family will hear that he is characterized by his drive for personal development, his enduring positivity as a team player, and his humor. Please enjoy this letter of Maxx’s favorite stops around our city.

Dear Montecito,

Hi, my name is Maxx Christal, and I moved to Santa Barbara in 2004 from Los Angeles.

I love Santa Barbara for all the outdoor activities. One of my favorite spots is Ellwood Butterfly Preserve. It is an easy hike for me to navigate, and I love to walk through the woods all the way to the beach. I also like to go to the beach. Sometimes, I will just put my legs in the water, but then other times I will surf with the help of Chad. The first time I surfed was with Best Day Foundation and from that point on, came to love going out and riding the waves and getting pushed through the water. I love the tide pools too. Once I was tide pooling, and Chad picked up an octopus as big as my arms and its suction cups stuck on to my hands, and it felt extremely weird.

On the weekends I like to walk around. Because I use a cane, it is nice to walk downtown and explore.

Another one of my favorite spots to stop is the Natural History Museum.

My favorite lunch spot is Los Agaves, and I love getting smoothies at Ah Juice. Robert always says a big warm hi whenever I walk through the door.

I really enjoy talking with him, and he makes me the best almond butter, chocolate banana smoothie. Delicious!

Other activities I do with the help of an organization called Eyeshine.

This group helps kids that are blind or have other disabilities do activities like skiing, fishing, camping, surfing. They also hold Zoom classes right now that help me stay connected with other kids 28 January – 4 February 2021

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

Secrets

I

Some of Maxx Christal’s favorite weekend activities in town include surfing, Pilates, and horseback riding

and teach phone skills and Spanish lessons. For the holidays, we did a talent show that was really fun. I did poetry, and we were able to show our talents with many people watching even as far as Norway. My favorite time with Eyeshine was going to Big Bear to ski.

Nothing better than feeling the nice cool breeze on your face as I zoom down the mountain. I enjoy the speed and there is no better place than Santa Barbara to experience it all. I have even gone skydiving here.

My typical day in Santa Barbara is going to the beach and doing physical therapy and Pilates at The Training Center. I am constantly trying to improve my mobility and strength to keep up with activities I love to do. On the weekends I love to surf and horseback ride.

My goal is to eventually go to a college and be able to help charitable organizations. I became interested in charities through Crane School and Laguna Blanca. Both schools helped me get involved with storytellers, trash pick up, donating socks, the food bank, Direct Relief, and Hands4others.

I would eventually like to help kids that have disabilities learn to have fun in ways that they might not think possible. I love to travel and through a college I hope to get involved with a program where I can travel to other parts of the world and help from anything to building wells for water to teaching kids.

Best, Maxx P.S. Parents of Montecito children, if you have recommendations on people to feature in “Dear Montecito” please contact me, stellajanepierce@gmail. com •MJ

suppose we nearly all have, or have had, secrets of some kind.

Probably one of the most common kinds concerns some hidden object.

Stores used to sell a little magnetic box called a “Hide-a-Key,” in which you could put your car keys, and attach it to some unseen part of your car. But thieves became so adept at locating these containers (which were usually put in the same easily reachable part of the car) that the whole idea soon lost traction.

The classic metaphors on this subject, for some reason, concern the hiding of human remains – e.g. having “a skeleton in the closet,” or knowing “where all the bodies are buried.”

But the world’s biggest secrets have had to do with warfare. There was of course the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, which Japan kept nicely up its sleeve.

Then came the terrible retribution of the atomic bomb – a huge project involving thousands of people – which was successfully concealed over several years. And in between, we had “D-Day.” Everybody knew an invasion of Europe was coming, but the big secret was, exactly when and where?

Among attempts to conceal the truth about that event, an elaborate hoax was staged, in which the body of a supposed Allied official carrying supposed secret invasion plans, after a supposed plane crash at sea, was found, under such circumstances as to ensure that the false information was conveyed to Nazi authorities.

Speaking of whom, nobody in the German public, or anywhere else, knew that Hitler had a long-time girlfriend named Eva Braun, until after they died together, as suicides, in the 1945 collapse of Berlin.

Another kind of secret, which has had an explosive rebirth in our time, is the PASSWORD. This concept can be traced back at least as far as Old Testament times, when, as the story goes, two warring tribes spoke the same language, but different dialects, in which the “S” sound was pronounced differently. So, the word for an ear of corn became the password.

The word was “SHIBBOLETH,” which to this day signifies some “give-away” which distinguishes one group from another.

But nowadays the password phenomenon has become so complex that some people, in their regular activities, have to remember as many as ten or twenty different ones. This, of

• The Voice of the Village •

course, all ties in with concerns about “security” and “identity.” Not to mention our current topic of “secrecy.”

Then there are team sports, particularly American football (though it has now spread internationally) in which opposing teams secretly discuss and plan their strategy right on the field, in a circular head-to-head formation called a “HUDDLE.” And of course, much secrecy attaches to the subject of BURIED TREASURE, whether the putative treasure be on land or at the bottom of the sea – or even in an un-mined seam of precious ore, or an untapped deposit of mercury or pool of oil. In every case, the finder(s) must guard their discovery from possible competitors. Hence all the stories about secret maps.

But it is governments which have most to lose in terms of secret information. Techniques of espionage can be traced back at least as far as the 5th Century BC, in ancient China. It has therefore been governments (at least until the computer age, which has made it possible for everybody to get into the act) which were most responsible for the development of codes, and devices for decoding encrypted messages. Momentous events of World War II hinged upon such factors as a Japanese code called “Magic” and a German encryption machine called “Enigma.”

Most secret of all, however, are the thoughts within our own heads which, despite torture, hypnosis, money, drugs, threats, sex, and simple persuasion, are the hardest of all concealed data to be successfully extracted from unwilling and uncooperative brains. Of course, many of us harbor secrets which, for better or worse, nobody else is interested in. This may particularly apply to things we remember which everyone else has forgotten about – the phenomenon of the “guilty secret,” sometimes leading to another time-honored occurrence – the legendary “deathbed confession.”

But my own darkest secret may surprise you – it was my own name! I didn’t mind the “Brilliant,” but I hated the “Ashleigh Ellwood,” because for some crazy reason, my parents never used it (except in anger), but called me “Junior” (although my father’s name was Victor). For years, I used “John Brilliant,” but it took all my courage, when I turned 21, to reveal my secret to the world.

•MJ MONTECITO JOURNAL

35

Senior Portrait

by Zach Rosen

Darryl Hickman After eighty years of acting, writing, and teaching, Darryl Hickman’s newest creative endeavor is painting

Whether it is dancing, acting, or painting, Darryl has discovered that the creative process is about pursuing unconscious intuition, not conscious thoughts and self doubts (painting titled “My Secret Place”)

C

reativity comes in many forms, yet is unique to each individual pursuing it. However our own unique creativity cannot be expressed until we explore it. The illustrious career of Darryl Hickman represents a lifelong pursuit of creativity and discovering the unknown. Darryl has been called the “the ultimate Hollywood hyphenate” with an over eighty-year career as an actor, dancer, writer, producer, and director that has spanned film, television, theater, and radio. Darryl was born in Los Angeles and says he “came out ready to sing and dance.” At an early age, his mother encouraged him to believe in himself and that each person is gifted with a divine creativity that is waiting to be discovered, an idea that would shape his lifelong creative pursuits. When Darryl was three, he joined the Meglin Kiddies Studio that taught Shirley

Temple and other child performers.

Darryl had a knack for dancing and soon found himself learning from Hollywood and industry masters. It was while working on The Star Maker that he met Bing Crosby, who took a liking to him and connected Darryl to his brother, Everett Crosby, who was a well-established agent in Hollywood.

After doing some more films for Paramount Studios, Darryl found himself at Fox Studios in a “cattle call” with about 500 other children auditioning for the role of Winfield Joad in John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath.

