This week’s Best of Bill column is a long one so let’s jump right in.
According to our WordPress analytics, Noozhawk reached an audience of 130,138 readers this past week.
What follows is my own take on the Top 5 stories you were reading during that stretch, based on our Google analytics.
This is my opinion column, not a news story, and it is loaded with a piece of my mind. I have a lot to say today.
1. Santa Barbara Releases Flexible-Use Draft Plan for Downtown State Street
The years-long debate over what to do with State Street in downtown Santa Barbara has intensified ahead of a pivotal City Council discussion on April 28.
Hundreds of Noozhawk readers have already weighed in on the city’s newly released draft master plan.
As our Giana Magnoli reported, more than 350 readers responded to our Rebecca Caraway’s call for feedback on the proposal, reflecting a wide range of views about the corridor’s future after six years as a so-called “pedestrian promenade.”
The proposal — from Pasadena-based Moule & Polyzoides — covers eight blocks of what was once Santa Barbara’s main street, between Haley and Victoria streets.
The plan would narrow State Street to just two 10-foot travel lanes in the center, flanked by expanded, 30-foot-wide sidewalks with rolled curbs.
Retractable bollards would be installed at the intersections, allowing access by pedestrians and electric motorcycles — excuse me, e-bikes — from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with delivery vehicles permitted only during off-hours.
The proposal is slick, aspirational and — if nothing else — a significant design improvement over the flea market-themed mishmash that took over the elegant El Pueblo Viejo Landmark District in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I love many of the clever, artistic details, and I can appreciate the intent behind the more clearly identified Entertainment, Civic and Commercial, and Arts districts.
I want to believe this is the right plan for Santa Barbara, which first captured my imagination as a child and where I’ve wanted to live ever since. And have.
But it’s not. I don’t have space to recount all the ways, but these are my Top 5:
- We can’t afford it. At an estimated cost somewhere between $100 million and $150 million, in today’s dollars, the funding assumptions appear to have been pulled out of the air by someone named Rosie Scenario. As usual, yet another municipal bond measure is intended to finance a majority of the project, but the expected private investment projection is almost comical. The City of Santa Barbara can’t even get to a balanced budget with its ballyhooed, most recent sales tax hike. Where will it really find the money for this?
- Parades are gone for good. The two Old Spanish Days Fiesta parades and the Summer Solstice Celebration Parade, and even the smaller Fourth of July and Downtown Holiday parades, were not just enormously popular and highly anticipated traditions. They were economic and spectator magnets that simply don’t have the same attraction on wide-open East Cabrillo Boulevard and the more sterile Santa Barbara Street.
- Who is this for? State Street has essentially been turned into an electric motorcycle — excuse me, e-bike — freeway, and I’ve never understood why the city has allowed such valuable real estate to be held hostage like that. Cyclists are not stopping and shopping; at best, they’re commuting. Chapala Street could easily accommodate designated bikeways. Make them ride over there.
- Where is the economic benefit? There are real-world consequences to keeping cars off State Street, irrespective of Amazon, e-tail shopping and the absence of anchor stores at Paseo Nuevo. As Noozhawk has reported, the city’s once-vaunted Downtown Parking Program has been running significant annual deficits — dating back to 2020 when, in an odd coincidence, State Street was closed to cars. Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone, Coast Village Road, the Mesa, and Outer State and Milpas streets, along with Goleta’s shopping centers and Carpinteria’s Linden Avenue, seem to be flourishing, with rising commercial rents, fewer vacancies and more life.
- What’s the holdup? Yes, a “visioning” process should be thorough and deliberate, with a broad section of community input. But — start to finish — it took NASA eight years to put a man on the moon. Come June, it will have been six years in Santa Barbara, and we still can’t even see the moon.
For years, I have been championing the proposal created by architect Cass Ensberg — independently and at her own expense — that addressed many of the challenges identified by this latest batch of expensive out-of-town consultants.
Her plan demonstrated it is possible to accommodate bicycles, cars, people, outdoor dining and parades — at a price point and timeline that are affordable and realistic.
If the City Council really is serious about fixing State Street, my suggestion is that it enact the Ensberg experiment in at least one of the three new designated districts. By now, we could have already had two years of actual data to review instead of pure speculation.
The City Council will take up the draft master plan at 2 p.m. April 28 at City Hall, 735 Anacapa St.
