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According to our Google Analytics, Noozhawk had an audience of 99,068 readers this past week.
As most of you know, this is my weekly recap of your Top 5 stories during that period. As you should know, this is my opinion column and not a news story.
1. Firefighters Contain Wind-Whipped Vegetation Fire in Foothills Above Goleta
It took firefighters about six hours, but their concerted effort kept a wind-whipped fire from blowing out of control in the Goleta foothills the afternoon of May 8.
As our Tom Bolton reported, Santa Barbara County fire crews were dispatched at 2:25 p.m. to the area of La Patera Ranch, at 6400 Cathedral Oaks Road north of Stow Grove Park, where gusty winds were pushing a vegetation fire downhill toward avocado orchards.
The South Coast was under a National Weather Service high wind warning at the time, and flames and smoke from the wildfire were disconcertingly visible throughout much of the Goleta Valley.
County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason told Tom that crews were able to stop the fire’s forward progress by 4 p.m. and had it fully contained by 9 p.m. The burn area ended up being only about four acres.
There were no structures damaged and no injuries reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Eliason said the county’s new water-dropping Firehawk Helicopter 964 “proved to be a game changer on its first vegetation fire, quickly knocking down the eastern flank of the fire.”
The La Patera Ranch fire was one of several blazes that ignited around the county this past week, signaling a troublesome escalation in what already is an active wildfire season.
The evening of May 12, an apparent equipment malfunction at the Tajiguas Landfill sparked a fire that was spreading rapidly through mulch, recyclables and nearby brush at the Gaviota coast facility.
Eliason said strong, gusting winds were fanning the flames, which had burned at least three acres.
2. Launch of Starlink Satellites on Falcon Rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base Delayed Till Friday
Weather permitting after two delays, the next launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base has been rescheduled for 3:07 p.m. May 13.
As our Janene Scully reported, the 223-foot rocket and its cargo of 53 Starlink satellites will be departing from Space Launch Complex-4.
This time, the reusable first-stage booster will be landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles away from Santa Barbara County, so there will be no sonic booms for locals to hear a few minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX provided no reason for the delays, although a likely culprit is the weather — specifically, the extremely high winds that have been raking the county almost every day this month. That still may be the case.
“Teams are keeping an eye on weather, which is currently 40% favorable for liftoff,” SpaceX representatives said on Twitter on May 11.
Deployed in low-Earth orbit, the Starlink internet communications network is designed to deliver space-based service to users in remote locations or where land-based internet connections are not available or reliable.
A batch of Starlink satellites is being shared with Ukraine to keep the country online while it tries to fend off Russia’s invasion.
3. Shawn Carey Latest Administrator to Leave Santa Barbara Unified School District
In the most high-profile departure yet from the Santa Barbara Unified School District, Assistant Superintendent Shawn Carey is resigning to join the Santa Barbara County Education Office.
Carey, a former principal at Dos Pueblos High School, has been with the SBUSD executive cabinet since 2016. Among other things, she oversees the Local Control and Accountability Plan, or LCAP, which requires districts to set school goals and allocate resources to achieve them.
In her new position, she’ll be the county Education Office’s director of school and district support, working primarily with curricula, which has been a specialty of hers over the years.
Noozhawk has written previously about the turmoil and turnover at the Santa Barbara school district, which appears to have accelerated since Superintendent Hilda Maldonado was appointed in 2020.
Among numerous departures are Assistant Superintendent Frann Wageneck, who is starting an education consulting firm, and Ana Escobedo, the district’s assistant superintendent of elementary education. Chief information officer Brian Rowse gave his two-week notice earlier this week.
“At Santa Barbara Unified, we are undoubtedly losing some key talent and that definitely is pushing us to calibrate where we currently stand as an organization,” Maldonado told our Josh Molina.
“And that involves both self-reflection, as well as taking a hard look at the work in front of us.”
On the other hand, the county Education Office has welcomed a slew of new talent. In addition to Carey, the team now includes former SBUSD secondary education director Anne Roundy Harter and former public information officer Camie Barnwell.