With no real resumé or acting classes to speak of, he was shocked to receive the role playing opposite of Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. After 22 weeks of filming, his mother asked Ford why he picked Darryl. Ford said that it was because he thought that Darryl would be Winfield Joad versus acting

Coastal Hideaways

Inc.

805 969-1995 Luxury Vacation Rentals Short or Long Term

WATER WELLS • Most local, 30 years • Most responsive

Interior Design Services also available Hire the best in the industry to manage your income property.

• Permits & Well Drilling • Pumps-­‐‑Tanks-­‐‑Controls • Buried Tanks • Best value

STEWART, JESUS & CREW

(805) 331-­‐‑0845 CA License 584595

36 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Please stop in and visit us 25 years serving the Santa Barbara community

Melissa M. Pierson, Owner 1211 Coast Village Road #4 Montecito, CA 93108 Vacations@coastalhideaways.com www.coastalhideaways.com

like him, an insight that would be the theme of Darryl’s entire career.

By the time Darryl was 18, he had been in almost 100 movies alongside some of the Hollywood greats like Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable, and Judy Garland, among many others.

By his early twenties, Darryl was working a lot in television and had become friends with Loretta Young.

When she started her dramatic anthology series, The Loretta Young Show, he wanted to write something for himself and asked if she would be interested in featuring it. She liked the script and ran it on the show. He ended up writing five more episodes for the series. This began his career as a creative writer in television that expanded to screenplays, musicals, song lyrics, and more over the years.

Having been in film acting since he was a child, he wanted to explore something new and became interested in live theater, moving to New York City to pursue Broadway. Although Darryl admits his dancing outshines his singing, he knew how to perform a song. After some brushing up on both before his auditions, he was accepted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, replacing Robert Morse in the starring role for over a year. He notes that this was the first time he received actual acting classes. He eventually directed several plays and as he continued acting and writing, Darryl began to move into directing and producing, working in a variety of directorial and programming roles for CBS and his own independent endeavors over the years.

During this time Darryl had also started teaching musical theater at the Herbert Berghof Studio and in 1971, he established his own acting class at the Triangle Theatre in NYC. Darryl immediately took to teaching, finding it to be just a different kind of performance. He realized that he

“There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis

As detailed in his book, Darryl’s acting process stemmed from his experience of not being a traditionally trained actor

had never really had acting classes so he didn’t have the wisdom and techniques of previous teachers to pull from, but he did have the experience working with the best in the business during the formative Golden Age of Hollywood. What Ford had glimpsed in him all those years ago became his method, teaching students how to be their character and not just act like them. Pulling from his own experiences, he focused on how to quiet conscious thought of what one knows and allow the unconscious mind to tap into the innate creativity that rests in each one of us. He eventually moved back to L.A. to continue teaching his acting workshop, Process, instructing four classes at a time for the next twenty years. It was in his classes that he met his now wife, Lynda. She had been a Rockette and in several commercials but discovered that she preferred to be behind the scenes. She even helped edit and self-publish his book, The Unconscious Actor: Out of Control, In Full Command, that detailed his experiences, process, 28 January – 4 February 2021

In painting and Darryl’s other creative endeavors, he seeks to discover what he doesn’t know (painting titled “Wild Abstraction”)

and approach to acting.

About twenty years ago, after decades of performing, writing, producing, directing, and teaching, Darryl was understandably ready to relax a bit. He had visited Montecito and the area on the weekends and had taken a liking to it. Deciding that he wanted to move there, Lynda left her job as a personal secretary for Hearst Entertainment and they’ve been living in Montecito ever since. Over the years he has not put his creativity to rest. Darryl had painted off and on

throughout his life, but it really drew him in when he painted a Christmas gift for Lynda two years ago. Since then he has fallen in love with painting, filling their Montecito home with his artworks. Lynda is his “partner in painting,” providing meaningful input that helps shape the outcome of each piece.

Darryl will be turning 90 this year in July and he says, “the way I paint is the way I want to live the rest of my life.” Just like with his other creative endeavors, Darryl paints from a place

From decades of working in Hollywood to his recent paintings, Darryl has spent his life pursuing creativity

of not knowing, listening, and trusting his inner self and allowing his unconscious mind to color the canvas. From his experience painting to his decades performing and teaching, Darryl feels that creativity is in each and every one of us, waiting to be explored. He says that one of the keys to his career is that he never stopped himself. If there was something he wanted to do, he would just do it without question, and encourages everyone else to do the

same. All too often, our self-doubt gets in the way of self-discovery. Darryl would like to see everyone pursue their creative side, letting go of any conscious hesitation and embracing divine intuition. For Darryl, creativity is not a metric of what we know but a path to be discovered in each moment by exploring the unknown in every one of us, clearing each step along the way with the swipe of a brush or stride of a dance.

•MJ

Paul A. Roberts and Karen K. Peabody, Family Law Attorneys, Join Price, Postel & Parma The firm’s new Family Law practice specializes in handling complex high asset marital dissolution proceedings.

Their focus is on guiding clients during major life events, such as prenuptial agreements, dissolutions, post-judgment matters, and the establishment and modification of spousal and child support and custody orders.

We invite you to visit our website at www.ppplaw.com to learn more about PP&P’s attorneys and practice areas.

200 East Carrillo Street, Ste. 400, Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2190 805 962-0011 28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

37

Notice Inviting Bids RECYCLED WATER DISTRIBUTION PUMP STATION UPGRADE Bid No. 5585 1.

Bid Submission. The City of Santa Barbara (“City”) will accept electronic bids for its Recycled Water Distribution Pump Station Upgrade Project (“Project”), by or before Thursday, March 4, 2021, at 3 PM, through its PlanetBids portal. Bidders must be registered on the City of Santa Barbara’s PlanetBids portal in order to submit a Bid proposal and to receive addendum notifications. Each bidder is responsible for making certain that its Bid Proposal is actually submitted/uploaded with sufficient time to be received by PlanetBids prior to the bid opening date and time. Large files may take more time to be submitted/uploaded to PlanetBids, so plan accordingly. The receiving time on the PlanetBids server will be the governing time for acceptability of bids.

Telegraphic, telephonic, hardcopy, and facsimile bids will not be accepted.

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

Bid results and awards will be available on PlanetBids.

2.

Project Information.

2.1 Location and Description. The Project is located at 520 E. Yanonali St, and is described as follows: Upgrades to Recycled Water Distribution Pump Station at the El Estero Wastewater Treatment Plant, including; five new vertical turbine pumps with new pumps and motors; electrical equipment including motor controls, variable speed drives, motor control center, conduit and wire, and accessories; new chlorine residual analyzers, piping, and accessories; replacement of a flow meter on the Recycled Water Storage Tank; installation of a new pressure transmitter; and associated demolition.

2.2 Time for Final Completion. The Project must be fully completed within 200 working days from the start date set forth in the Notice to Proceed. City anticipates that the Work will begin on or about April 15, 2021, but the anticipated start date is provided solely for convenience and is neither certain nor binding.

2.3 Estimated Cost. The estimated construction cost is $1,600,000.

3.

License and Registration Requirements.

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

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

4.

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

5.

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

6.

Prevailing Wage Requirements.

6.1 General. Pursuant to California Labor Code § 1720 et seq., this Project is subject to the prevailing wage requirements applicable to the locality in which the Work is to be performed for each craft, classification or type of worker needed to perform the Work, including employer payments for health and welfare, pension, vacation, apprenticeship and similar purposes.

6.2 Rates. These prevailing rates are on file with the City and are available online at http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSR. Each Contractor and Subcontractor must pay no less than the specified rates to all workers employed to work on the Project. The schedule of per diem wages is based upon a working day of eight hours. The rate for holiday and overtime work must be at least time and one-half.

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

7.

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

8.

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

9.

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

10.

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

11.

Mandatory Bidders’ Conference. A bidders’ conference will be held on February 18, 2021 at 10:00 AM at the project site for the purpose of acquainting all prospective bidders with the Contract Documents and the Worksite. The bidders’ conference is mandatory and bids will not be accepted from contractors not attending this site meeting. Bidders are responsible for bringing and wearing face masks and following social distancing guidelines while in attendance.

