On April 1, the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers embark on their quest for back-to-back titles. That’s exciting enough — and as improbable as I had resigned myself to before 2020 — but it’s also the first day that I’m finally eligible to sign up to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
After more than a year of cruel April Fool’s Days, I’m looking forward to more positive times.
Further proof of life was found this week on California’s COVID-19 dashboard, where coronavirus hospitalizations in the state dropped to the lowest number since tracking began last March.
We’re still not quite there yet but freedom is coming, and it’s coming fast.
While continuing to report on the devastating public health and economic toll of the COVID-19 crisis, Noozhawk’s professional journalists have begun turning their attention to helping you understand what we can expect in more of a post-coronavirus world.
You’ll hear a little more about it in next week’s Best of Bill column when I’ll be able to provide details on our next Noozhawk Talks on the vaccines, as well as a couple of other projects that managing editor Giana Magnoli and staff writer Brooke Holland have been working on.
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As you know, these Best of Bill columns are my recap of the Top 5 most-read stories over the past week, as tracked by our Google Analytics.
This week — actually, March 25 alone — fluctuated wildly. By my count, a total of 13 stories were in the Top 5 at some point during the 24-hour period.
In fact, the No. 1 story claimed the top spot just minutes before midnight after having only been posted a little more than 12 hours before. And in a rare achievement, two stories tied for fifth place after a late-night surge in readership for the one on Santa Barbara’s latest bike route wrangling.
The total audience for the week was 101,875 readers, according to our Google Analytics.
One final note: This is an opinion column — my opinion as Noozhawk’s publisher. I am not a reporter and this is not a news story.
1. All Californians Over 16 Eligible for COVID-19 Vaccinations Starting April 15
With a more plentiful supply of COVID-19 vaccines finally expected in California, state officials announced March 25 that inoculation eligibility will be expanded to residents age 50 and older as of April 1. Beginning April 15, everyone over 16 will be eligible.
As our Giana Magnoli first reported, Santa Barbara County said its Public Health Department-run mass vaccination clinic in Lompoc will begin accepting residents 50 and older on March 29 and, as of April 1, those of us in the 50-plus group will be eligible for appointments at all participating hospitals, clinics, pharmacies or other vaccine providers. Hallelujah.
To date, every vaccine provider has a different registration platform but, as of April 1, the county will be part of the statewide Blue Shield of California system, which will centralize vaccination appointments. Click here to pre-register on the MyTurn website. I’ve done it; it takes just a couple of minutes.
As of last weekend, the county had distributed 142,441 doses of vaccine, with 11 percent of county residents fully vaccinated.
2. Old Town Goleta’s Mercury Lounge is Closing March 31
The retro-cool Mercury Lounge in Old Town Goleta has reached the end of its orbit, one more victim of the coronavirus and California’s indiscriminate and interminable lockdowns.
Like far too many small businesses, the bar at 5871 Hollister Ave. has struggled mightily over the last year. It closed at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, was allowed to reopen in October, and then was ordered closed again in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most recent shutdown that began in December.
Owners Jennifer and Patrick Housh could read the writing on the wall, even after they were granted permission to reopen earlier this month.
“I have been dreading this post, but I can’t hold off any longer,” Jennifer Housh wrote in a March 23 Facebook post. “As of March 31, 2021, Mercury Lounge will be permanently closed.”
She told our Josh Molina that there was no other choice, and that she and her husband are looking for a buyer.
“We had to sell,” Housh said. “No way to get out from under the financial impact of COVID.”
And just like that, Goleta’s oldest bar — which had operated continuously since 1957 — is gone.
Thanks for the memories.
3. Sheriff’s Department Releases the Name of Woman Struck, Killed By Train in Summerland
A 24-year-old Santa Barbara woman was identified as the pedestrian who was struck and killed by a passenger train March 16 in Summerland.
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue reported March 22, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick said Jasmine Jimenez was hit by a northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner just west of Lookout Park.
Jimenez was declared dead at the scene by emergency responders.
Witnesses told Noozhawk that she had run across the tracks into the train’s path.
No further information — including funeral details — was available.
4. Ventura Man Killed in Head-on Crash on Highway 154 Near Lake Cachuma
An early morning head-on collision on Highway 154 near Lake Cachuma left a Ventura man dead and a Santa Barbara man severely injured on March 25.
As our Giana Magnoli first reported, Santa Barbara County firefighters responded to the 3:55 a.m. crash and found two absolutely mangled cars.
According to the California Highway Patrol’s preliminary investigation, the driver of a westbound Toyota sedan crossed into the eastbound lane and slammed into an oncoming Dodge sedan.
