Noozhawk’s spring membership campaign is in full swing, and I wanted to share more about who we are and why your support is so critical.
The theme of our spring membership campaign is roots. Noozhawk may be just 15 years old, but our staff’s roots run very deep in our community.
My partners — executive editor Tom Bolton and business development vice president Kim Clark — and I have lived here most of our lives.
We raised our families here, and all seven of our children have worked for Noozhawk at one time or another. Will Macfadyen is our membership director.
North County editor Janene Scully grew up on the Central Coast. Staff writers Josh Molina and Serena Guentz grew up in Goleta and Santa Maria, respectively. Sales rep Lauren Hodgins grew up in Carpinteria.
Managing editor Giana Magnoli and sales manager Sheridan Taphorn came to the Central Coast for college and never left, Giana at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and Sheridan at UC Santa Barbara.
And does anyone not know sports editor Barry Punzal and sports columnist and local sports royalty Mark Patton?
But Noozhawk’s roots are also our readers and the Santa Barbara County communities whose stories we tell. And like trees and flowers, we’re only as strong and resilient as the roots that give us life.
Given enough time, tree roots can grow through concrete. We like to think of what we do in the same way: with enough persistence and work, we can tell news stories that break through the status quo and create space for new growth.
Our strong roots have already had a tangible impact over these last 15 years as you’ve come to depend on us to provide professional, reliable coverage of local news — breaking news, crime, government, schools, housing, business, sports, nonprofits, obituaries, and our ever-present disasters and emergencies.
We hope to keep growing in 2023 — and to do so, we’ll need your help. If everyone reading this contributed $10, we’d hit our spring fundraising goal today.
Can we count on you for a financial contribution to Noozhawk today?
No matter how big or how small, your donation to our Hawks Club makes a major difference to our scrappy team of professional journalists.
Thank you for your support.
According to our Google Analytics, Noozhawk had an audience of 113,320 readers this past week.
What follows is my take on the Top 5 stories you were reading during the period. And by “my take,” I mean my opinion. This is my opinion column, not a news story.
1. Oprah Winfrey’s Montecito Neighbors Raise Concerns about Boulder Wall Built Along Creek
There’s nothing new to report this week, but our Josh Molina’s Oprah Winfrey story is making a pitch for syndication.
It’s our top story for the second week in a row, and is now our most-read story so far this year. Josh is never gonna let me hear the end of it.
2. Montecito’s Coral Casino Gets OK to Open Restaurant to Public, Stop Access for Biltmore Hotel Guests
For more than three years, Montecito’s Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club — like the Four Seasons Resort-The Biltmore Santa Barbara across the street — has been closed and fenced off like, well, Bellosguardo, less than a mile up the beach.
For more than three years, the Coral Casino’s owner, billionaire Ty Warner, and his management team have provided club members with only sporadic updates about facility renovations — never mentioning any kind of a timeline to reopen.
I know this because I’m a longtime member of the club at 1281 Channel Drive.
All that changed in mid-February, when Warner’s representatives suddenly called back-to-back membership meetings to describe plans to sever the historic private club from the Biltmore, make it off-limits to hotel guests, and open the upstairs Tydes restaurant to the public.
Oh, and the proposed changes would be going before the Montecito Planning Commission a few weeks later as part of a request to amend the club’s conditional-use permit.
If successful, the members were told, management might be able to set a timeline to reopen the Coral Casino. If not, all bets were off.
As our Giana Magnoli reported, the commission voted 2-1 to approve the Coral Casino plan, with members Bob Kupiec and Marshall Miller in favor and Sandy Stahl dissenting.
A fourth member, Ron Pulice, recused himself and the fifth, Donna Senauer, was absent.
Bill Medel, a representative of Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts, was pressed by Kupiec about a reopening date — just as he was at the two meetings with the membership.
“Ideally,” he would only say each time, the Coral Casino would open this summer.
“We want to finish construction, get this amendment approved, and get our staff hired so we can start getting our training,” Medel said.
The construction includes a new rooftop lounge for members, an upgraded private dining room and a larger children’s pool. Among earlier renovations are refurbished cabanas, a new gym and pool repairs.
While they had the opportunity, the commissioners had a few questions about the Biltmore, whose closure has cost Santa Barbara County millions of dollars in taxes and the community a significant amenity overlooking Butterfly Beach.
In the understatement of the year, Kupiec told Medel that there’s a “deep skepticism that goes on in Montecito with the Biltmore.”
“It’s been years, and there’s a tremendous amount of impatience,” he said.
Medel had even less to say about that — in case you were wondering why there’s such “deep skepticism” in the community.
Although I’m generally in favor of the Coral Casino changes, I’ve seen more urgency to finish the nearby Highway 101 widening project.
Besides, I’ve heard that a challenge has since been lodged against the Planning Commission approval. I guess my cynicism is not without merit after all.
3. BizHawk: Taqueria La Unica Opens as Hotspot for Mexican Street Tacos
When it comes to Mexican food magic, Carlos Luna has all kinds of street cred in Santa Barbara.
His new Taqueria La Unica is using that credibility on street tacos. I’ve had them at Luna’s flagship Los Agaves, and let’s just say you can’t eat just one.
As our Josh Molina reported, Taqueria La Unica has opened at 3771 State St., most recently the home to a Dunkin’ Donuts.
More important, it’s a half-block from Noozhawk World Headquarters.
“We wanted to recreate the experience that transports our guests to the streets of Mexico, where the flavors are bold, the spices are fiery, and the tacos are always fresh,” said Luna, whose family is from Jalisco, a haven for savory street fare.