12.

Specific Brands. Pursuant to referenced provision(s) of Public Contract Code section 3400(c), City has found that the following specific brands are required for the following particular material(s), product(s), thing(s), or service(s), and no substituti ons will be considered or accepted:

Item: Variable Frequency Drives Motor Controls/Starters/VFD’s Magnetic Flow Meters Pump Motors Chlorine Residual Analyzers Conductivity Probe

Required brand: Schneider Eaton Rosemount U.S. Motors Wallace & Tiernan Hach

By: ___________________________________

Reference: Section 3400 Section 3400 Section 3400 Section 3400 Section 3400 Section 3400

(c)(2) (c)(2) (c)(2) (c)(2) (c)(2) (c)(2)

Date: ________________

William Hornung, General Services Manager Publication Dates: 1) January 20, 2021

2) January 27, 2021 END OF NOTICE INVITING BIDS

38 MONTECITO JOURNAL

“You gotta find your best self and when you do, you gotta hold on to it for dear life.” – Cheryl Strayed

28 January – 4 February 2021

CITY OF SANTA BARBARA - GENERAL SERVICES DIVISION PO BOX 1990, SANTA BARBARA, CA 93102-1990 INVITATION FOR BIDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that sealed bids will be received via electronic transmission on the City of Santa Barbara PlanetBids portal site until the date and time indicated below at which time they will be publicly opened and posted for: BID NO. 5887 DUE DATE & TIME: FEBRUARY 16, 2021 UNTIL 3:00 P.M. AIRPORT TERMINAL BAGGAGE CLAIM MODIFICATION PROJECT Scope of Work: To modify and extend the width of the baggage slide in the baggage claim area at SBA, by two feet, over the entire width (Baggage Claim 1 – 4) of the current bag claim area. In addition, construct a 4-sided column and wall adjacent to door 145B to accommodate the installation of a new counter (installed by others).

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

If further information is needed, contact Caroline Ortega, Senior Buyer at (805) 564-5351 or email: COrtega@santabarbaraca.gov A MANDATORY pre-bid meeting will be held on February 4, 2021 at 10:00 a.m., at the Airport Terminal Lobby, located at 500 Fowler Road, Santa Barbara, CA, to discuss the specifications and field conditions. Please be punctual since late arrivals may be excluded from submitting a bid. Bids will not be considered from parties that did not attend the mandatory meeting. Free Parking is available for job walk east of Hangar 5 at 204 Moffett Place, Goleta. Vendors may park in spaces labeled “Airport Department Only”. All attendees are responsible for bringing, wearing a facemask on-site, following current CDC, and Santa Barbara County Public Health social distancing guidelines.

FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE ACT Contractor agrees in accordance with Section 1735 and 1777.6 of California Labor Code, and the California Fair Employment Practice Act (Sections 1410-1433) that in the hiring of common or skilled labor for the performance of any work under this contract or any subcontract hereunder, no contractor, material supplier or vendor shall, by reason of age (over 40), ancestry, color, mental or physical disability, sex, gender identity and expression, marital status, medical condition (cancer or genetic characteristics), national origin, race, religious belief, or sexual orientation, discriminate against any person who is qualified and available to perform the work to which such employment relates. The Contractor further agrees to be in compliance with the City of Santa Barbara’s Nondiscriminatory Employment Provisions as set forth in Chapter 9 of the Santa Barbara Municipal Code.

BONDING Bidder shall furnish a Bid Guaranty Bond in the form of a money order, a cashier’s certified check, or bond payable to the order of the City, amounting to ten percent (10%) of the bid. Bonds must be signed by the bidder and a corporate surety, who is authorized to issue bonds in the State of California.

Note: All bids must be accompanied by a copy of the bid security uploaded to PlanetBids. Only the original bid security of the three (3) lowest bidders must be mailed or delivered to the Purchasing Office in a sealed envelope and be received within (3) City business days of the bid due date and time for the bid to be considered.

Bidders are hereby notified that a Payment Bond in the amount of 100% of the bid total will be required from the successful bidder for bids exceeding $25,000. The bond must be provided with ten (10) calendar days from notice of award and prior to the performance of any work. The bond must be signed by the bidder and a corporate surety, who is authorized to issue bonds in the State of California.

Bidders are hereby notified that a separate Performance Bond in the amount of 100% of the bid total will be required from the successful bidder for bids exceeding $25,000. The bond must be provided with ten (10) calendar days from notice of award and prior to the performance of any work. The bond must be signed by the bidder and a corporate surety, who is authorized to issue bonds in the State of California.

PREVAILING WAGE, APPRENTICES, PENALTIES, & CERTIFIED PAYROLL In accordance with the provisions of Labor Code § 1773.2, the Contractor is responsible for determining the correct prevailing wage rates. However, the City will provide wage information for projects subject to Federal Davis Bacon requirements. The Director of Industrial Relations has determined the general prevailing rates of wages and employer payments for health, welfare, vacation, pensions and similar purposes applicable, which is on file in the State of California Office of Industrial Relations. The contractor shall post a copy of these prevailing wage rates at the site of the project. It shall be mandatory upon the contractor to whom the contract is awarded and its subcontractors hired to pay not less than the said prevailing rates of wages to all workers employed by him in the execution of the contract (Labor Code § 1770 et seq.).

Prevailing wage rates are available at http://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/PWD/index.htm It is the duty of the contractor and subcontractors to employ registered apprentices and to comply with all aspects of Labor Code § 1777.5. There are penalties required for contractor’s/subcontractor’s failure to pay prevailing wages and for failure to employ apprentices, including forfeitures and debarment under Labor Code §§ 1775, 1776, 1777.1, 1777.7 and 1813. Under Labor Code § 1776, contractors and subcontractors are required to keep accurate payroll records. The prime contractor is responsible for submittal of their payrolls and those of their subcontractors as one package. Payroll records shall be certified and made available for inspection at all reasonable hours at the principal office of the contractor/subcontractor pursuant to Labor Code § 1776.

The contractor and all subcontractors under the direct contractor shall furnish certified payroll records directly to the Labor Compliance Unit and to the department named in the Purchase Order/Contract at least monthly, and within ten (10) days of any request from any request from the City or the Labor Commissioner in accordance with Section 16461 of the California Code of Regulations. Payroll records shall be furnished in a format prescribed by section 16401 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, with use of the current version of DIR's “Public Works Payroll Reporting Form” (A-1-131) and “Statement of Employer Payments” (DLSE Form PW26) constituting presumptive compliance with this requirement, provided the forms are filled out accurately and completely. In lieu of paper forms, the Compliance Monitoring Unit may provide for and require the electronic submission of certified payroll reports. The provisions of Article 2 and 3, Division 2, Chapter 1 of the Labor Code, State of California, are made by this reference a part of this quotation or bid.

A contractor or subcontractor shall not be qualified to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal, subject to the requirements of Section 4104 of the Public Contract Code, or engage in the performance of any contract for public work, as defined in this chapter, unless currently licensed to perform the work and registered pursuant to Labor Code § 1725.5 without limitation or exception. It is not a violation of this section for an unlicensed contractor to submit a bid that is authorized by Section 7029.1 of the Business and Professions Code or by Section 20103.5 of the Public Contract Code, provided the contractor is registered to perform public work pursuant to Section 1725.5 at the time the contract is awarded. This project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations.

CERTIFICATIONS In accordance with California Public Contracting Code § 3300, the City requires the Contractor to possess a valid California Class B – General Building contractor’s license at time the bids are opened and to continue to hold during the term of the contract all licenses and certifications required to perform the work specified herein.

CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE Contractor must submit to the contracted department within ten (10) calendar days of an order, AND PRIOR TO START OF WORK, certificates of Insurance naming the City of Santa Barbara as Additional Insured in accordance with the attached Insurance Requirements. _______________________________ William Hornung, C.P.M. General Services Manager

28 January – 4 February 2021

Published: 1/27/21 Montecito Journal

• The Voice of the Village •

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, February 9, 2021, during the afternoon session of the meeting which begins at 2:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, City Hall, 735 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara. The hearing is to consider a Request for Initiation of a Specific Plan to allow medical clinic uses, affordable housing, and public uses, and a General Plan Amendment to change the land use designation to Office/Low Density Residential (5 dwelling units/acre), for the property located at 3237 State Street (APN 051-112-019) .The federally-owned property is in the process of being transferred to the Department of Indian Health Services (IHS), which intends to transfer it to American Indian Health and Services (AIHS) for use as a medical clinic. The 2.51-acre site is currently zoned RS-7.5/USS (Residential Single Unit, 7,500 sf minimum lot size/Upper State Street Area Overlay) and has a General Plan land use designation of Parks and Open Space.

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, February 4, 2021, an Agenda with all items to be heard on Tuesday, February 9, 2021, including the public hearing to consider this Initiation request, will be available online at www.SantaBarbaraCA.gov/CAP. The Agenda includes instructions for participation in the meeting. If you wish to participate in the public hearing, please follow the instructions on the posted Agenda.

(SEAL)

Sarah Gorman, MMC City Clerk Services Manager Published January 27, 2021 Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Take 5 Bodywork, 2020 Alameda Padre Serra, STE 104, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. Suzanna Young Everett, 1646 Loma St, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 12, 2021.

This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL).

FBN No. 2021-0000073. Published January 20, 27, February 3, 10, 2021.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Runner’s High, 6604 Sabado Tarde Rd, Unit B, Goleta, CA, 93117. Cole Diemer, 6604 Sabado Tarde Rd, Unit B, Goleta, CA, 93117. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 5, 2021.

This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL).

FBN No. 2021-0000028. Published January 13, 20, 27, February 3, 2021.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Biz In English, 735 State Street, Suite 220, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. Bubel Consulting, LLC, 735 State Street, Suite 220, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 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 of-

fice. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2020-0003016.

Published January 6, 13, 20, 27, 2021.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Maison K, 1253 Coast Village Road #205, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108.

Maison K, INC., 1253 Coast Village Road #205, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on December 17, 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. 2020-0003009. Published January 6, 13, 20, 27, 2021.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 21CV00078. To all interested parties: Petitioner Erik Edward Ladd Hoegh-Guldberg filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name of child from Joseph Dillon Rush to Joseph Dillon Hoegh-Guldberg. 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 January 13, 2021 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: March 23, 2021 at 10 am in Dept. 3, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

Published 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10

MONTECITO JOURNAL

39

In Passing

Barbara Tellefson: 1936-2020

Immigrant daughter from humble beginnings internalized her family’s “Lessons to Live By” and became a community hero by dedicating her life to serving people in crisis

U

nity Shoppe lost our matriarch and founder, Barbara Tellefson, after a brief bout with an aggressive illness. She was 84. Barbara’s singular focus and half-century of devotion to our Santa Barbara County community was in a league of its own, and in the days since her passing, this was confirmed by the scores of well-wishers describing her as “Saint Barbara,” an “unstoppable force for good,” “a walking heart of gold,” a woman who “inspired others to join her in moving mountains.” Kenny Loggins, a loyal friend and supporter of Barbara and Unity Shoppe for the past 35 years, said he would be “forever changed by experiencing this woman’s incredible grit and determination to find the means to help over one million people in Santa Barbara during her lifetime.”

B

arbara Tellefson prided herself on being a human rights champion with a strong work ethic, attributing both her pragmatism and stance in defense of basic human rights to the fundamental values instilled in her eight decades earlier by her family.

In the small southern town of Dinwiddie, Virginia, Barbara absorbed important life lessons as she worked alongside her parents as they learned the language and reinvented themselves in a new world with few resources. Emigres from Germany who managed to escape before the full onset of World War II and the atrocities of the Holocaust that would ensue, her family arrived in the United States penniless, but eventually cobbled together enough money to buy a simple side-of-the-highway motel with adjoining dinette and gas station.

Throughout her life, Barbara referred to those years in Dinwiddie as the place

40 MONTECITO JOURNAL

she developed a profound appreciation for “people of all kinds passing through on their lives’ journeys.”

Barbara’s father died in 1958, and her stepmother followed a few years later.

With both parents gone, Barbara was left to take care of her much younger brother, Stephen, a little boy at the time. After several years of low-paying jobs throughout the country in order to find a way to make ends meet and survive as a “single mother” on her own, Barbara arrived in Santa Barbara in the mid1960s – penniless and alone. She secured work as a travel agent in town and soon after met and married local engineer, Clair Tellefson, in 1969. It was then that Barbara vowed never to forget her roots or life’s rough patches and actively focus on volunteer work to help struggling single mothers raise their children, much like she had.

By 1973, Barbara began volunteering with Dr. Pearl Chase and the charity Dr. Chase founded in 1917 called the Council of Christmas Cheer where she served under Dr. Chase’s leadership for more than 20 years. When asked about those early years with the Council and why she remained for so long, Barbara explained: “I was immediately struck by how the Council welcomed and aided all Santa Barbarans – the young, old, rich and poor, people from all races, creeds, and colors.” As Dr. Chase was getting ready to retire, Barbara promised that she would “re-commit her life and resources” to helping the most vulnerable in the community as best as she could for as long as she could.

In 1983, Barbara was able to secure the Council’s first building to avoid the incredible hardship of repeated moves from rental spaces without notices at the whim of area landlords. By 1987, the Council was renamed Unity Shoppe thanks in part to the support of entertainer Kenny Loggins, whom she convinced to help her get local television station KEYT-TV as a partner in the production of a Unity Shoppe Telethon fundraiser in support of Santa Barbara’s low-income residents.

After several years of ups and downs, Barbara was ultimately able to achieve the kind of organizational stability and breadth of programming she felt were essential to keeping the nonprofit she founded open year-round and relevant.

In one of her last interviews she said, “All I’ve ever wanted was to find a way to build a ‘sustainable community of support’ so that Unity Shoppe could be ‘just the right place’ local residents facing an unforeseen crisis could go to avoid welfare dependence or even homelessness and, most of all, keep their families intact.”

But Barbara took it a step further, insisting that people in need should never be made to feel they had to turn over their dignity, autonomy, or independent decision-making in order to receive something in return. Thanks to Barbara, this sentiment has remained imbued in Unity Shoppe’s work core purpose to this day.

Barbara realized early on that temporary crises are inevitable and could occur at any time. Whether during the 2017-2018 Thomas Fire and Debris Flow, or with the impact of this latest COVID-19 pandemic, Unity Shoppe, under Barbara’s deft leadership, was able to undertake massive but focused programmatic overhauls to meet the specific needs of the community’s residents as they arose from each crisis.

And her vision survives her passing not only in Santa Barbara, where Unity Shoppe continues onward under new and similarly dedicated leadership, but also in cities like Nashville, Tennessee and Blacksburg, Virginia. In 2012,

“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

28 January – 4 February 2021

country singer Brad Paisley and his family volunteered at Unity Shoppe while visiting Santa Barbara and were so taken by how the mission was executed, they committed the next few years to replicating the model in their hometown of Nashville, calling it The Store and launching it two years later. In 2019, an alumni couple of Virginia Tech University put up the seed money to open The Market, after learning that many students attending their alma mater were struggling with food insecurity. Hema and Mehul Sanghani said their desire to create The Market was inspired in large part by the mission and tactics employed at Unity Shoppe under Barbara’s direction.

“When we strive to improve the economic situation or sense of hopelessness experienced by our neighbors, we mustn’t ever forget to show them respect and elevate their dignity at every turn.”

