UCSB men’s basketball coach accepts contract extension

By KRISTEN KELLER UCSB SPORTS

UCSB Director of Athletics

Kelly Barsky has announced that head men’s basketball coach Joe Pasternack accepted a fiveyear contract extension, effective immediately.

“Coach Pasternack’s relentless energy, commitment to student athletes as well as the Gaucho campus and community and pursuit of basketball excellence have propelled the program onto the national stage,” Barsky said.

“He has assembled an incredibly talented group of student athletes and staff while creating an energy in the Thunderdome that has ignited enthusiasm and shared Gaucho experiences. We value Joe’s contributions to our campus and community, and are thrilled that he, his wife Lindsay and family will remain in Santa Barbara, and we will continue to build upon the momentum gained and shared vision of service and connection.”

“I am very excited to continue to build the UC Santa Barbara basketball program to compete for championships,” Coach Pasternack said. “My family and I love Santa Barbara, our players, and the amazing community. I am extremely grateful to Kelly Barsky and Chancellor Yang for believing in our program.”

Pasternack has had an impressive career since coming to UCSB. Over the last six seasons, he has accumulated a 132-53 record, which translates to a .714 winning percentage, the third-best in the state of California behind San Diego death and great bodily injury,” and that the alleged crime was made “with the specific intent that the statement be taken as a threat.” email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com

His alleged threat against the officers and their families “was so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to convey to the victim a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution,” the complaint said.

“It is further alleged that the said victim was reasonably in sustained fear of his/her safety and the safety of his/ her immediate family,” the complaint said.

The complaint alleges that Mr. Varelas backed up his threats in that he “willfully, maliciously and repeatedly” followed and harassed Santa Maria police officers.

The complaint notes that Mr. Varelas already has a prior serious felony conviction on his record, considered his first strike under the three strikes law.

He was arrested on Feb. 18 after the alleged threat came to light the night before, when Santa Maria police received information regarding police officers and their families being threatened on social media posts, Sgt. Daniel Rios said in a police department news brief posted online.

Officers initiated an investigation, and Mr. Varelas was identified as a suspect, Sgt. Rios said. Mr. Varelas’ social media account was also located.

During the initial police investigation, several more social media posts allegedly were made by Mr. Varelas and observed by officers in real time involving further threats against Santa Maria police officers and family members, Sgt. Rios said.

Mr. Varelas’ alleged threats referenced previous police contact and current threats to “kill” officers and family members, Sgt. Rios said.

Further investigation confirmed that Mr. Varelas was allegedly targeting and stalking officers’ homes in the Santa Maria area, Sgt. Rios said.

Detectives tracked him down and arrested him without incident.

State and Saint Mary’s. Along with that, Pasternack has led his team to two Big West Championships in three seasons, making two trips to March Madness in that time. This year he had his best season to date, breaking the record of the most wins in a season set in 1971 that he tied during his first season with the team.

The Gauchos finished the 2022-23 season with an overall 27-8 record, earning a share of The Big West Regular Season title while winning The Big West Championships and earning a bid to March Madness. Kristen Keller is the associate athletic director for communications and digital strategy at UCSB. email: sports@newspress.com

PLAZA

Continued from Page A1 complement of the plaza. It needs to go away.”

Mr. Hess, however, defended the bubbler’s inclusion in the project’s design.

“The bubbler fountain was generally supported by the commission last time we met with them, and this time it wasn’t as much,” he said. “This is a program feature that originated from the community outreach early in the process and was strongly supported by the Advisory Committee. And while some complaints talked about the historic nature of the plaza and this not fitting in, when it’s off, no one will know it’s there.

“But on warm to hot days, this will be a nice feature for the space as it will cool it down, allow people to appreciate the added ambiance, and will be a draw for families to this space. We are not proposing a splash pad for a park. We are proposing a subtle feature for a civic plaza that will only add to the space when desired. The vast majority of time, the fountain will be off.”

Commissioner Lenvik also questioned the wisdom of putting proposed restrooms in Storke Placita, the area that connects State Street to the plaza near the News-Press building.

“They would restrict physical access from the State Street Promenade to the plaza,” he said. “There’s got to be a better solution to that.”

Mr. Hess said the decision to locate them in Storke Placita was backed by the commission the last time they got together.

“While they brought this topic up again and asked us to look into putting them in the new pavilion building, the pavilion building will not be a better location than the proposed location for several reasons: proximity to State Street, slightly off the plaza so it’s not in the plaza, safety with better lighting, plumbing and sewer connections, etc.

“We looked at many locations over and over, and the proposed location in Storke Placita is the preferred location,” he said.

“Again, no controversy in our minds.”

Mr. Hess told the News-Press he was surprised to hear such HLC criticism over design elements like the bubbler and restrooms because they’d already been reviewed and supported by the board.

“Because we had received general consensus at the previous meeting from HLC on the restroom location, the surface materials, the bubbler fountain and the underground trash enclosures, and because we only have 15 minutes for our presentation, we focused on the two outstanding items that required attention: the pavilion building and the landscaping in front of City Hall,” he said.

