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According to our Google Analytics, Noozhawk had an audience of 73,543 readers this past week.
What follows is my take on the Top 5 stories you were reading. Just so you know, this is my opinion column, and not a news story.
1. La Cumbre Plaza Housing Plan Funding Crumbles After Das Williams Blasts Planning Processes
Facing almost comically impossible-to-achieve state housing mandates, City of Santa Barbara officials thought they had a way to put a big dent in the total number of residences that must be built by 2031.
By creating a site-specific plan for under-utilized La Cumbre Plaza, they reasoned, as many as 2,000 new housing units could be subtracted from the 8,000 decreed by our Sacramento overlords.
Feeling good about their strategy, a contingent went to the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments on Dec. 15 to request a $1.1 million REAP 2.0, Regional Early Action Planning Grant toward the infill development.
“This is a transformative project for decades and decades and decades to come,” Mayor Randy Rowse said. “It’s very important that we get this done.”
As our Josh Molina reported, however, county First District Supervisor Das Williams had other ideas.
“I have spent many, many months — years of my life — in City of Santa Barbara planning processes that went nowhere,” the former city councilman said. “They are all about the idealism and hope of bringing people together, and that’s not where they end up.
“What they unfortunately end up as, all too often, is an impediment to progress.”
I don’t know who put the quarter in Williams, but he was determined to get his money’s worth.
In fact, he sounded refreshingly libertarian as he blasted government planning agencies, including the county’s own, design review boards and those of that ilk who populate them.
“I just respectfully disagree that staffing additional planning processes will speed things up compared to planning processing of applications, especially when the city is tolerating design review boards run amok,” Williams said.
He wasn’t the only naysayer, though. Matthew Taylor, who heads up a partnership that proposes to build 685 apartments on 15 acres of the La Cumbre Plaza property, also dissented.
Taylor’s team, which only submitted its development application the day before, is pitching a mixed-use project along State Street and Hope Avenue — essentially, the sunken parking lot on the north side of the Macy’s building at 3805 State St.
Plans include studios and one- and two bedroom apartments, with set-asides for seniors and below-market renters, along with retail space and underground parking.
Noting that the property is already zoned for housing, Taylor expressed concern that a site-specific plan would delay or derail his project.
“The specific plan would delay infill development for two years, maybe more,” he said.
As Josh reported, the city wants to avoid a piecemeal approach to development, especially on a canvas as large as La Cumbre Plaza’s.
Taylor’s project was submitted under state Senate Bill 330, also known as the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, which limits the number of design review meetings to five and streamlines more of the municipal approval process.
Josh will have more to report on the project early next month. Stay tuned.
2. Santa Speedo Runners Converge on State Street for Jolly Good Time
We’ve been doing Noozhawk long enough to have a pretty good idea of what kinds of stories will “click” with our readers, but sometimes there are last-minute lineup additions that sneak past us.
Grace Kitayama’s Jan. 18 report on the Santa Speedo Run was one such surprise — although, in fairness, it’s hard to miss a bunch of people dressed in Speedos, Santa hats, ugly Christmas sweaters and onesies jogging down State Street in downtown Santa Barbara.
Some three dozen people participated in the spectacle — a fun fundraiser for the Pacific Pride Foundation — that started at the Arlington Theatre and made its way to Stearns Wharf, 1½ miles away.
Organizer Leighton Jones told Grace that last year’s inaugural run raised about $1,o00 for the nonprofit Pacific Pride Foundation, which provides LGBTQ+ services, programs, trainings and advocacy throughout Santa Barbara County.
3. BizHawk: Elena’s Kitchen Bringing a Taste of Home to Downtown
Santa Barbara’s newest Mexican restaurant, Elena’s Kitchen, is opening at 738 State St. across from Paseo Nuevo downtown.
As our Josh Molina reported, the restaurant features traditional Mexican flavors and is owned by the family behind SB Sweets and City Hats in the mall.
“It’s comfort food,” general manager Angel Benitez told Josh. “You are going to feel very happy eating this food.”
