Letters to the Editor

Dear Mr. Cox and Cox Communications

We feel so lucky to live in Montecito, a beautiful community with great neighbors and friendly dogs. And you owe me $30,000. This is what I was forced to spend on legal and engineering fees trying to stop your company from ripping out our landscaping and killing our trees in order to put a large, noisy, and noxious gas generator by our front gate.

But wait! If you act now, I’m also going to throw in, for free, a clue as to why your company has a consumer rating of 1.14 stars from 90 reviews.

This all started last January, when we received a letter addressed to “Neighbor,” telling us a gas generator was going “somewhere in your neighborhood.” This was Cox’s first mistake. They did not inform us, as required, that the gas generator was going on our property.

Second mistake: Before work commenced, your people did not perform a survey. Surveys are really useful to show property lines.

Third mistake: Hey fellas, the Right of Way is not 73 feet, as you indicated, but only 40 feet. So my property was not yours for the taking.

Fourth mistake: Cox neglected to mention to the county the row of old-growth trees that would have been impacted by the 21-foot trench. Cox obtained a permit by giving the county wrong information.

Fifth mistake: The local Cox person would not let us know who we might talk to because “it was against company policy.”

This is why we had to hire a lawyer, then an engineer to prove the obvious – that Cox was entirely in the wrong. Even after our attorney tried to get your attention, your lawyer, Mr. Strong out of Atlanta, stonewalled us. The billable hours mounted. We even tried to have an onsite meeting to show Cox the property line. But the powers that be canceled.

We have written to all our representatives, including Gavin Newsom and the head of the Public Utilities Commission. The only person who responded was Salud Carbajal, whose representative said this was a legal matter – not their thing. We even went to Chubb, who has insured us for decades. They replied that the legal fees we paid to prevent Cox from encroaching, didn’t qualify as an insurable loss because we stopped them from encroaching. Really?

Since you are worth $32 billion, according to Forbes, and we’re not, we are appealing directly to you. Let’s show people you have a heart. Give us back the money we spent trying to right a wrong. Let’s see if together we can get Cox up to two stars.

Sincerely,

Chris and Dori Carter

Setting the Record Right… A Difference of Opinion

Last week, former long-term and highly respected member of the Santa Barbara Planning Commission Addison Thompson took issue with my contention that Mayor Helene Schneider bore primary responsibility for the continued 14-year closure of the 101 on-ramp at Cabrillo Boulevard, which has resulted in the addition of at least one million vehicles each year to clog Coast Village Road (CVR). Thompson named Caltrans as the primary culprit; I still maintain it was Mayor Schneider.

Thompson is correct that all decisions on the 101 ultimately rest with Caltrans, particularly those related to the highway widening. However, the so-called parallel projects, intended to improve local traffic flows, involve numerous entities and are the results of tradeoffs negotiated and voted upon by such disparate players as the mayor of Santa Barbara, the SBCAG (Santa Barbara County Association of Government) board, the S.B. City Planning Commission, the city transportation chief, the S.B. City Council and, in this case, permit approvals from the City of Santa Barbara and the California Coastal Commission.

Following the completion of the 20072012 five-year Phase One widening of the 101 between the Milpas interchange and the Hot Springs/Cabrillo interchange, in March 2012, Caltrans released its Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) recommending a reopened on-ramp at Cabrillo at the earliest possible date. The preferred Caltrans Cabrillo solution, labeled F-modified, recommended a righthand lane on-ramp reopening solution.

A group of influential Montecito dissidents calling themselves “Common Sense 101” began lobbying the California governor, Caltrans, SBCAG, and County Supervisor Salud Carbajal for their own Cabrillo configuration to retain left-lane ramps and reject the Caltrans F-modified solution. Their plan did not include restoration of a right lane on-ramp at Cabrillo.

Horrified by the Montecito opposition to the Caltrans plan and fearing continued gridlock on CVR, Montecito resident and philanthropist Vicki Riskin and I met with Helene Schneider on Jan. 13, 2014, to ask the mayor to reject the unsafe Montecito left-lane proposal and support approval of the Caltrans EIR with its plan to reopen a new southbound right lane on-ramp at the Cabrillo interchange.

Schneider explained that her goal in sup-

Montecito Tide Guide

porting the Montecito left-lane advocates was only to pressure Caltrans into agreement to fund her pet $28-million negotiation with the Union Pacific Railroad to widen the Cabrillo railroad overpass. The bottom line was that she planned to withhold City permit approval of the Caltrans EIR, including the new on-ramp at Cabrillo, unless Caltrans funded her railroad bridge.

In 2014, the Mayor published highly controversial editorials supporting the Montecito left-lane retention group. Left lane advocates threatened to sue Caltrans, or anyone else favoring Caltrans’ recommended F-modified solution. The mayor decided to play a dangerous game of chicken with Caltrans, hoping to secure funding for her favorite railroad bridge in return for Santa Barbara’s approval of the Caltrans EIR. Meanwhile, support for the Caltrans F-modified solution grew among SBCAG staff and board members, to support an early Phase Two widening from Cabrillo/ Hot Springs to the Sheffield interchange.

In December 2014, the SBCAG Board refused to name Schneider, who was its sitting VP, to assume the chair of SBCAG, citing her rejection of the Caltrans EIR and her support of the Montecito left-lane advocates. Carbajal and all but one SBCAG voting member agreed that the Union Pacific bridge should be replaced, but they did not agree with Mayor Schneider’s position that the railroad bridge replacement should be weaponized to delay the entire newspaper

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Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108.

How to reach us: (805) 565-1860; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108; EMAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net now offering a wider array of apparel and clubs for women as well. “Appealing to women is one of the biggest ways we can hit our full potential as a golf retail store.”

In addition to an extensive array of retail items including clothing, clubs, shoes, bags, balls, and more, Golf Max offers full-service fitting and repair including grip change, re-shafting, and more. Bollag said the shop is the largest golf offering in the area. Bollag is on-site every day, managing inventory, helping customers, and repairing golf clubs. “Custom fitting is also a big part of the business. It’s our job to figure out exactly what someone needs in a club, from the weight, length, kick point, grip point, head shape, et cetera,” Bollag said.

The store has done well with the local community thus far, Bollag said, adding that he and his three employees – including a Dos Pueblos High School student working toward career hours – place an emphasis on stellar customer service. “We’ve had a good reception so far, and we’re grateful for that,” Bollag said.

Golf Max is located at 3313A State St. next to Harry’s. Call (805) 687-6300 for more information. The shop is open every day except Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm (11 am to 5 pm on Saturdays).

Correction Issued for Body Wise Column

In the Feb. 9 issue of the Montecito Journal, the Body Wise column was titled “Astrid de Wild of Simpatico Pilates.” That was an error on our part. Astrid de Wild of the former De Wild Pilates Studio now works solo out of her beautiful home in the foothills of Montecito. She is not associated with Simpatico Pilates. Astrid can be reached at (805) 451-7837.