2. Deputies Still Searching for Wanted Man in Eastern Goleta Neighborhood
Well, at least they know who they’re looking for.
As our Evelyn Spence reported, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies are still searching for a Santa Barbara man who is accused of striking a patrol vehicle with his car and fleeing on foot three days ago.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick told Evelyn that 40-year-old Anthony Torres Lopez Jr., who is wanted on a felony arrest warrant, struck a patrol car near Hollister and South Patterson avenues about 6 p.m. April 21.
She said he then drove onto the bike path along Maria Ignacio Creek before abandoning his car and running away.
Deputies, a K-9 team and a county helicopter searched for several hours in and around the Patterson Place neighborhood but came up empty.
Lopez is described as 6 feet tall with black hair and a scruffy beard. The circumstances of the arrest warrant were not disclosed but, if you see him, call 9-1-1.
Coincidentally, on the afternoon of April 23, sheriff’s deputies and a SWAT unit converged on a house on Camino Cascada, a short cul de sac off Cathedral Oaks Road west of North Patterson Avenue.
There was no indication that the two incidents were related, but Zick released no information about the objective of the heavily armed turnout.
She said the operation ended just after 4 p.m. and that the investigation “remains ongoing.”
3. ‘It’s Shocking’: DA Criticizes Sentence for Drunken Driver in Fatal Crash
A visiting judge’s unusually lenient sentence in a deadly DUI case is continuing to reverberate throughout Santa Barbara County.
Prosecutors, the victim’s family and the public are questioning how a crash that killed a 24-year-old Santa Ynez Valley woman could result in probation and less than a year in jail for the admitted drunken driver who caused the carnage.
District Attorney John Savrnoch spoke for many when he bluntly told our Giana Magnoli: “I’m pissed off.”
As Giana reported, visiting Superior Court Judge Brian Aronson — a retired judge from Sutter County — sentenced 29-year-old Katelyn Fultz of Santa Barbara to five years of probation and 270 days in custody for the May 1, 2025, wreck.
Authorities say Fultz — who had no driver’s license — was driving a borrowed and uninsured GMC Sierra pickup truck east on Highway 154 just before 7 a.m. when she crossed the double-yellow lines near San Antonio Creek Road in the Santa Barbara foothills
The pickup slammed into an oncoming Pontiac Vibe driven by Carly Howard, who was critically injured in the collision and whose passenger, Albert Ineira, suffered major injuries.
Howard, who was on her way to work as a nanny in Santa Ynez at the time of the crash, was taken off life support after several weeks in a coma. She died on May 21 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Authorities said toxicology reports determined that Fultz had a blood-alcohol level of 0.167% — twice the legal limit — and the presence of cocaethylene in her system.
She pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and related charges.
Savrnoch, whose office sought more than a decade in prison for Fultz’s crimes, called Aronson’s sentence “shocking,” noting it fell below penalties sometimes imposed in misdemeanor DUI cases.
“She killed somebody,” he said. “It doesn’t get worse than that.”
Seven victim-impact statements urged a lengthy prison sentence for Fultz.
“Being intoxicated makes it clear to me that it wasn’t an accident,” Howard’s dad, Roy, told the court.
Howard’s sister, Cassie Bell, said Fultz had “completely and significantly shattered our family,” describing “a depth of emptiness not many would understand or could fathom.”
Family and friends remembered Howard as a bubbly, devoted daughter and nanny.
“Carly completed our family as my baby girl,” said her mom, Diane, adding that her four siblings “had lost their precious baby sister and aunt to their children.”
Roy Howard noted the hours the family spent in the trauma center praying for Carly’s recovery amid “tears that seemed to never stop.”
“On May 21, she went home to Jesus, who has her in His arms,” he said. “We will never see her again this side of heaven. Evil killed her, but God has her for eternity.”
Aronson apparently explained his sentencing decision by divining — I kid you not — that it’s what the victim would have wanted.
Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with the victim’s family.
In a social media post, Jacob Howard called the peculiar statement “disgraceful.”
“I’m her brother,” he wrote of Aronson. “Who are you? I’m someone who can at least attempt to speak for Carly. You don’t have that right.
“How unimaginably pompous, and to do so in front of a broken family who pleaded with you to just do your job.”
4. BizHawk: Mendocino Farms Plans Summer Opening in Santa Barbara
Mendocino Farms, known for its chef-driven sandwiches, inventive salads and bright, welcoming atmosphere, is set to bring its fresh, fast-casual concept to Santa Barbara this summer.