– Barbara Tellefson, 2020 Barbara was named Santa Barbara Woman of the Year, Soroptimist Woman of Distinction, California State Legislature Woman of the Year, and Santa Barbara Business and Professional Woman of the Year. She has been given Distinguished Service Awards by Anti-Defamation League, West Coast Seniors, the University of Notre Dame, and The California State PTA. The Points of Light Foundation in Washington, D.C. honored the Unity Shoppe with the President’s “Points of Light Award.” Barbara has been listed as an Honored Professional in the Nationwide Register of “Who’s Who” in Executives and Businesses. Barbara was also honored in Houston, Texas as one of 100 women nationwide for raising her voice to make a difference in her community and received letters of appreciation from Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, Governor Pete Wilson, and Senator Gary Hart. In 2019, she was nominated for the Santa Barbara Community Hero Award by the Rotary International Peace Conference, and her last award was perhaps the most fitting. in September, 2020 the United Nations Association, Santa Barbara Chapter, selected Barbara to receive the UN

Award for “Advancing Human Rights and Dignity.”

In 2015, Barbara had begun penning her life story but, unfortunately, was unable to complete the work before the onset of her illness and untimely passing. Above all else, Barbara dedicated herself to the people she helped; to her mother, father, brother, and husband whom she loved deeply, and to the staff of Unity Shoppe whom she cherished and considered family.

Barbara is preceded in death by Clair Tellefson who passed in 1994 (the two had no children of their own), Annelise Hohestein (birth mother), Hans Simmons (née Hans Simon, birth father), Angelica Simmons (sister), Jimmy Simmons (brother), Eva “Chava” Simon (sister), Sofie Menzel (second mother), and her loyal, fourlegged companion of many years, Kobi. She is survived by her birth family: Anita Graf Valoy of New York (niece) and Oren Tokatly (nephew) of Israel.

Barbara created an unconventional family too, adopting many into her heart and life, including Bernadette Tellefson (daughter-in-law), Tellef Tellefson (grandson), Lennon Tellefson (great-grandson), as well as her Unity Shoppe family which includes Elvira Avina, loyal to Barbara and Unity for over 29 years and whom Barbara considered a daughter, as well as Sammy Cook, Fernando Cuevas, Tricia Edwards, Donna Egeberg, Gerardo Figueroa, Vanessa Gonzales, Jan Hawkins, Patricia Hitchcock, David Holden, Lila Leon, Gloria Meldonian, Jeanette Moran, Christina Rodriguez, Beto Rodriguez, Vincent Romero, Consuelo Sierra, Jose Sierra, and Karina Vera.

Condolence donations honoring the enormity of Barbara’s legacy can be made to The Barbara E. Tellefson Building and Programs Fund at www.uni tyshoppe.org.

•MJ

Comprehensive Cancer Care. Close to Home.

SURGICAL ONCOLOGY ridleytreecc.org 540 W. Pueblo Street

Our trained surgeons specialize in various types of cancer including breast cancers and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and they provide comprehensive evaluation, treatment planning and surgical approaches to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients.

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

41

On Music

Beam Me Up: MAW’s 2021 Alumni Enterprise Award Winners Announced

by Steven Libowitz

M

usic Academy of the West (MAW) has always been a decidedly different sort of summer music festival for both the young fellows who hone their classical music skills and repertoire over an eight-week period from mid-June to mid-August each year. That’s because in addition to the academic offerings of its program – which is very exclusive as only about 140 applicants are admitted each year and which nearly all of the fellows describe as perhaps the most intense and expansive summer of their lives – there’s also a ton of community involvement beyond even the deeply engaged audiences.

The Compeer Program, for instance, matches fellows to community mem- Rich Coburn’s project “BIPOC Voices: The Library bers who provide support, connection, of Music for Voice and Orchestra by BIPOC Composers” is a proposed database of orchestratand mentorship.

But MAW’s involvement in the stu- ed vocal works by Black, Indigenous, and other composers of color (photo courtesy MAW) dents’ lives and careers doesn’t end there, and not only because many Compeers and fellows stay in touch and form friendships that last lifetimes. The last few years have also brought the MAW Alumni awards, which not only follow the fellows as they progress through their careers, but also, instead of asking for donations and a typical educational institute might, offers cash awards for innovative projects to help them progress, and to further seed the classical music industry with much-needed new ideas and platforms.

This year’s six winners – out of a total of 98 applicants – will receive a total of $85,000 in grants to complete their projects in 2021, with plans that address challenges from the pandemic, issues of social and racial justice and gender equality, bridging cultural divides and connecting underserved composers and musicians. The awardees will also participate in an Innovation Residential online in late March when industry heavyweights such as opera producers Beth Morrison, violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, 21C Media Group will lead interactive workshops and panels focusing on entrepreneurial strategies around marketing, fundraising, audience engagement, and interaction. Each winner will be partnered with a professional mentor with expertise connected to their project that will serve as an ongoing advisor.

We caught up with two of the winners to talk about their projects and their time at MAW. (Visit www.musicacademy.org for the complete list of winners and their projects).

Rich Coburn (vocal piano 2014) combines a career as a freelance pianist (including as a piano duo with his twin brother), organist, vocal coach, music director, and arranger with working as an educator who teaches entrepreneurship at McGill University among other endeavors. His project, “BIPOC Voices: The Library of Music for Voice and Orchestra by BIPOC Composers,” is a proposed database of orchestrated vocal works by Black, Indigenous, and other composers of color that also features samples of many previously un-recorded works to facilitate connections.

Q. What stands out from your summer here and what ways do those eight weeks perhaps still resonate or show up in your career?

A. It was the first big summer program I attended, and it did a lot in terms of building self-confidence and belief in myself. It’s such a wonderful environment. Between the coaches and the teachers and the other students, you learn a lot from just being around people of that caliber. Sometimes you’re stressed because you have performances, but the actual physical environment is so beautiful and relaxing that it makes it a really great place to get into an intensive discovery.

It seems that what you have done since leaving is to truly follow your desires, pursue things you think are important to do, which is relatively rare for young musicians

42 MONTECITO JOURNAL

with any measure of success.

That’s interesting to hear (because) today I consider myself an entrepreneur who makes music (rather than) a musician who dabbles in entrepreneurship.

That clicked for me when there was a (piano) job I was hoping to get in the States but the visas didn’t work out at the last minute. I was really disappointed because I thought it was the end of a long dry stretch, but it fell through.

That was the moment where I said to myself, Hey, are you going to spend your whole life waiting around for stuff to happen? Or are you going to go and figure out what you can do for yourself?

I wasn’t even thinking about making money or where my career was going, but when you work in contract work, you always have periods where you have downtime, so you find something fun to do. For me that was dabbling in entrepreneurship. I’ve found a field (conflict resolution, negotiating) that is interesting and that inspires me and that I feel is really helpful and important work. I’m grateful I can make that a big part of my life right now.

I can’t imagine anything more important in our world today than conflict resolution.

I’m wondering if the nexus between working as a collaborative pianist sets the table for that. The skills you need to have to work with another musician must apply to what you’re doing now, right? The more empathic you can be in music making, the better you’re going to be at conflict resolution.

Yeah, that absolutely resonates. One of the things that I do now is to teach freelancers and entrepreneurs about collaboration, about negotiation and creating empathy with people, especially in difficult situations. When I started doing that work, I realized that I had already been doing it for a long time in the rehearsal room, especially as a répétiteur (accompanist for opera singers), where you sometimes feel a little bit like a go-between. Sometimes you’re rehearsing with the singer separately, coaching them, but your job is not to take a position (but) to let the conductor get what they want, while the singers might have difficulty talking to the conductor. You have to find a way of negotiating and navigating and helping people understand each other so that they can work well together.

Even with the library that I’ve started building, the reason is much more than (only) helping opera companies find new works that are important and diverse.

Obviously in the States right now, it’s an important new beginning of a difficult period because people are trying to find ways to unify. But we are also a divided society in Canada. In Western societies in general, the question of how do you bring people together, or how do you help people who have different experiences of the world find common ground is a really interesting one.

