If this next week’s weather forecast is any guide, and the National Weather Service has been remarkably accurate over the last year, we’d better enjoy the sunshine while we can … today.
In between storms, Noozhawk squeezed in an audience of 123,252 readers this past week, according to our WordPress analytics.
What follows is my own take on the Top Five stories you were reading over the last seven days. This is my opinion column, by the way, not a news story.
Although your yard may be wet, my writing is pretty dry. Please forgive me.
1. Transformation of Santa Barbara Waterfront Park into Chumash Heritage Site Moves Forward
The City of Santa Barbara is planning to transform Ambassador Park — at 100 W. Cabrillo Blvd. across from West Beach — into a Chumash Cultural Heritage Site.
As our Josh Molina reported, the reimagination of the one-acre parcel will recognize its history as the former home of the Chumash people’s Syuxtun Village.
Also known as Burton Mound, the village was one of the largest of an estimated 150 such Chumash communities on the coast.
As many as 600 inhabitants lived in Syuxtun — translated as “where the Two Trails Run” — before the village vanished in the 1830s.
Jill Zachary, director of the city’s Parks & Recreation Department, said the site will “honor and celebrate the Chumash people and their culture, and be a way to educate visitors about the history of Santa Barbara, beyond just European settlement.”
Once part of the pathway to the old Ambassador/Potter Hotel, the palm-lined property was given to the city in 1924 after the Potter Hotel burned down. It is now a city landmark.
The project is funded by the California Coastal Conservancy, although an estimated price tag has not yet been disclosed.
2. ‘Not in Carpinteria’: Residents Speak Out Against Proposed Resort, Housing Project on Bluffs
Several hundred Carpinteria residents descended on the city’s usually low-key Architectural Review Board meeting on Jan. 25.
The subject of their concern was the Farm Preserve & Bungalows project proposed near the Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve on the eastern end of the community.
As our Rebecca Caraway has been reporting, the project wending its way through the approval process includes 41 affordable housing units, a 99-room bungalow-style retreat, a gathering barn, a farm stand, a two-acre farm, three acres of preserved farmland and 10½ acres of open space.
The land is owned by Carp Bluff LLC, with Christopher Carlin and Matthew Goodwin as the lead developers.
The housing — a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units — would be built in partnership with People’s Self-Help Housing.
“We believe we’re bringing forward a balanced project that significantly incorporates land conservation, on-site restoration, protection of existing coastal farmland, greatly needed affordable housing and a developmental proposal in line with the city’s general plan,” Goodwin told the board.
While the Architectural Review Board can neither approve nor deny the project, the meeting at City Hall provided a chance for its members to provide feedback to the developers.
The public provided even more over the next 4½ hours. Rebecca gets into the specifics but much of the criticism was directed at increased traffic, harm to wildlife, desecration of Chumash land, obstruction of ocean views, and lack of water.
Patrick Crooks, president of Citizens for Carpinteria Bluffs, emphasized the importance of respecting Chumash land and preserving open space.
“This project … aims to exploit the soul of our town,” he told the board. “It’s a slap in the face.
“This project ignores the opinions that so many Carpinterians have communicated: Why? For selfish individual profit, of course. A resort in this location is inappropriate.”
Architectural Review Board chairman Brad Stein said the project as currently configured is incompatible with the neighborhood.
“If it was somewhere else, it would be a nice design,” he observed. “I like the structures with the look of it, the idea.
“It doesn’t conform to the Carpinteria standards that we’ve had on other projects here. Right now, I can say emphatically that where I’m sitting I would never support this.”
One thing I’m curious about is the State of California’s new housing “standards” and whether they have any bearing on this project.
If the more aggressive standards do apply, Carpinterians might want to be careful what they wish for.
3. Woman Facing Multiple Charges After Hit-Run Collision in Santa Barbara
A 23-year-old Santa Barbara woman is facing a long menu of criminal charges after an alleged hit-and-run crash that injured a bystander outside a Lower Eastside fast-food restaurant on Jan. 18.
Santa Barbara police Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale told our Tom Bolton that a man was getting into his parked Toyota hatchback in front of Taco Bell at 821 N. Milpas St. when another car smashed into it.
The victim suffered moderate injuries in the 6:40 p.m. collision, and Ragsdale said the driver sped away from the scene.