“We didn’t have time to go over what was already agreed upon, and it is generally understood that the project is to move forward based

Continued from Page A1

“One motivation I had from the beginning is how to keep the integrity of the aesthetics for the life of the plaza. The brick allows the utilities to be repaired and then the bricks put back in place without negatively affecting the beauty because they will not be set in concrete like the stone.

“Inside of the brick, in the center area of the Plaza, we are proposing to use flagstone. There are many types of flagstone … and the Surface Materials Subcommittee felt that the Oklahoma flagstone was best. It is proposed to be 2.5-3-inch thick squares set at a 45-degree angle. Because we will be customizing the space, we have the ability to control the color on what was previously discussed and agreed to. This is why the minutes from the previous meeting are read at the beginning so that everyone recalls what was agreed to. So yes, it was a bit frustrating to have many of these design elements brought back up and questioned in the context of HLC ‘comments,’ since we are not given the opportunity to respond to their comments, only their questions.”

Commissioner Lenvik, however, didn’t just confine his criticism to previously-discussed project elements. He also had negative things to say about the proposed pavilion building that Mr. Hess had just discussed.

The goal of erecting the building on the site, Mr. Hess said, is to create an edge to the plaza where landscaping now exists, hide the city hall parking lot, erect a building that provides a backdrop for a small permanent stage, and create another space for activity.

Commissioner Lenvik wasn’t impressed, especially with the idea of putting a stage in the plaza that would sit just a few feet off the ground.

In addition, he questioned how people with disabilities would be able to access the building without a wheelchair ramp being installed. He suggested the project’s architect come up with something else to solve the problem.

“You don’t put up a bad building,” he said. “That structure does not belong there.”

Mr. Hess, though, said creating an edge to the plaza “is consistent with virtually every plaza in the world — edged by buildings, usually civic in nature with commercial buildings and/or restaurants to activate the edges. The hole we have at that edge is currently landscaped, but it used to have buildings there, the Harmer adobe being one of them, and they were removed long ago. The desire is to have the edge return …”

As for access to the building for those with disabilities, “the statement from Commissioner Lenvik was that it was a requirement to have full accessibility at all entrances and asked us why we were ignoring this requirement,” Mr. Hess said. “The answer is, we are providing full accessibility to the building by providing the accessible entry to the building and an accessible path from the parking space. By doing so, we are fulfilling the accessibility requirement.

“An ADA ramp already exists on the plaza side of the building, so we will not be adding a ramp. Instead, we will modify the existing ramp on the plaza side to make it more compliant and take out the very slippery tile. It will be a nice improvement.”

In the end, the HLC voted 6-2 with one abstention to continue the project as it is currently designed.

Commissioners Lenvik and Cass Ensberg voted against it.

“I’m extremely disappointed,”

Commissioner Lenvik said.

“Extremely disappointed. Let’s come up with something appropriate to Santa Barbara. This is a very simple plaza. What we’ve range of the flagstone through the stone contractor.”

Decomposed granite is proposed in front of Casa De La Guerra.

“In summary, all the materials proposed are complementary to each other, are of neutral earth tones, and will provide subtle differences in texture; because of the scale of the plaza, the pattern will not look ‘busy,’” Mr. Hess said.

• The pavilion building:

“The use will be practical, utilitarian and flexible as we don’t know the use of the plaza in 20–50 years, but would like this building to be able to accommodate the utility panels and controls, some storage for the plaza, and a flexible space that could be used by City Hall, events, etc.,” Mr. Hess said.

“Right now the building is approximately 16 feet by 84 feet, come up with is way too busy. This thing is a zebra of multiple colors. It is not appropriate for Santa Barbara.”

Ms. Crawford agreed.

“This is a historic landmark,” she said during the public comment period. “This is Santa Barbara. There’s time to get it right. I think this has to go back to the drawing board.”

Other public speakers suggested the revitalization be postponed — or even scrapped.

“This is an awful plan. Period,” Rich Untermann said. “It is not historic. I don’t think we should try it right now when we don’t know what State Street is going to look like.

“People have tried to change it, but they haven’t. I agree. I don’t think we should. We should postpone it. It’s been there 100 years. We have plenty of time. What’s another five years?”

Paulina Conn said if the revitalization goes through as currently planned, “this whole plaza will be an eyesore within a year.

“The plaza we have now has lasted 100 years,” she said. “All it needs is repair and maintenance.”

Such criticism wasn’t confined to the HLC meeting.

“There are many in-theknow Santa Barbarans who are vehemently opposed to this nightmare,” Pam Boehr wrote in an email to the News-Press. “And so many are totally unaware of this mini-Disneyland proposal by our city council and mayor.

“Find out the numerous aspects: loss of parking (60 spaces), the fact that it is historic and shouldn’t be touched, hardscape rather than lawn, closing traffic from Anacapa to State Street, etc. The list goes on and on.”

In response, Mr. Hess insisted he and other project proponents “have been encouraged by the progress and the overall positive input we’ve received from the community, the city council recently (and in the past), and virtually everyone I speak with in general conversation.

“There are, however, a number of people who do not want anything done to this plaza, and they also happen to be the people who write in and show up.”