As soon as you start to talk about politics or anything that people feel differently about, it’s really easy to get bristly and push the idea that you’re right.

But there are ways to spend time together and in community and to hold space for others which are easier. To me, the arts are one of those venues, whether it’s films or opera, or theater. I want this library to be successful because I believe that opera companies who are interested in (participating) have an opportunity to be real leaders in actually starting to tell some different stories, starting to introduce people to some new ideas, some new perspectives in a way which is gentle and in a way which people can be open to hearing. It’s not going to single-handedly revolutionize our societies, but I do think that it’s a very important step to help people from different ideologies and different lived experiences start to be able to think outside of what they’ve traditionally thought and perhaps come together around stories and experiences in a very gentle, almost imperceptible but still meaningful way.

May I ask how much the Black Lives Matters protests after the George Floyd killing influenced this project?

I’ve talked a bunch about this with my colleagues who are Black and American because our experiences of racism are drastically different. I often joke, but it’s true that here in Montreal, in the French-speaking province of Canada, that I’ve been discriminated against more as an English speaker in Quebec than as a Black person in Canada. Growing up, racism was something I knew about but was privileged to be able to ignore. Then I worked in Richmond, Virginia, two months after the Charlottesville protests. I walked around those parks in Charlottesville and saw the (Confederate) statues covered up with tarps. People would go in and rip off the tarps at night and the city workers would come back and put them on the next morning. It was an obviously untenable situation, and no one had been able to find a meaningful solution. That was the first time that I really started to understand a little bit what life was like for some of my black American colleagues. I had never been so aware of being Black. Now I live in Canada again but that really sensitized me to this issue.

So when I see opera companies making public statements about anti-Black racism and by extension about racism in general, it seemed to me like this is the time to do something productive, to capture that energy and capture that goodwill. But how we come together as a society, how we start to work together, how we start to disagree better with each other – it’s something I’ve been thinking

“And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.” – Meister Eckhart

28 January – 4 February 2021

about for a long time… Still, the last 10 months have taught us that we all have to keep learning all the time. So to have the Music Academy supporting projects like this one… is truly amazing.

How are you going about putting together this database? It seems to be a big project.

It is. I’m not the most connected person in the new opera scene or with BIPOC composers, but I’m not doing it alone. I already have a lot of partners, and the stage that I’m at right now is just to talk to a lot of people, artistic directors, composers, other organizations, just to understand what would make it a useful resource, and then to leverage my partners to get the word out that this is an easy way to make a difference because they are really well connected in the industry. It’s really important for me that this is as broadly representative as possible... But we decided that it’s going to be American and Canadian composers to start, which I really don’t like because borders are pretty arbitrary and colonial constructs that shouldn’t apply. But what we’re building right now is only the first phase which is designed to test the hypothesis that composers will be interested in participating and that companies will be interested in using it.

MAW’s Alumni Enterprise Award Winner Adanya Dunn Adanya Dunn (soprano 2014-15; now a mezzo-soprano) has created a collaborative project as part of her organization Red Light Arts & Culture that consists of a series of indoor and outdoor pop-up concerts in unexpected locations throughout Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District. The concerts – at least 30 over a four-month period – not only represent performance opportunities for musicians during the COVID cancellations, but also provide an opportunity for the small business owners and local entrepreneurs of the district to share their stories with an audience they might never otherwise reach.

Q. How did your time at MAW impact your career?

A. It opened my eyes up to a world that I didn’t know really existed because coming from Canada my world had been so small. They took a chance on me, and I thought, maybe I can start believing in myself more and consider myself a real singer. That first year was like a summer glow where one day full of music would blend into the next like the summer haze… And I have to mention the Compeer program, because I just don’t know anywhere else where (the community) takes it to such a level of personal involvement and enrichment. It’s beyond financial renumeration and support. It was mentorship. It was friendship. It was family.

Later with Marilyn Horne’s “The Song Continues” program I was connected to up-and-coming conductors and established directors and pianists who are so excited about collaborating. So MAW was a launching pad for me in so many different aspects of my career from art song to collaborating, to creating projects, to coaching and mentoring.

How did you decide to launch the Red Light District?

When I went to study in Amsterdam, I lived in a housing building for conservatory students that was right in the district at number 69 of all places. We would have thousands upon thousands of people walking by our door, sitting on our doorstep, leaving piles of garbage – tourists, screaming at all hours of the day and night. And I had this idea that we should just open up the windows and sing for them and maybe make money that way. I’d already wondered about how I could bring music to the streets of Amsterdam, because there’s so much culture here, and we’re steeped in art, in cultural architecture, we’re steeped in the visual arts, but I wasn’t seeing anything in my sphere. I wasn’t seeing anything outside the concert houses within Amsterdam. I wasn’t seeing anything (classical) on the streets to engage all those people.

Then when COVID hit, it was completely silent, especially throughout the late spring and summer. A pianist in the building and I have a piano-voice duo and with the school closed we would be practicing a lot, making music, writing songs, coming up with programming, and because it was warm we’d have our windows open. Finally the streets were so quiet that you could actually hear what’s happening inside. People from across the canal would come out on their balconies and applaud for us and I got me thinking that people are craving music, people are craving connection. I knew I was.

That’s when I had the idea we could do something for our neighbors, for the people who are living here, people I started recognizing when I hadn’t before in what was an endless sea of people. We reached out to a local organization called We Live Here, volunteers who let tourists know that locals also live in this area that is most famously known for sex workers and the marijuana coffee shops. And it turns out the members of We Live Here were also musicians, and we shared ideas and came up with the concept of pop-up concerts.

Classical music and sex workers aren’t something that normally coincides. Why did that idea make sense to you?

It stemmed from my musical background and the neighbors who were 28 January – 4 February 2021

classical musicians and composers.

We decided to go with what we know.

But also because it is a stark contrast to people’s assumptions. We just want to add to the rich cultural diversity of the area, not to try to change the view or gentrify. The idea was to have the owners of these businesses, establishments, or coffee houses that have been there for 30 years talk about their initiatives and their connection with the area, to give a platform for local businesses to share their stories and their products, and to help bring in new customers. We want to show that it’s not just the red light windows but a whole other world to discover behind the doors of the residents and of the shop owners. to connect many different bridges.

Adanya Dunn has created Red Light Arts & Culture, which consists of a series of pop-up concerts in Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District (photo courtesy MAW)

How has it worked out so far? Are you creating the connections you were seeking?

We have been very successful in reaching the tourist audience who wouldn’t be expecting classical music there, and bringing in our friends or other people who might know classical music and show them an area they might normally avoid… The amount of people that we’ve met either in person or virtually as a result of this project is incredible. We’re also collaborating with other initiatives, such as Greenlight District, which is about sustainability. We’re connecting with other artists in the area that have let us know they have a space and want us to come. It is through these kinds of collaborations that we can begin to weave this tapestry of arts and culture throughout this area. We want to amplify and highlight and collaborate through this project. And we’re very happy to see that already happening. We have become an incorporated foundation and we plan to stay and be an establishment here. We’re working on festivals and expanding to other artistic mediums and musical art forms.

MAW in Jeopardy?

Apparently Music Academy of the West personnel aren’t just nerdy (er, well-versed) in classical music. At least that’s the conclusion one must draw from the fact that a MAW staffer, Henry Michaels, will be appearing on an episode of Jeopardy! airing on NBC on February 2.

Michaels is the Music Academy’s Director of Audience Experience and Engagement, and he’s also something of a facts and figures freak, having long competed in local trivia circles. Recently he MAW staffer Henry Michaels appears on Jeopardy! on took his knowledge and pow- February 2 er-of-deduction skill set to the set of Jeopardy! for a chance to win lots of cash, and adoration from fans, of the long-running TV game show in front of a national televised audience.

With the decades-long host Alex Trebek having lost his battle with cancer late last year, Michaels was one of the first contestants in the show’s next chapter, one that launched with a stint from Ken Jennings, who holds the record for the longest winning streak on Jeopardy! (a still astonishing 74 in a row) and stands as the highest-earning American game show contestant of all time.