Officers quickly located the suspect — identified by Ragsdale as Leslie Hernandez — two blocks away in the 700 block of Spring Street, between East De la Guerra and East Ortega streets, a block east of Milpas Street.
Hernandez was evaluated for driving under the influence and subsequently arrested, Ragsdale said.
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office filed five charges against her:
- Driving under the influence of alcohol while causing injury
- Hit and run causing injury or death
- Resisting arrest
- Refusing to take a blood-alcohol test
- Driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15% or greater
The victim was transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital with moderate injuries. His identity and medical condition were not disclosed.
4. House Fire Displaces 12 Residents in Eastern Goleta Valley
A dozen Goleta Valley residents, as well as two dogs, were displaced Jan. 30 when their house caught fire, causing extensive damage throughout the two-story structure.
As our Giana Magnoli reported, Santa Barbara County firefighters were dispatched just before 11 a.m. to the 700 block of San Ramon Drive, two blocks east of Walnut Lane south of Hollister Avenue.
Capt. Scott Safechuck said firefighters called in additional resources to battle the blaze, which took about an hour to put out.
He said one man and a dog were rescued from a second-story balcony.
There were no injuries in the fire, and Safechuck said the cause is under investigation.
Officials say the American Red Cross of Central California was notified to assist the displaced family.
A GoFundMe account has been established to help the residents — all members of the Padilla-Zell family — with living expenses while they try to figure out what to do about their home of 26 years.
As of Feb. 2, the site had raised more than $10,000. Click here to make an online donation.
5. Burglary Spree Targeting Upscale Neighborhoods on County’s South Coast
A string of residential burglaries has been keeping Santa Barbara County sheriff’s detectives busy.
As our Tom Bolton reported, multiple burglaries are being investigated at residences that back up to South Coast open spaces like golf courses, creeks and beaches.
Most of the homes were unoccupied at the time of the break-ins.
Among the most recent batch of burglaries, two were at neighboring homes in the 800 block of Sand Point Road in Carpinteria with two others in Montecito, in the 600 block of Juan Crespi Lane and the 1500 block of Las Tunas Road.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick said the burglaries share a number of similarities, with all occurring between 6 and 10 p.m. and the suspects focused on breaking into safes.
No arrests have been made so far.
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Good Reads
Here are six other stories that are worth your time:
» After Heavy Rains Overnight, County Looks Ahead to Another Major Storm — Staff writer Rebecca Caraway manages to stay dry while covering the soggy arrival of the first part of a major weekend storm system.
» Mark Patton: Life After Football Brightens on a Canvas for Chris Gocong — A football star at Carpinteria High School, Cal Poly and in the NFL, painter Chris Gocong took a different path to the world of art. Sports columnist Mark Patton explains why it’s a good thing he did.
» Sutter Health Announces Sansum Clinic Leadership After Merger — Executive editor Giana Magnoli is among those closely following the merger of Sansum Clinic and Sutter Health. Her latest report shares the newest details.
» CHP Officers Doggedly Undertake Canine Rescue on Highway 101 in Santa Maria — North County editor Janene Scully has a good news story from a major Highway 101 traffic incident.
» Former Santa Barbara Councilman Roger Horton, a ‘Champion for Children,’ Dies at 83 — South County editor Josh Molina writes our obituary for Roger Horton, who was a super guy and a class act as a member of the Santa Barbara City Council in the early 2000s. He also was a small business owner, and I always appreciated how he made sure that council decisions took those challenges and consequences into consideration. We don’t have that today. Rest in peace.
» Erin Graffy: ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ with Katinka Daniel and Zoltán Kodály — Talk of the Town columnist Erin Graffy sticks with a musical theme in her feature on Katinka Daniel and Zoltán Kodály, following her previous column on RoseAnna Vitetta and Eduardo “Eddie” Villa.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? BizHawk: Brass Bear Brewing Roars Into Uptown Santa Barbara.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
How ’bout a poop scoop? Mysterious Doo-Doo-Gooder Planting Flags Against Unattended Dog Poop in Venice Beach.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
My friend, Roy Lee; some of the views I’ve missed most at the Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club; and a rocket launch are all in my Instagram feed this past week.
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Watch It
Egg-citing news from the Big Bear Bald Eagle Cam.
