In addition to our daily run of local news, Noozhawk publishes and maintains several special interest sections throughout the year.
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What follows is my take on your Top 5 stories read. Please note that this is an opinion column, not a news story.
1. Altercation on Hot Springs Trail Over Bathing Pools Sends Ripples Through Montecito
For four years now, Montecito’s Hot Springs Trail has been a neighborhood flashpoint.
As I wrote in one of my Best of Bill columns in 2022: “The Hot Springs Trailhead, on East Mountain Drive near upper Riven Rock Road, has been ground zero for tensions involving three mostly incompatible groups: The public eager to hike up the public trail to the historic hot springs; neighborhood residents frustrated by often out-of-control visitor parking and associated ‘activities;’ and Santa Barbara County and other federal, state and local government officials who have just enough ownership of the issue to not be able to wriggle out of their involvement.”
I’m just as surprised as you that the atmosphere is no less tense today. In the absence of meaningful leadership or accountability from the latter group, those in the first two have taken it upon themselves to fill the vacuum for their own ends.
But I digress.
As our Josh Molina reported in a comprehensive exploration of the latest frictions, the hot springs — illegally transformed into man-made pools — have emerged as the latest focus of frustration.
Neighbors chafe at the influx of visitors parking along narrow residential streets and in their landscaping.
They’re furious that about the only action taken by government oversight agencies has been against residents trying to use the public right of way to protect their properties.
And they’re demanding that those oversight agencies remove the pools, which were built without permission or permits at the springs, about 1½ miles up Hot Springs Canyon from the trailhead.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, a viral video captured an opponent and a supporter engaged in a heated argument over the legality of the pools.
“We have become the basecamp to Coachella,” nearby homeowner Kohanya Groff told Josh, describing trash, vandalism and safety hazards created by the crowds.
“The pools are the stage. It is just madness.”
Santa Barbara County is belatedly negotiating — albeit with ham-handed threats of fines and litigation — with a handful of homeowners to carve out a limited number of parking spaces to add to the eight designated spots at the trailhead.
The U.S. Forest Service, however, is basically washing its hands of the matter, even though the springs sit within its jurisdiction.
In one of the most adroitly lame statements I’ve read in a while, Los Padres National Forest spokesman Andrew Madsen gave a master class in avoiding responsibility.
“The Montecito hot springs have been used by the public as well as the native inhabitants in this area since long before Los Padres National Forest came into being,” he told Josh.
“Our position continues to be that we are not removing the bathing pools, as that would amount to eliminating an established and appropriate recreational use.
“That said, we are also not approving building more pools there.”
And yet these pools were not built by “native inhabitants” of yore. They date back all the way to the winter of ’23 — as in 2023, last year — after that January’s rainstorms wiped them out.
Furthermore, the guy doing most of the construction sure seems like he knows he’s in a legal and liability gray area, to the point of hiding his tools and demanding anonymity from the news media.
I can’t top that so I’ll let Josh have the last word with his Santa Barbara Talks podcast. When coupled with his thorough report, you’ll have a really good understanding of what’s at stake.
2. 2 People Hurt in Collision on Las Positas Road in Santa Barbara
A collision on Santa Barbara’s Las Positas Road the morning of June 1 put two people in the hospital and left one car mangled and the other flipped upside down.
As our Tom Bolton reported, Santa Barbara fire Capt. Josh Brousseau said the wreck occurred about 8:40 a.m. when a sedan pulling out of Las Positas Place, just south of the Modoc Road intersection, collided with a car traveling south on Las Positas Road.
One of the vehicles overturned in the collision, and Brousseau said that driver was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with moderate injuries.
He said the other driver suffered minor injuries, but was taken to the hospital by family members.
No identities were disclosed in the crash, which is under investigation by Santa Barbara police.
3. After Outcry, UCSB Shifts Commencement Back to Traditional Lagoon Lawn Location
That was fast.
Just three days after UC Santa Barbara’s abrupt and controversial announcement that it was relocating upcoming commencement ceremonies from the traditional lagoon lawn and restricting access to six guest tickets per graduate, the school reversed course.
As our Josh Molina reported initially, seven ceremonies during the June 14-16 weekend were to be affected by the move to the Recreation Center Fields.
In addition to the new location and the access limitations, guests would be required to undergo security screening.
UCSB officials provided no reason for the changes.
On June 6, however, our Rebecca Caraway provided an update with the do-over.
“We appreciate the extensive feedback we have received from our campus community …,” the university wrote in an email to graduating students.
“We know that the changes have resulted in some difficult choices for some students and their families, and we deeply apologize for the timing.”
A feature of the new lagoon configuration is that graduates can now bring up to 12 guests, so there’s that.
The decision came amid a UAW strike at UCSB and other UC campuses, a seeming coincidence that was not lost on dissenters.
Within hours of the initial announcement, more than 2,200 people had signed a student petition demanding the ceremonies be moved back to the lagoon without ticket limits.
For whatever reason, ceremonies for the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and the College of Creative Studies were not part of either venue change.