CHP Officer Keith Rogers said the Toyota driver was declared dead at the scene. The identity of the 39-year-old victim was not released pending notification of relatives.
Rogers said the Dodge driver, identified as 34-year-old Ernest Gilbert, was critically injured in the collision and had to be extricated from the wreckage. He was transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, but his medical condition was not disclosed.
The CHP is investigating the circumstances of the crash. It was not yet known whether alcohol or drugs were a factor.
5. (tie) Santa Barbara Showdown Brewing over Sola Street Bike Route Project
Who doesn’t like a good turf war?
The City of Santa Barbara has a doozy on its hands with a controversial $3 million bike route project pitting the Historic Landmarks Commission and the city Public Works Department against each other.
For what it’s worth, the City Council sided with its professional staff rather than its volunteer commissioners, but I’m getting ahead of our Josh Molina.
As Josh first reported on March 22, the Public Works Department has proposed what it’s calling the Westside Community Paseos, a series of high-visibility bike lanes on Sola Street along with traffic diverters, new traffic signals, access ramps, brick pavers, landscaping and relocated street lights intended to connect existing bike routes as part of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan.
Although the project is mostly on the Westside, the name is somewhat disingenuous as the bicycle preference impacts continue on the Eastside, past Alameda Park and all the way to Alta Vista Road on the Lower Riviera then down to East Anapamu Street at Santa Barbara High School.
The project also traverses the El Pueblo Viejo District, which makes it part of the Historic Landmarks Commission’s purview. The agency objected to changes at the East Sola Street intersections at Santa Barbara and Garden streets, and sent it back for changes.
Rather than negotiate, public works officials appealed the denial directly to the City Council, explaining that there was no time to waste. Evidently, the department needs to spend $4.4 million in state grants in the next couple of months or risk forfeiting the funds.
Councilman Mike Jordan, a former planning commissioner, was irked with the Historic Landmarks Commission’s decision, calling it “almost like historical elitism.”
“‘Yeah, we want to do something safely for bicyclists and pedestrians, but not through this neighborhood,’” he sniped. “‘Not through an old neighborhood. Go move it somewhere else.’”
But Councilman Eric Friedman maintained that the commission was bypassed when the city rushed to paint portions of State Street green and allow rental electric bicycle docking stations downtown and at the waterfront.
“Its frustration is not just about this project,” he said. “I have concerns that we are minimizing HLC. We are an internationally known city and if we start minimizing that piece by piece, it’s gone before we know it.”
Acknowledging the pending spending deadline, Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon nevertheless asked why the Public Works Department didn’t take its project to the commission earlier, like, say, between 2015 and 2020 instead of this January.
“It’s a false narrative,” she said. “This false set-up that it is one against the other is damaging to our community.”
In the end, the council voted unanimously to approve the bike route project.
5. (tie) State Coastal Commission Votes to Ban Off-Highway Vehicles at Oceano Dunes
After four decades of debate, a unanimous California Coastal Commission has approved a ban on off-highway vehicles at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, in three years.
In a March 18 story the San Luis Obispo Tribune shared with Noozhawk, Mackenzie Shuman reported that the commission voted 10-0 to implement staff recommendations to prohibit off-highway vehicles, or OHVs, at the park south of Grover Beach by 2024.
Vehicles currently are allowed on just 1,500 acres of the 3,600-acre park and its six miles of beach off Highway 1, and access is further restricted at certain times of the year.
Commissioner Donne Brownsey of Fort Bragg said OHV use “is not consistent with the Coastal Act” and is detrimental to the environment.
“When I think about sea-level rise and climate change, how threatened our beaches and our dune ecosystems are today, I believe that they deserve our highest protection,” she said.
The commissioners made it clear that “environmental justice” trumps recreational activity.
“I just don’t think there is any dispute,” said Commissioner Dayna Bochco of Pacific Palisades. “There is no way to support OHV activity in (environmentally sensitive habitat areas) … so we have no other recourse.”
Given the vociferous opposition from off-road enthusiasts, I’m not sure it’s entirely undisputed but California already has declared war on the internal-combustion engine so the commission’s decision was as predictable as wind at Oceano Dunes.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Confirmed Coronavirus/COVID-19 Cases Rise to 9 in Santa Barbara County.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
If you’re out in the Santa Barbara Channel, be on the lookout: Rare Sighting of Tropical False Killer Whales off Orange County Coast.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
Fossil media make an appearance in my Instagram feed this past week — if you can zoom in to see what’s there.
• • •
Watch It
I don’t drink coffee, but this would be me.
(Netflix Is a Joke video)
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