As our Pricila Flores reported, the restaurant will open at 3851 State St. in La Cumbre Plaza, next to Chipotle and within walking distance of Noozhawk World HQ.
Construction is already underway on what will be the Studio City-based chain’s first location in Santa Barbara County.
Company officials say the new place also represents a milestone as Mendocino Farms approaches its 100th store, highlighting a continued expansion in California and beyond.
The restaurant emphasizes seasonal ingredients, bold flavors and a menu that ranges from a “Not So Fried” Chicken Sandwich to a Smoky BBQ Brioche Sandwich to the Golden State Cobb and Thai Mango salads. And don’t forget a side of Spicy Curried Couscous.
OK, now I’m just hungry.
5. Great-Grandmother Killed in Goleta Valley House Fire Identified
No new details have been released in the April 14 Goleta Valley house fire that killed 89-year-old Carolee Martin and one of her family’s dogs.
As our Evelyn Spence reported, Santa Barbara County firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze at Martin’s home in the 5000 block of Amberly Place, a cul de sac off Walnut Lane, two blocks south of Hollister Avenue.
Tragically, they discovered Martin and a dog dead in a front bedroom. Initially, authorities erroneously reported that a cat also had died.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Martin lived in the single-story home with three generations of her family. In addition to dealing with their grief, the survivors are now displaced.
Her great-grandson, Iceon Anderson, established a GoFundMe account to help find replacement housing but the campaign has still just raised a little over $4,000 as of April 24. Click here to make an online donation.
Funeral services for Martin are pending.
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Good Reads
Don’t miss these six stories:
» Mark Patton: David Ortiz’s Brotherly Love Came at the Point of a Needle — Many of us knew the late David Ortiz as an inspiring educator and popular principal at La Colina Junior High School. But few knew him like sports columnist Mark Patton, whose heartfelt story shares the joys of a lifetime of friendship — and plenty of well-timed razzing.
» CHP Identifies Woman Killed in Crash on SLO County Highway — San Luis Obispo Tribune staff writer Kaytlyn Leslie follows up on a fatal Highway 166 crash that killed 27-year-old Gabbi Hinojosa of Bakersfield and seriously injured her 21-month-old son, Tommy. Hinojosa’s family has opened a GoFundMe account to assist with Tommy’s recovery and future. Click here to make an online donation.
» Plans to Repurpose World War II-Era Hangar, Huts in Goleta Get Design Approval — Staff writer Pricila Flores has been tracking an innovative commercial repurposing of a historic hangar and a pair of Quonset huts.
» Jury Deems Lompoc Man Guilty, Sane for Fiery Fatal Attack on His Father — North County editor Janene Scully delivers the jury’s verdict in the horrific murder of 68-year-old Joe Garcia of Lompoc.
» Domestic-Violence Suspect Arrested on Santa Barbara’s Westside — Executive editor Tom Bolton provides the 4-1-1 on the arrest of a 35-year-old suspect in a Santa Barbara domestic violence case.
» Crews Respond to Pipe Fire Caused by Santa Barbara’s ‘Hope Ranch Volcano’ — South County editor Evelyn Spence smokes out the details of the latest “Hope Ranch volcano” incident.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Death at the Dorm: UCSB Student Liz Hamel’s Fall Mired in Mystery.
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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.
July 23 — In the second event of a series Noozhawk is hosting with Spotlight Santa Barbara, I’ll be moderating a discussion we’re calling “California’s Problems, Santa Barbara’s Choices.”
Our panelists are Kristen Miller, president and CEO of the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce; UCLA economics professor Lee Ohanian; Pete Peterson, dean of Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy; and former Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin.
We’ll be at the Lobero Theatre again so save the date.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
My story of the week is actually a book: The Baron of Wall Street, written by my friend, Bill Loomis.
As a former Lazard CEO and investment banker, Bill is no stranger to Wall Street intrigue, and one of the most enigmatic figures he came across was financier Clarence Dillon.
The other Bill has put together a masterful and insightful portrayal of the mysterious money man, and I really enjoyed his storytelling abilities. I give it my #bestofbillrecommendation.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Sheep, @sadiethealaskanmalamute and #nicotime are all in my Instagram feed this past week.
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Watch It
Join the cubs and bear with this. HT to Best of Bill reader Lilou Molin.