On May 12, the district announced replacements for Escobedo and Wageneck: Stanley Munro and ShaKenya Edison, respectively.
4. BizHawk: Big Yellow House in Summerland to Welcome Big Daddy’s Furnishings Store
There’s big news for The Big Yellow House in Summerland: Big Daddy’s is moving in with big plans for the very visible location.
The Culver City-based Big Daddy’s home furnishings chain is no stranger to Summerland. Two summers ago, owner Shane Brown opened The Well, a home and garden emporium at 2350 Lillie Ave. across from the Carpinteria-Summerland fire station.
Based on the success of that store, Brown recently leased the old Big Yellow House, at 102 Pierpont Ave., for a Big Daddy’s that will feature art, antiques, rugs and vintage furniture.
Added benefits, Brown told our Josh Molina, are plentiful parking and the site’s prime presence for Highway 101 traffic crawling up Ortega Hill.
The Big Yellow House, an iconic, three-story Victorian built in 1884, has had a somewhat checkered past in recent decades. Repainted white a couple of years ago, it once was part of a long-defunct California chain of Big Yellow House restaurants.
I don’t remember the exact chronology but I believe the Summerland restaurant held on under independent ownership for a surprisingly long time after its parent company went bankrupt in the early 1980s. Ever since, it’s been in and out of leases and grand plans.
Home décor, not homestyle meals, is driving the Summerland renaissance these days, however, and Brown is looking forward to Big Daddy’s opening later this month.
“Summerland is becoming the destination for design in California,” he said.
5. 34-Unit Apartment Project Proposed for Downtown Santa Barbara
Plans for a seven-unit condominium project in downtown Santa Barbara have resurfaced as a 34-unit apartment proposal under consideration by the Historic Landmarks Commission.
As our Josh Molina reported, Buddha Homes LLC and its architects from Cearnal Collective LLP are looking to build a three- and four-story complex on a parking lot next to an existing three-story commercial building at 222 E. Canon Perdido. The project includes 20 studios, 13 one-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom unit.
Parking for 25 vehicles would be handled by an automated puzzle lift system with 19 spaces inside a garage and six additional surface spaces outside.
The original condo project had gone before the commission last year for conceptual review.
“While the original concept was aligned with meeting housing goals, new ownership units are needed as part of increasing the city’s housing stock,” explained Trish Allen, senior planner for Suzanne Elledge Planning & Permitting Services.
“This revised project results in a greater number of units, and also proposes development on an infill site on an existing surface parking lot.”
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Good Reads
Here are four stories that are well worth your time:
» ExxonMobil Sues Santa Barbara County Supervisors Over Denial of Oil Trucking Project — Managing editor Giana Magnoli got a copy of the lawsuit ExxonMobil filed in U.S. District Court, challenging the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors over its ongoing roadblocks.
» Cruise Ship Visits Return to Santa Barbara, Bringing Varying Degrees of Economic Boost — With a fairly full schedule of cruise ships visiting Santa Barbara this spring, our Serena Guentz checked in with local businesses about their economic impacts.
» Santa Barbara County Supervisors Delay Discussion of Ambulance Services Contract — Santa Barbara County’s ambulance services situation may not be a mess, but it sure is messy. Giana Magnoli tries to make sense of it for you.
» Mark Patton: Nick Oakley’s Baseball Roots Run Deep Into Playing Fields of Santa Barbara — Our Mark Patton climbs into the family tree of Santa Barbara’s Oakleys and their multigenerational success on the baseball diamond.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Students Rescued from Sea Near Isla Vista Aboard Homemade Boat.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
I’ll need to do my own research: Have Scientists Designed the Perfect Chocolate?
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Coachwhips, sand storms and palm trees are all represented in the #palmdesert edition of my Instagram feed this past week.
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Americans Held Hostage: Day 255
It’s Day 255 of Americans abandoned to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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Watch It
Some things you’ve got to think about, and some things you just do. These good Samaritans — one of them a nurse — saved a woman who suffered a medical emergency at a busy intersection in Boynton Beach, Florida. Thanks to their quick response and a Herculean effort, she’s recovering.
(Boynton Beach Police video)
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
