As you’ve no doubt seen from our emails, Noozhawk is in the middle of our spring fundraising campaign.
This week, we’ve been highlighting our support for Santa Barbara County’s vital nonprofit community, which has been a key part of our mission and identity right from our start in 2007.
We pride ourselves on collaborating with nonprofits to share their stories, expand their visibility and connect them with the audiences they’re trying to reach.
Just in the last five years, we’ve partnered with 111 nonprofit organizations throughout the county.
In 2024 alone, we provided more than $110,000 in advertising sponsorships through our 50/50 match program, which helps organizations double their marketing reach and deepen their impact.
Over Noozhawk’s lifespan, the cumulative figure is more than $1 million!
We also publish nonprofit news releases at no cost, maintain a free community events calendar, and offer discounted event profiles to help organizations tell their stories.
Through our Good for Santa Barbara section and annual Nonprofit Guide to Giving, we provide nonprofits with lasting exposure to potential supporters and volunteers.
We also believe that Santa Barbara County’s charitable resources should stay where they’re needed most: with the nonprofits working directly on the causes you care about.
As a for-profit news company, we don’t apply for nonprofit grants or rely on foundation support for our ongoing operations.
Locally owned and independently operated, Noozhawk is sustained through reader support and local business partnerships.
We also answer only to you — not to corporate owners, distant funders or out-of-state institutions entering the region to fundraise from the same donors our nonprofits rely on.
After nearly 18 years, Noozhawk has a proven business model for covering our community and a well-earned reputation for professional journalism that is factual, fair, reliable and unbiased.
Your financial contribution — at any amount — keeps us going and growing, not only providing the local news you want but helping local nonprofits with the visibility they need.
Thank you for your support.
According to our WordPress analytics, Noozhawk had an audience of 128,534 readers this past week.
What follows is my own take on the Top 5 stories that our Google Analytics shows you were reading over that period.
As a reminder, this is not a news story. It’s my opinion column, which I write in my civic capacity as Noozhawk’s publisher.
1. Authorities Interview Man Seen with UCSB Student Liz Hamel Who Died in Fall
Achieving more in a couple of days than UC Santa Barbara and UCSB police officials seem to have managed in a couple of months, Alain Hamel apparently has solved one part of the mysterious death of his only daughter.
As our Josh Molina reported, authorities finally have interviewed the previously unidentified man last seen with UCSB freshman Liz Hamel before her fatal fall on Valentine’s Day night, following an April 30 public appeal from the family that generated immediate tips from the community.
“Many people came forward, identifying this person, and the family is so grateful,” said attorney Tyrone Maho, a partner at Maho Prentice LLP, who represents Hamel’s parents, Hema Shanthi and Alain Hamel.
After Josh’s exclusive April 19 report on the peculiarly low-intensity response to Hamel’s perplexing death, her grief-stricken parents hired Santa Barbara private investigator Michael Claytor.
The Bellevue, Washington, family had grown increasingly frustrated with the limited information released during the two months since she died.
The 18-year-old Hamel was last seen leaving Lao Wang noodle bar in Isla Vista at 10:06 p.m. Feb. 14 with the young man.
Twenty-one minutes later, she was found unconscious and nearly lifeless outside the San Rafael Residence Hall, having apparently fallen about 30 feet from a breezeway.
She was rushed by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and died six days later, on Feb. 20.
As I mentioned in my April 25 column, UCSB didn’t even bother to send out a campus safety alert after the incident — even though Hamel apparently had no identification or cell phone with her when she was discovered.
Soon after Josh’s April 30 story was posted, UCSB police confirmed that detectives had located and interviewed “an individual who was identified in relation to the incident” but declined to provide details about what they learned or whether he is considered a person of interest.
In a statement, UCPD indicated the department “is working closely with the Santa Barbara (County) District Attorney’s Office” on the ongoing investigation.
Maho said the family “still has valid questions and concerns about their daughter’s death, and they have every right to continue to advocate for their only child.”
“We will not be satisfied until all the family’s questions have been answered,” he added.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Claytor Investigations at 805.335.3851.
Hamel, who lived at San Miguel Residence Hall, had not declared a major but had an interest in biology and chemistry, and was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.
2. Teen Victim of Goleta Stabbing Dies; Deputies Searching for Assailant
It’s been more than a week since a 17-year-old boy died of stab wounds suffered in an altercation near San Marcos High School, and you may be wondering if the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department has any information it cares to share with the community.
Not only is the answer no, the department — claiming direction from the County Counsel’s Office — still won’t even provide the victim’s name, dubiously citing the state Child Abuse Neglect Reporting Act as the excuse.
As our Tom Bolton reported, sheriff’s deputies responded to San Simeon Drive off Turnpike Road shortly after 8:45 p.m. April 30, finding the victim lying in the street.
Multiple male suspects had fled north on Turnpike Road before authorities arrived, sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick said.
The teenager was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he died less than an hour later.
Despite an extensive search of the area near San Marcos High and the Turnpike Shopping Center involving sheriff’s deputies, a K9 team and other law enforcement officers, the suspects remained at large.
As of May 9, no arrests have been disclosed.
While authorities aren’t talking, the teenager’s family identified him as Damian Hernandez in a GoFundMe account established to assist with funeral expenses.
“It is with broken hearts that we share the sudden and devastating loss of our beloved Damian,” according to the post.
“His life ended far too soon, and our hearts are crushed.”
The site had raised nearly $13,000 as of May 9. Click here to make an online donation.
3. 44 Micro-Apartments, 760 Self-Storage Units Headed to Downtown Santa Barbara
The Santa Barbara Planning Commission has approved an innovative mixed-use project combining 760 storage units with 44 micro-apartments, acknowledging the growing need for supplemental storage as downtown transforms into a neighborhood of smaller living spaces.