4. BizHawk: New Kin Doughnut Shop Proving to Be Worth the Wait — Up to 2 Hours
From the same place where his dad used to buy him shoes as a boy, Tommy Chang is now running a so-far hugely successful startup doughnut shop called Kin Bakeshop with his business partner, Will Chen.
Located at 199 S. Turnpike Road, Suite 103 — in Santa Barbara’s Turnpike Shopping Center across from San Marcos High School — Kin has become the talk of the town.
The place draws lines more than 100 people long with waits up to two hours — all through word-of-mouth alone.
Our Josh Molina, like Let’s Go Eat columnist Rob Raede before him, stopped by for some brioche and mochi doughnuts that Chang and Chen have perfected through YouTube tutorials and endless tweaking.
“My friends and family are all tired of trying it because every time I make a new batch I am, like, calling people and saying, ‘Hey, I think I made some improvements on it. Try, try try,’” Chen told Josh.
Kin is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Monday, but be sure to get there early. Each day, the doughnuts are sold out within a few hours.
5. 52-Unit Affordable Housing Project Proposed for Santa Barbara’s Westside Gets Hammered Over Design
A 52-unit affordable housing project proposed for Santa Barbara’s Lower Westside must be “less generic” and needs to better reflect the local architectural style, according to the city’s Architectural Board of Review.
As our Josh Molina reported, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is pitching a four-story building at 305 Rancheria St., just off Cliff Drive, a block west of Castillo Street.
The project would replace a 28-unit Housing Authority complex with 52 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments along with a ground-floor community center.
While supporting the much-needed density, board members found the design a bit too generic and repetitive.
“I feel like the architectural style does not really improve the neighborhood,” board member Lauren Anderson said, urging a re-evaluation to tie the design into Santa Barbara’s historic culture.
Board member Dennis Whelan agreed.
“We take such love and pride being in Santa Barbara,” he said. “You’d have a hard time convincing me that this building says anything about Santa Barbara.”
Suggestions include using lighter colors, varying the building designs, rethinking the interior parking layout, and making the architecture more neighborhood-compatible.
The Housing Authority plans to incorporate the feedback before resubmitting the project for further review.
One neighbor voiced concerns about potential impacts on traffic and congestion from doubling the number of units.
“The impact to the neighborhood is going to be absolutely detrimental,” said Kate Newell, a 30-year homeowner nearby. “52 units does not mean 52 people.”
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Good Reads
Don’t miss these six stories before you go:
» Appeals Court Affirms Murder Convictions for Man Who Killed Solvang Mom, 2 Kids in Highway 154 Crash — Executive editor Giana Magnoli is still on the case of the 2019 intentional head-on collision murders of Solvang mom Rebecca Bley and her two young children, Lucienne and Desmond.
» Righetti High School’s Tori Ortiz Captures Santa Maria Elks Rodeo Queen Crown — Rodeo HT to Tori Ortiz for being crowned 2024 Santa Maria Elks Rodeo Queen. As North County editor Janene Scully reports, the Righetti High School senior is blind but her fundraising prowess is an eye-opener. In less than two months, she raised more than $508,000 for sponsor VTC Enterprises, while fellow queen candidate Alexis Righetti raised more than $400,000 for St. Joseph High School. In all, the four candidates pulled in more than $1 million for local recreation initiatives.
» Santa Barbara City Council Tentatively Agrees to Raise Fees for Boats, Parking at Harbor — Staff writer Daniel Green dives into details of a boatload of fee increases planned at the Santa Barbara Harbor.
» Firefighters Rescue 2 Kayakers in Distress in Ocean off Goleta — It may have seemed like a good idea at one time, but taking a kayak the two miles out to Platform Holly off Goleta was not the wisest decision. North County editor Janene Scully bails out the two intrepid paddle bums.
» Goleta Council Considers Restriping Options for Parts of Cathedral Oaks Road — Staff writer Rebecca Caraway learns that the City of Goleta may finally fix the wagon trail otherwise known as Cathedral Oaks Road.
» Motorists to Get a Break from Highway 101 Lane Realignment in Goleta — The interminable construction of the Highway 101 bridge over San José Creek in Goleta has been a pain in the lane. Editor in chief Tom Bolton has some good news.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Fresco Café in Santa Barbara Abruptly Closes for Good.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
What happened to “trust, but verify?” Fauci Says COVID-Era Rules About Social Distancing, Masking Children Not Based on Science — ‘They Just Sort of Appeared’.
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Here’s What I’m Up To
- June 7 — Mountain View School in Goleta is having me back to participate in its annual sixth-grade exit interviews. Talking with the school’s Cougar cubs is always one of my favorite things I get to do as Noozhawk’s publisher.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
It’s always #rodeotime for me, and my Instagram feed this past week was pretty much all Santa Maria Elks Rodeo. Noozhawk was proud to be a first-time sponsor of @smelksrodeo, and a big thank you goes out to Tina Tonascia, Johnna McGuire and our new Santa Maria Elks Recreation family for making our experience a 90 at least.
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Watch It
Extreme weather calls for … wisecracking commentary. As always, Ozzy Man comes with a foul language warning.