The contemporary, open-kitchen restaurant serves traditional street tacos, tortas, volcanes and alambres.
It features a variety of meats — such as cabeza, cachete, labio, lengua, longaniza, pastor, suadero and tripa — along with vegetarian options like bean, cauliflower and mushroom.
La Unica is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
4. Bill Macfadyen: Oprah Winfrey’s Neighbors Keep an Eye on Her Wall
I may not catch Josh, but at least he knows he can’t shake me so easily.
5. Man Shot, Killed by Off-Duty Police Officer at Orcutt Market Fired Own Gun During Altercation, Sheriff’s Office Says
New details were released about the March 25 Melody Mini Market shooting in Orcutt, and it’s astounding that the carnage wasn’t far worse than it was.
As our Tom Bolton and Janene Scully have reported previously, 19-year-old José Manuel Reyes Rios of Santa Maria was shot and killed by an off-duty Santa Maria police officer after Rios got into an altercation and allegedly opened fire outside the market at 130 E. Foster Road, wounding two people.
As is protocol, the officer was placed on administrative leave, but that’s about all that authorities would say pending further investigation.
On April 7, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s investigators said quite a lot was going on that night at the market, just east of Highway 135/Orcutt Expressway and a few blocks west of Righetti High School.
Janene reported that sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick said two carloads of people arrived separately just before 8 p.m., followed moments later by the off-duty officer and his family, and a fourth vehicle with a woman and her two children.
While the officer, whose identity has not been disclosed, and the fourth driver were in the market, the eight occupants of the first two cars started arguing in the parking lot, Zick said.
“The off-duty officer had returned to his vehicle at the same time that Rios brandished a firearm and shot at the other group, striking one of them,” she said.
“Rios paused in his shooting, running past the off-duty officer who had drawn his firearm and police badge.”
Zick said Rios refused to comply with the officer’s orders to stop shooting and surrender, and instead kept firing at the others as well as at a neighboring restaurant.
At that point, she said, the officer shot him several times, killing him.
“The off-duty officer called emergency services on his cell phone, ushered the uninvolved bystanders into the market and sheltered them inside until deputies arrived,” Zick said.
The seven other combatants fled the scene before the law enforcement and emergency cavalry arrived, so it was not known what happened to the individual allegedly shot by Rios.
A customer at the nearby restaurant was injured by shattered debris from the shooting, but the wounds were not considered life-threatening.
Much of the parking lot party was captured on the store’s security cameras, a short clip of which the Sheriff’s Department released “to give the public a brief idea of the scene without compromising additional parts of the investigation that remains ongoing,” Zick said.
The video is safe to watch. We’d post it ourselves but YouTube refuses to allow us to upload it, claiming it violates its suddenly high-minded content standards.
According to Zick, investigators discovered that Rios was using an illegal “ghost gun,” a weapon with its identifying serial number removed to make it harder to trace. I’m guessing he never got around to properly registering it either.
The search for the other individuals is ongoing.
A funeral Mass for Rios is scheduled for 1 p.m. April 14 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, at 966 W. Orchard St. in Santa Maria, with burial to follow at the Santa Maria Cemetery, 1501 S. College Drive.
A GoFundMe account established to help Rios’ family with funeral expenses had raised nearly $6,000 as of April 14. Click here to make an online donation.
• • •
Good Reads
Don’t miss these six stories before you go:
» Turtles at Santa Barbara’s Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden Being Relocated to Sanctuary — Staff writer Serena Guentz reports on the City of Santa Barbara sticking its neck out to remove the famed turtles from Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden.
» Santa Barbara Planning Commission Expresses ‘Real Concerns’ About Hotel Proposed for Garden Street — Staff writer Josh Molina checks into the Santa Barbara Planning Commission’s reservations about a 250-room hotel project.
» In Surprise Move, Santa Barbara Council Delays Decision on Outdoor Dining Fees — Josh provides Example No. 4,317 of why downtown Santa Barbara will never be fixed. Change my mind.
» Dredging Operation at Carpinteria Salt Marsh Closes Trails, Beach Access — South Coast debris basins had their fill of winter storms, but the Carpinteria Salt Marsh was also clogged with silt, too. Staff writer Grace Kitayama digs into Santa Barbara County’s cleanup operation.
» Solvang, Former City Clerk Settle Civil Lawsuit for $950,000 Before Trial — There must always be a City of Solvang. Janene rereads an old chapter.
» Proposal to Develop Commercial Fish Farms in Santa Barbara Channel Concerns Local Fishermen — Contributing writer Karin Hill reels in some local turmoil over President Joe Biden’s executive order to help commercial fish farms move in on the Santa Barbara Channel.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Kite-Boarder Dies After Being Rescued from Ocean Off Santa Barbara.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
The next time I go to Alaska, I’m carving out a visit to this place: The Mystery of This Petroglyph-Covered Alaskan Beach.
• • •
Here’s What I’m Up To
- April 22 — Speaking to the All Saints Men’s Group at All Saints By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Montecito. It’s a home game for me, but HT to Richard Scheef for the opportunity.
- April 26 — Emceeing the EconAlliance Energy Forum at Craft House at Corque in Solvang. This year’s forum features “Evolving Global and Local Renewable Energy Alternatives,” the current global energy picture and a roundup of local energy projects.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
Nico Cottontail hops into my Instagram feed for Easter. You’re welcome.
• • •
Watch It
Elephantine dexterity is no big peel. HT to Nate Morris.