Michaels has taught lecture courses in the history and culture of music at both UCSB and Montecito’s Westmont College and earned master’s degrees in Musicology from UCSB and in Trombone Performance from Towson University. We’re not sure if any of that helped him in the episode(s?) that were taped in Los Angeles, although we’re thinking if you can handle with precision the tricky slide on the trombone, not to mention people clamoring for concert tickets, mastering the all-important button-pushing reaction time and handling nerves might be a snap. So if it turns out he won, we’re also thinking that this Tuesday might be one Groundhog Day Michaels wouldn’t mind re-running a few times á la the Bill Murray movie.

•MJ

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

43

NOSH TOWN

by Claudia Schou

BAKING AND READING YOUR WAY THROUGH A PANDEMIC IN THE KITCHEN WITH LESLIE ZEMECKIS

W

hen Leslie Zemeckis saunters into a room, people pay attention. That’s because the Montecito-based actress-baker-author exudes a kind of charm and poise that makes it possible to swan her way through any room – even a kitchen.

Her kitchen is her temple, her place for Zen. So is her chaise lounge, where you might find her reading the latest novel. Zemeckis, the wife and muse of Robert, the film director who brought Forrest Gump, Jenny, and Bubba to life onscreen, has written a small library of titillating books and novels about the history of burlesque dancing, including Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America, Goddess of Love Incarnate: The Life of Stripteuse Lili St. Cyr, and Feuding Fan Dancers.

When she isn’t writing books or baking, she serves as founder of “Stories Matter,” a mentorship program of professional female storytellers guiding the next generation; the group will debut at the 2021 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Leslie Zemeckis and her ab fab apple strudel We recently caught up with Zemeckis to see what’s hot out of the oven and off the press.

friends who were stricken with HIV/ AIDS. It’s the organization’s 25th anniversary and it continues to serve thousands of meals each week to people in need, including people stricken with COVID-19. The book was put together by my friend, chef David Verzello, who brought me and Cat together, though of course we both knew of each through our work, her as an Iron Chef and me as a historian of burlesque and early American pop culture. All proceeds of the book will go to Project Open Hand.

You had me at burlesque, which I find intriguing, especially in the context of marketing a cookbook. You’ve also spent the summer preparing “Stories Matter,” which sounds like an uplifting The actress-baker-author is teaming up with chefs David endeavor in a time when we all could Verzello and Cat Cora for a cookbook to benefit Project Open Hand use a little lift.

My work has focused mainly on marginalized and stigmatized women. I feel the responsibility of giving voices to those who are no longer alive and cannot tell their stories. It was because of that and my fervent love of literature and reading and stories that I started “Stories Matter.” It is a program about finding your voice and telling your stories and the stories of one’s community.

I have always been interested in literature of all kinds. It was the pandemic and trying to figure out a way to help authors promote their work that led me down this path. I am a big believer in lending a hand.

Q. Reading and baking sounds like an ideal way to spend time in quarantine.

A. Yes, it keeps me busy and keeps my creative juices flowing. As a mother I love baking things my kids will love and as a mentor I’m always searching for good reads to share.

LESLIE’S ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS APPLE STRUDEL

Which novels have you enjoyed reading since the start of the pandemic?

One of my favorite discoveries was The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou; as a mother who is protective and fierce this spoke to me. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James was a thrilling story. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a great mystery with a twist.

And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall is a thriller with a flawed, different character.

And The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown is about the Donner party and is heartbreaking. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett was brilliant.

DOUGH INGREDIENTS 2 cups flour Dash of salt Spoonful of sugar 3 1/2 tablespoons butter 1 egg 4 tablespoons of whole milk

What are some of the baked treasures that have come out of your kitchen?

Key lime pie, coconut cake, raspberry pie, cupcakes, scones, and cookies. I have been creating fun posts for “Cooking Through Corona” on Facebook and on my YouTube channel. I have made Contagion Cupcakes, Brownies, and Strudel... so many delicious things. I really enjoy baking and taking recipes and putting a twist on them.

PROCEDURE Combine dry ingredients and butter in food processor or just cut butter by hand into flour.

Whisk together milk and egg and add gradually to dry ingredients. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Return dough to pastry board and roll out into a rectangle.

Are there any recipes you’d like to spend more time perfecting?

Tarts.

Your latest culinary endeavor is a collaboration with Iron Chef Cat Cora.

I’m contributing a recipe to a cookbook that pays tribute to Ruth Brinker, founder of Project Open Hand. Brinker started the program to feed her Bay Area neighbors and

STEVEN BROOKS JEWELERS Appraisals for Estates and Insurance Graduate Gemologist ~ Established 1974 Sales of Custom Designed and Estate Jewelry Purchasing Estates sbjewelers@gmail.com or 805-455-1070

44 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Zemeckis’ Behind the Burly Q

FILLING INGREDIENTS 2 apples, peeled and cut up Brown sugar, to taste Cinnamon, to taste 1 tablespoon lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, honey, or maple syrup 1/3 cup raisins, optional 1/3 cup nuts, optional Powdered sugar for serving PROCEDURE Place apples in a bowl and lightly dust them with cinnamon, then add brown sugar and mix.

Add lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, honey, or maple syrup to bind the mixture but don’t add too much. Add nuts and/or raisins if using.

Brush edges of dough with an egg wash (a lightly beaten egg with a bit of milk or water added). Place filling onto dough, then fold and pinch ends to seal. Score the top with a knife.

Brush entire pastry with egg wash and sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

To serve, cool completely and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

•MJ

“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coehlo

28 January – 4 February 2021

DINE OUTSIDE |TAKE-OUT Montecito Journal wants to let readers know who’s offering a taste of winter with take-out and delivery service and outdoor dining.

We encourage you to support your local dining venues and wine boutiques!

CAFE SINCE 1928

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

OLD TOWN SANTA BARBARA

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 7:00 AM -12:00AM

Best breakfast in Santa Barbara

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

D’ANGELO BREAD

7am to 2pm

25 W. GUTIERREZ STREET (805) 962-5466

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

Ichiban Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar Lunch: Monday through Saturday 11:30am - 2:30pm Dinner: Monday through Sunday: 5pm - 10pm 1812A Cliff Drive Santa Barbara CA 93109 (805)564-7653 Lunch Specials, Bendo boxes. Full Sushi bar, Tatami Seats. Fresh Fish Delivered all week.

28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

45

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

cycles. Dana is a Graduate Gemologist with over 30 years of experience buying and selling fine property. CALL TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION (310) 736-5896 or email DanaCaresLA@gmail.com

cialized in corrective exercise – injury prevention and post surgery. House calls available. Victoria Frost- CPT & CES 805-895-9227

ITEMS FOR SALE TRESOR

POSITION WANTED UPDATED CONTACT INFO! PRIVATE CHEF Private Chef/Estate Mngr/Shiatsu Practitioner 25 years experience specializing in fine dining, with an emphasis on natural wellness cuisine if desired. Live-in or live-out, full or part-time. 7 day menu available.

Excellent references. 781-856-0359 robertpdonahue@icloud.com AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY

SELLING YOUR ESTATE INC.

Recognized as the area’s Premier Estate Liquidators - Experts in the Santa Barbara Market! We are Skilled Professionals with Years of Experience in Downsizing and Estate Sales.

Personalized service. Insured. Call for a complimentary consultation.

Elaine (805)708-6113 Christa (805)450-8382 Email: theclearinghouseSB@cox.net Website: www.theclearinghouseSB.com MOVING MISS DAISY

This is a husband and wife team with over 350 happy clients. They will sell your house, car and contents with added services of packing & unpacking, moving jobs, hoarder clean outs, not interested in a sale then they will remove your items, and buy outs. Licensed, insured and bonded. Free Consultation. SellingYourEstate.com info@sellingyourestate.com Claudio & Maggie de Medeiros 805-881-8801 ART DEALER

Full Service SAFE Senior Relocation and Estate Liquidation Services Including: Packing and Unpacking, Estate Sales, Online Auctions and our own Consignment Shop! We are Licensed, Bonded, Liability Insured, Workers Comped, Certified by The National Assoc Of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) and The American Society of Estate Liquidators (ASEL).