He declined to comment on Ms. Boehr’s opinions “other than to say that ‘nightmare’ and ‘miniDisneyland’ are very interesting descriptions. I obviously don’t agree with those assessments.”

He suggested people compare the existing condition of the plaza with what is being proposed.

Currently, the plaza sits empty, frequently only by the city’s homeless. On a recent outing to the plaza, a visitor saw a black suitcase, a black garbage bag filled with trash, two large empty plastic soda bottles and two empty pizza boxes.

To Mr. Hess, it’s almost ironic that critics complain the revitalization would somehow disrespect the plaza’s heritage, because, he said, if anything, the design pays homage to the city’s rich Chumash and Old Spanish roots. Further, he contends it and the design is still in progress. The constructive comments we received from HLC will be taken into consideration.”

• Anacapa Street landscaping:

“The landscaping in front of City Hall wasn’t originally in the scope of work but was added later with the goal of reintroducing the front of City Hall to the community, making it beautiful with a model landscape for Santa Barbara, connecting it to the plaza through design, and creating a connection with both De la Guerra Street and Anacapa Street with a more civic announcement through design that this is City Hall. “We will relocate the flags from the plaza to this area and relocate the historic Washingtonian Palm Tree from the plaza to an area in which it will continue to thrive.” would restore life to the 100-yearold plaza, the city’s first town square. “This space is historic in use, in its setting, and in its surroundings, but for the past couple/few decades, it’s become the back of house for businesses, a parking lane, a place for marches to begin or end, for Fiesta and other events, and a place for the unhoused,” he said.

“It has not been used by the locals in the way it was intended.”

To change this, the city embarked on an ambitious project to turn things around, forming an Advisory Committee in 2019 composed of two representatives of the Santa Barbara City Council, Planning Commission, Parking and Recreation Commission, Historic Landmarks Commission and the executive director for the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.

“This city representation was important because it provided perspective from each of the commissions/council members and the Trust,” Mr. Hess said. Information from the wellattended public outreach meeting in March 2019 provided a baseline of information from the community from which the Advisory Committee and design team based the initial designs, he said.

“We also have architectural historians … as consultants to review ideas with and to make sure what is proposed is appropriate,” he said.

Since 2019, the Advisory Committee has met 14 times and held two joint meetings with HLC.

“The design went through many, many iterations because each small change in the design had a ripple effect and while the process was slow, it was very thorough,” Mr. Hess said. “The public was welcomed at each of those meetings, and we heard from many.

“I met with many groups over the years, and I’ve had countless discussions discussing the merits of the design and the thought behind each feature, all the while listening to concerns and ideas. The design is the result of hundreds of hours in discussions, meetings, hearings, arguments and community input.

“So it is with all of that perspective that the goal is to revitalize, not just repair,” he said.

“The Advisory Committee voted unanimously early on that this space should be pedestrian-only, should be activated at its edges with landscaping and seating, should have a building along the edge of the parking lot to enclose the plaza, and that the solid surface material from building to building should be natural, beautiful and should help highlight the historic setting while facilitating activity in the town square again.

“The Advisory Committee felt strongly that this space should be a civic plaza, not a park, and should emulate other historic plazas around the world while tying into, and being sensitive to, the incredible local history that this space represents.” email: nhartsteinnewspress@gmail. com

Planners will be revising the pavilion design with the Ad Hoc Committee within the next month and refining the front landscape design pursuant to HLC’s preference, he said.

“Other items will be further refined as well as the design progresses,” he said. “We hope to be back in front of HLC in the 6-8 week range.”

• Compatibility with the Street Master Plan.

“I am in regular contact with Tess Harris, who is the planner for the State Street Master Plan,” Mr. Hess said. “We are confident that what we are proposing for the Plaza will complement what is done on State Street, and vice versa.” email: nhartsteinnewspress@gmail. com

LONG, Elaine Gilbertson

12/16/1937 - 3/10/2023

Elaine Long passed away peacefully on March 10. One of two children, born Elaine Constance Gilbertson in Richland Center, Wisconsin to George and Harriet Gilbertson. Elaine attended high school in Madison, Wisconsin where was elected Homecoming Queen her Senior year. Later she attended University of Wisconsin, Madison where she met her future husband, James. Elaine graduated college and worked for the County of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She married James on April 23, 1960 and later had two boys, James Jr and John. In 1966 Elaine and her family moved to Santa Barbara, then a few years later to Galveston, Texas for a couple of years, then back to Racine, Wisconsin. In 1972 Elaine, James and her two boys came back to Santa Barbara, calling it home for the rest of her life. Elaine enjoyed the Santa Barbara weather and being able to play tennis year round. She was very active in the tennis community and served on the board of directors for the Santa Barbara Tennis Patrons.

Elaine was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, James. She is survived by her sister Edie, two sons, James Jr and John and 4 grandchildren, Stephen, Matthew, Emily and Christopher. The family would like to thank the wonderful caregivers, especially Aires for her loving attention, at the Casa Naomi where she spent the last three years of her life.

A private funeral service will be held on Wednesday, March 29, at 10am at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

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