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Our 165th Year
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Arlington to celebrate 90th Reopening and anniversary celebration scheduled this month
Students demand $900 checks UCSB YDSA marches to request stimulus checks from chancellor By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A crowd of UCSB students marched from Storke Tower to Chancellor Henry Yang’s oncampus residence for money they say they not only need, but deserve. Led by the leaders of UCSB’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, several
students rallied together Saturday afternoon in support of $900 checks for every student at the university, using its CARES and CRRSA Act funds that the activists say the administration has been “just sitting on.” “Right now, UCSB is still charging full tuition and full student fees for on-campus services like the library and the Please see UCSB on A3
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS
Protesters led by members of the UCSB chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America rallied Sunday to demand stimulus checks from funds allocated to the university under the CARES and CRRSA acts. KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
The Arlington Theatre, located at 1317 State St. in Santa Barbara, advertises its 90th anniversary celebration on its marquee.
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Arlington Theatre will open its arched mahogany doors May 21 for a three-day anniversary celebration. The event will mark 90 years of this local landmark. “Movies to world-renowned speakers to the film festival bring people there,” said David Corwin, president of Metropolitan Theatres, which owns the Arlington. “I think a lot of the people in the community have memories of visiting there as a child, and that’s one of the things that is special about the Arlington.” The theater, located at 1317 State St. in Santa Barbara, was built to withstand fire, designed with concrete instead of wood structures. But its architects didn’t predict a global pandemic. The 2,018-seat theater has been closed for over a year. Its employees have begun to flip the switches and prepare equipment for a weekend full of movies. To celebrate this timeless treasure, it’s only right to show beloved classics on the big screen. Management chose “E.T.,” “Ghostbusters” and “Blade Runner: The Final Cut” to play each day May 21-23. Tickets for each showtime are $5, and popcorn is complimentary. To open the day May 22, the Santa Barbara Theatre Organ Society with special guest organist Adam Aceto will perform on the Arlington’s theatre organ.
NEXT FOR THE ARLINGTON The Arlington Theater didn’t get to host the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year, but the theater’s manager Karen Killingsworth says it’ll likely be back next year. She also expects that live performances will be back this fall. When gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he’d open the state June 15, promoters
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The seats of the Arlington Theatre are empty Friday as staff prepare to reopen this month.
immediately began contacting Ms. Killingsworth. Under orange-tier standards, the venue can only hold 200 people, less than 10% of its occupancy. The guidelines allow 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer people, so the Arlington will feel bare until it can serve a larger audience. Otherwise, the historic theater looks the same. “People like the way it is,” Mike Cooley, stage manager, said. “I’m big on if it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it.” Mr. Cooley, who’s worked at the theater for 35 years (and occassionally helped out when he was a teenager in Santa Barbara) says the lack of modern features hasn’t hurt the theater. A big-time promoter once told him that even though the Arlington is old, it’s cleaner than
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many modern buildings. One of the few major upgrades he’s made to the theater is the addition of the organ, which sits on a hydraulic lift below the stage when not in use.
THE THEATRE ORGAN The organ is a few years older than the theater. It’s a 1928 Robert-Morton “Wonder Morton,” one of only five ever made. The organ has nearly 2,000 pipes, hidden behind missionstyle structures that make the theater feel like a courtyard. And, unlike a church organ, it has more than just pipes. There are special effects, like a wave machine that rolls ball bearings around on a metal pan to sound like the ocean. Theatre organs were made to accompany silent movies (think Charlie Chaplin) and have sound
effects movies may need. Having the organ at the theater shows Metropolitan Theaters’ heart for the Arlington. The corporation owns 17 theaters but none have as much history as the Arlington. “(Bruce Corwin) wanted a theatre pipe organ in this theater. This is his favorite theater. And he really helped us to facilitate getting one,” Santa Barbara Theatre Organ Society President Bruce Murdock said. The organ was originally installed in a theater in New Jersey and was transported to Dallas when the theater was scheduled to be torn down (It ended up surviving.). The theatre organ society in Dallas struggled to find a location big enough for the organ’s 7,000 parts. It was expensive to haul Please see ARLINGTON on A4
This afternoon, from 1:30 to 5 p.m., the Santa Barbara City Council will hold a budget review meeting and public hearing for the Parks and Recreation Department, including Creeks and Golf funds. Then, Tuesday afternoon, starting at 2 p.m., the Council will hear Sewer Lateral Inspection Program updates. The city’s Sewer Lateral Inspection Program, established in 2007, addresses the increasing number of private sewer lateral spills and public spills by working with property owners to replace or repair their failing private sewer laterals. The program has continued to develop and change in response to the community’s needs. Staff will update the Council on improving customer services, developing effective public communication materials, offering incentive programs, sewer lateral renewal options, the Forward-Lateral webbased software, its Financial Assistance Program, administrative guidelines and municipal code updates. In other business, the city will hold a public hearing on the proposed Santa Barbara Clean Energy Rates. They’ll also be asked to approve the Clean Energy Rate setting formula for each of its energy product offerings across all customer types and authorize the City Administrator to determine rates by application of the formulas. The premium results in a bill increase of approximately 5 to 8% for residential customers, or $3 to $5 per month. Rate consideration factors include
revenue sufficiency, rate competitiveness, rate stability, customer understanding, equity among customers and efficiency. SBCE will offer customers three distinct energy product choices defined by the amount of carbon-free energy content, as established by Council, and price per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The default product, which all customers in Santa Barbara will be automatically enrolled to at launch of service, is the SBCE 100% Green product, which offers customers 100% carbon-free electricity at a small premium of $0.012/kWh over Southern California Edison’s rates, which have been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. The second product, SBCE Green Start, is the “opt down” product, meaning customers can choose to opt down to this product, which provides less carbon-free content but more than the incumbent utility, SCE, at the same baseline rate charged by SCE. The third option is SBCE Resilient, a program for customers who install solar energy or battery energy storage at their home or business and allows those customers to net meter the energy on an annualized basis and receive revenue for any excess generation. Under this program, the customer is paid a Net Surplus Compensation Rate of $0.0663/kWh if their system has generated more kWh than they have used in a 12-month relevant period. The meetings can be viewed on City TV Channel 18 or streamed live at www. SantaBarbaraCA.gov/CAP. email: gmccormick@newspress.com
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Budget hearing set for Parks and Recreation
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Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 10-12-21-22-28 Mega: 12
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