Glenn Novack, Owner.

805-770-7715 info@movingmissdaisy.com MovingMissDaisy.com Consignments@MovingMissDaisy. hibid.com WHO DO YOU TRUST WHEN SELLING YOUR VALUABLES? CARES, Compassionate & Reliable Estate Solutions is an INDEPENDENT CONCIERGE LUXURY SELLING SERVICE providing strategic selling options for your valuables in today’s most lucrative markets, helping you retain the profits from your jewelry, fine watches, fine art, silver, sculpture, wine, coins, memorabilia, and rare classic cars and motor-

46 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Auction Liaison navigates options and has helped clients sell items for record breaking prices. If you are considering consigning fine art, furniture, silver, jewelry, wine, coins, rare books or other collectibles, please contact Leslie A. Westbrook for a complimentary consultation. Phone (805) 565-3726. www.auctionliaison.com WRITING SERVICES Accomplish Something Exceptional While Sheltering at Home Preserve your life story! The story of a person’s life, told properly, is a marvel. It can be preserved as family treasure, or it can fade away. I write biographies and autobiographies, producing beautiful books that are thorough, professional, distinctive, impressive and entertaining.

Many of my projects are gifts to honor beloved parents or spouses. I also assist with memoirs or other books.

David Wilk (805) 455-5980 wilkonian@sbcglobal.net.

Excellent references. www.BiographyDavidWilk.com

$8 minimum

We Buy, Sell and Broker Important Estate Jewelry. Located in the upper village of Montecito. Graduate Gemologists with 30 years of experience. We do free evaluations and private consultation.

1470 East Valley Rd suite V. 805 969-0888 For sale burial plot #586 CEMETERY 901 Block D , Channel Drive 805 448-1269 My Riviera Life a Santa Barbara Company since 2017 now available at Lazy Acres.

Great condition hardly used woman’s Trek 8700 Mtn bike. $200. New Bike rack $50.

(805)717-1787 Miscellaneous Furniture and Miscellaneous Supplies Being Sold by El Toro Holdings, LLC located at 2509 N. Ventura Ave. Ventura, Ca 93001 on account of Robin Womack. *contents of container(s) only - container(s) not for sale* Auction will be held at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, January 27th.

SPECIAL SERVICES

GOT OSTEOPOROSIS? WE CAN HELP At OsteoStrong our proven non-drug protocol takes just ten minutes once a week to improve your bone density and aid in more energy, strength, balance and agility. Please call for a complimentary session!

CALL NOW (805) 453-6086

PHYSICAL TRAINING Fit for Life REMOTE TRAINING AVAILABLE Customized workouts and nutritional guidance for any lifestyle.

Individual/group sessions. Spe-

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD

It’s Simple. Charge is $2 per line, each line with 31 characters.

Minimum is $8 per week/issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue.

Email text to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860 and we will respond with a cost.

Deadline for inclusion is Monday before 2 pm.

We accept Visa/MasterCard/Amex “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

WELLNESS COUNSELING Bio-Spiritual Wellness Coach Body, Mind, Soul Support Yoga, Stretching, Meditation Contemplation, 20+ yrs exp.

Ruthie Huron 484-357-6611 Self Care & Productivity Coach Missy Olson, MS 805-722-4851 Social Media @IAmLoveMindSoul LoveMindSoul.com 28 January – 4 February 2021

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

FAST TURN AROUND - QUALITY GUARANTEED

Just Good Doggies Loving Pet Care in Our Home

$50 a night Carole (805)452-7400 carolebennett@mail.com Free Pick-up & Drop-off with a week’s stay or more Come play and romp in the Santa Ynez Valley

WE BUILD

ARGENTINE BARBECUES Custom made Stainless Steel/Iron Cristian Salamanca - (805) 696 - 8507

www.larenaissanceofart.com/argentinebarbecue

ARCHITECTURAL FACTORY

Local Contractor Licence #911243 Cristian Salamanca (805) 696-8507

We design We fabricate We build We install

www.larenaissanceofart.com

STEVEN BROOKS JEWELERS Appraisals for Estates and Insurance Graduate Gemologist ~ Established 1974 Sales of Custom Designed and Estate Jewelry Purchasing Estates sbjewelers@gmail.com or 805-455-1070

REAL ESTATE WANTED Local PP wants to purchase SFR; or 2 to 4 units with FHA financing; or lease with option; or seller financing.

805-538-1119 or JBG PO Box 3963; SB, Calif. 93130.

Personalized house number mosaics by Elizabeth Gallery Mosaics Your favorite image • A perfect gift bgallerymosaics@gmail.com • www.elizabethgallery.com

DONATIONS NEEDED Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary Menagerie 2340 Lillie Avenue Summerland CA 93067 (805) 969-1944

Donate to the Parrot Pantry!

At SB Bird Sanctuary, backyard farmer’s bounty is our birds best bowl of food! The flock goes bananas for your apples, oranges & other homegrown fruits & veggies.

Volunteers Do you have a special talent or skill?

Do you need community service hours?

The flock at SB Bird Sanctuary could always use some extra love and socialization. Call us and let’s talk about how you can help.

(805) 969-1944

CA$H ON THE SPOT CLASSIC CARS RV’S • CARS SUV • TRUCKS ! u o y o t e MOTORHOMES We com 702-210-7725 28 January – 4 February 2021

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

47

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

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

BHHSCALIFORNIA.COM

749 SAN YSIDRO RD, MONTECITO UPPER 12.77±acs • $62,000,000 Cristal Clarke, 805.886.9378 LIC# 00968247

1104 CHANNEL DR, MONTECITO 1.13±acs • $32,000,000 Phyllis Noble, 805.451.2126 LIC# 01448730

296 LAS ENTRADAS DR, MONTECITO 6BD/11BA • $26,500,000 Nancy Kogevinas, 805.450.6233 LIC# 01209514

1086 CHANNEL DR, MONTECITO 3BD/2½BA • $25,000,000 Cristal Clarke, 805.886.9378 LIC# 00968247

ROMERO CANYON ROAD, MONTECITO 5BD/5½BA • $20,000,000 Cristal Clarke, 805.886.9378 LIC# 00968247

1147 HILL RD, MONTECITO LOWER 4BD/5BA • $10,950,000 Nancy Kogevinas, 805.450.6233 LIC# 01209514

965 PARK LN, MONTECITO UPPER 4BD/3½BA • $8,900,000 Laurel Abbott, 805.455.5409 LIC# 01247432

1556 MIRAMAR BEACH, MONTECITO 2BD/2½BA • $7,950,000 Cristal Clarke, 805.886.9378 LIC# 00968247

830 PARK LN, MONTECITO UPPER 5BD/4½BA • $7,400,000 Nancy Kogevinas, 805.450.6233 LIC# 01209514

193 E MOUNTAIN DR, MONTECITO 3BD/5BA • $3,995,000 Bartron Real Estate Group, 805.563.4054 LIC# 01005021

595 FREEHAVEN DR, MONTECITO 5BD/6BA • $3,950,000 Ken Switzer, 805.680.4622 LIC# 01245644

850 ROCKBRIDGE RD, MONTECITO 3BD/2½BA • $3,450,000 Daniel Encell / Barbara Neary, 805.565.4896 LIC# 00976141 / 01491532

805 TORO CANYON RD, MONTECITO 10.67±acs • $2,375,000 Nancy Kogevinas, 805.450.6233 LIC# 01209514

2336 BELLA VISTA DR, MONTECITO 2BD/2BA • $2,250,000 Daniel Encell, 805.565.4896 LIC# 00976141

@BHHSCALIFORNIA