As our Josh Molina reported, the 6-1 vote supports REthink Development principal Greg Reitz’s vision for 360-square-foot micro-units at 102 W. De la Guerra St., alongside storage facilities in the historic but vacant Frontier Building next door at the corner of Chapala Street and West Canon Perdido.
“There’s a tremendous undersupply of self-storage,” said Reitz, whose market study indicates downtown needs three times its current capacity.
The Planning Commission largely praised the project’s response to changing housing patterns, although commissioner Lucille Boss — the lone dissenting vote — questioned prioritizing storage over affordable housing.
“I just did a quick search, and it seems like there are tons and tons of storage units available in the city of Santa Barbara and the South Coast,” she said.
The project’s architect, Brian Cearnal of The Cearnal Collective, countered with data from the professional market study.
“I don’t think the Google search for available storage units is something we can count on here …,” he said. “I don’t think we’d be doing this if there wasn’t this need, and it is only going to increase.
“(For) people having to drive to Carpinteria or Goleta who live in the downtown, this makes sense.”
The development will include four affordable units and no parking, reflecting expectations that residents will either be car-free or use nearby city lots.
The Frontier building, built in 1927 and full of telecommunications switchgear, is no longer in use.
Reitz said the ground underneath it is contaminated with lead and can’t be cleaned up because, at one point, Frontier built a two-megawatt generator on top of it.
“We have talked about micro-units for a long, long time,” commissioner Lesley Wiscomb said. “It’s really nice to see a micro-unit project come.”
4. Bill Macfadyen: Fatal San Marcos Pass Crash Reverberates in Santa Barbara
My Best of Bill column has had huge traffic all week, almost certainly because of the ongoing interest in the tragic deaths of Michael Fitzpatrick and Liz Hamel.
And Josh Molina’s reporting, of course.
5. Unmarked Los Patos Way Offramp, Railroad Bridge Set for Destruction
The unmarked Los Patos Way exit ramp on southbound Highway 101 near Montecito will be eliminated as part of plans to remove the 123-year-old Union Pacific railroad bridge above it — a structure with a dangerously low 12-foot, 3-inch clearance.
The removal is included in the interminable Highway 101 widening project slated for completion by … well, a long time from now.
As our Josh Molina reported, Union Pacific requested the bridge’s removal to avoid continued maintenance and potential crashes.
Built in 1901, seven years before the Ford Model T hit the road, the bridge’s low clearance has decapitated numerous box trucks and RVs over the decades.
During the Santa Barbara Planning Commission’s environmental impact report review last week, commissioner Brian Barnwell questioned plans showing the area would become merely a service access driveway once it’s closed off from the freeway.
“This site is a real jewel,” he said, suggesting the city-owned land near the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge could instead host “a restaurant with two floors of residential above it” or be donated to the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara for affordable housing.
The project will remove approximately 100 trees, which will be replanted elsewhere.
A replacement exit ramp will be built for Cabrillo Boulevard before closing Los Patos Way, and a rail bypass — known as a “shoo-fly” in railroad parlance, a retro train term if I’ve ever heard one — will maintain train service during construction of a new Cabrillo rail overcrossing.
Public comments on the EIR are being accepted through May 27.
• • •
Good Reads
Don’t miss these six stories before you go:
» ‘Mountains of Wisdom’ Honors Rabbi Stephen Cohen’s Decades of Service — Contributing writer Ann Pieramici is on hand for a weekend of retirement festivities celebrating Rabbi Stephen Cohen and his far-reaching community impacts. Mazel tov!
» Heroes in Santa Maria Courthouse Bombing Honored with Guerry Awards — Staff writer Rebecca Caraway heralds the actions of three law enforcement officers who caught the suspect in the 2024 bombing of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Maria.
» Another ‘Mini Heat Wave’ Bringing a Few Days in the 80s — After a week of May Gray — that started in April — executive editor Giana Magnoli finally brings me news of my kind of weather.
» Commission Supports SBIFF’s ‘Red Carpet Feel’ for Theater Renovations — Staff writer Daniel Green rolls the credits on the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s plans for its new theater — in spite of a comically gauche rendering depicting the design.
» Overpaid Government? Santa Barbara Council, Mayor Get Rare Pay Cut — South County editor Josh Molina has a twist on government spending that I’m quite sure I’ve never seen before — although, as a business owner, the underlying reasons are equally alarming.
» Santa Barbara Community Rowing’s Jacie Dingman Advances to National Championships — Sports editor Diego Sandoval catches up with Santa Ynez High freshman Jacie Dingman, and the champion rower is not easy to catch.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Pickup Truck Passenger Dies in Collision with Forklift in Santa Maria.
• • •
What I’m Up To
Although I’m not looking for a free meal, I occasionally do have free time if you’re looking for a speaker for your club, group or organization and want to hear more about Noozhawk. Email me at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com.
- May 28 — My favorite topic, Noozhawk, is on the agenda for my appearance at the Rotary Club of the Santa Ynez Valley.
- May 30 — I’ll be back at Mountain View School in Goleta for its annual sixth-grade exit interviews. Over the past 20 years, I think I’ve only missed one or two of these chats with exceptional young students before they head off to junior high school.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Talk about nine lives: Spanish Shipwreck Reveals Evidence of Earliest Known Pet Cats to Arrive in United States.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
Birthdays, grandsons and nature are all in my Instagram feed this past week.
• • •
Watch It
All in a play’s work for a gifted centerfielder. HT to Daulton Varsho of the Toronto Blue Jays.