The menu includes tacos, burritos, tamales and, Benitez’s favorite, the chilaquiles.
Elena’s Kitchen is named after Benitez’s mom, Maria Elena Rangel.
“Every time she cooks, it always runs out,” he said.
The restaurant will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 6 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
4. Bill Macfadyen: Highway 154 Continues with Its Crash Course
What? A week has gone by without a major crash on Highway 154? I hope I haven’t jinxed it.
5. Goleta Man to Get 4-Year Prison Term After Pleading Guilty to Child-Molest Charges
A 32-year-old Goleta man will be sentenced to four years in state prison in a child molestation and child pornography case that prosecutors say stretches back to 2015.
As our Tom Bolton was first to report, defendant Zachary Arthur Warburg and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office reached an agreement in the case on Nov. 30.
Deputy District Attorney Sarah Barkley told Tom that Warburg agreed to plead guilty to four felonies and three misdemeanors, and will be sentenced Jan. 5 to more than 7½ years in prison.
Because some of the terms run concurrently, she said, his actual sentence will be about four years.
Warburg was arrested in 2019 on 17 felony and eight misdemeanor charges involving multiple victims.
According to the criminal complaint, the offenses occurred primarily in the spring of 2018, although some allegations date back to 2015. The victims ranged in age from 11 to 17, the complaint says.
Barkley said Warburg pleaded guilty to two felonies — lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under 14 and dissuading a witness — that will count as strikes under California’s Three Strikes Sentencing Law.
He also pleaded guilty to felony charges of possession of child pornography and attempting to contact a minor to commit lewd acts, she said.
The remaining felony and misdemeanor charges will be dismissed upon sentencing, Barkley said.
She added that Warburg, who currently is out of jail on bail, will also have to register as a sex offender.
Warburg worked as a software developer and also as a freelance photographer. His breaking news pictures of fires and vehicle crashes often appeared in Noozhawk before May 2018.
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Good Reads
Here are a half-dozen stories that are worth your while. Well, maybe not the first one:
» Santa Barbara Talks Podcast: Bill Macfadyen Talks Column, BizHawk, Redesign, La Cumbre Plaza, State Street — Popular podcaster, and Noozhawk staff writer, Josh Molina had me on his Santa Barbara Talks. We covered a lot of ground, and I had a blast.
» Conception Victim Captured Video of Fatal Dive Boat Disaster — I didn’t think the 2019 Conception dive boat disaster could get any more heartbreaking and horrific, but managing editor Giana Magnoli’s latest update proves me wrong.
» Mars Lander That Launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base Runs Out of Power — North County editor Janene Scully helps a historic Mars mission sign off.
» Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce Recognizes ‘Goleta’s Finest’ at Gala Event — I had the privilege of introducing Aaliyah and Bella Rubio as the 2022 Goleta’s Finest Students of the Year on Dec. 17 at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, but it was my friend, Lifetime Achievement honoree Jean Blois, who stole the show. Staff writer Grace Kitayama wraps up the awards from the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce.
» Guadalupe Council Congratulates Bulldogs for Football Championship — Janene is our sideline reporter as the Guadalupe Bulldogs and the Bulldog cheerleaders are recognized for their gridiron glory.
» Dan McCaslin: Saga of Puma P-22 Highlights Tragedy of Big Mammals in Anthropocene Age — The death of puma P-22 has columnist Dan McCaslin prowling around the idea of our coexistence with wild animals.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Driver Charged with Intentionally Causing Highway 101 Crash in Summerland That Injured 4 Passengers.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
We’re all thinking it: Why Big Earthquakes Keep Hammering California’s ‘Mendocino Triple Junction’
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
I crashed the Rubio family’s Christmas card picture and spent some time joshing around with Josh Molina — in between trying to deliver more #mailboxesofmontecito2022 before I turn the page to next year’s collection. It’s all in my Instagram feed.
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Watch It
One more reason why I miss Charles Schulz.
