I’ve been gallivanting around southern British Columbia this past week, searching for #bestofbillrecommendations at every restaurant I can find while keeping an eye out for Psych location sightings.
There have been plenty of the former — such as Saveur in Victoria and Hook Seabar and Maenam in Vancouver — but none of the latter, so far as I’ve seen. I did come across a lighthouse I recognized from a Hallmark Channel movie, however.
But I digress.
The lead I’m trying to bury is that I’m just now getting to the drawing for our August #noozhawkeats “Lunch with the Publisher” — which I promise will be conducted the afternoon of Aug. 16.
If you’d like to be one of three Hawks Club members I’ll treat to a free lunch on Aug. 27, click here to leave your name and telephone number with Noozhawk marketing assistant Collin Nathanson. Collin will send along the lunch details as soon as we put the entries into our fancy-schmancy web app, which then does its magic and randomly selects three names.
The offer is limited to those at our Red-Tailed Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk membership levels. Click here to become a member, or to upgrade.
Before we get to the fun stuff, we need to get through some absolutely awful news, which, according to our Google Analytics, many of you already know about.
This past week, Noozhawk drew an audience of 129,163 readers, and this is my take on your Top 5 stories. It’s still not a news story, just my opinion as Noozhawk’s publisher.
1. Santa Barbara’s Jo and Carl Lindros Killed in Idaho Plane Crash
Prominent Santa Barbara philanthropists Jo and Carl Lindros were killed Aug. 11 when their small plane crashed during a severe thunderstorm near Kooskia, Idaho, in the Bitteroot Mountains about 70 miles southeast of Lewiston.
Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings told the Lewiston Tribune that the Lindroses, both 83, were believed to have been traveling to Sacramento from Montana in a single-engine Lancair IV aircraft.
The plane apparently burst into flames and was destroyed on impact at about 10:40 a.m.
“We’re not sure how many were in the plane,” Giddings said. “It was pretty shattered.”
An experienced pilot, Lindros reportedly flew his first plane at age 12.
Lindros was president of Santa Barbara Securities, and he and his wife were quite involved in local nonprofit organizations, among them Get Focused, Stay Focused, PATH Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, the UC Santa Barbara Foundation, the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, Westmont College and the Westmont Foundation.
The Scholarship Foundation was particularly special to Lindros, who was a longtime board member and served a two-year term as board president beginning in 1985.
“We were shocked and saddened to learn of the untimely deaths of Carl and Jo Lindros,” said Victoria Juarez, the Scholarship Foundation’s president and CEO. “Carl was a beloved and influential supporter of the Scholarship Foundation for more than five decades.”
Alan Griffin, senior vice president at Raymond James & Associates in Santa Barbara and himself a former Scholarship Foundation board president, told our Tom Bolton that Lindros “was someone I could count on for advice and counsel.”
“Although he retired from the board in 1986, his involvement continued as a member of the Investment Committee and committed supporter,” he said. “He will be missed.”
The Idaho County coroner is conducting autopsies on remains found in the wreckage. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the crash.
The Lindroses are survived by four children and 11 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Prayers and condolences to the Lindros family, but thank you, Jo and Carl, for your selfless service to our community. You will be remembered.
2. 6 People Injured in Rollover Crash on Highway 101 in Goleta
An Aug. 12 rollover crash on Highway 101 in Goleta left six people injured, three of them children.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the single-vehicle wreck occurred about 2:30 p.m. on the freeway’s northbound side, near the Los Carneros Road exit.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason told our Tom Bolton that the SUV drove off the roadway, narrowly missing a grove of trees before bouncing off a chain-link fence along Calle Real.
Seven people — three adults and four children — were riding in the SUV, and all but one were injured.
Eliason said one of the children, a boy, suffered major injuries and was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
The woman driver and another boy received moderate injuries while three other passengers — a man, another woman and a girl — had minor injuries, he added. A second girl was unhurt.
No identities or medical conditions were released, and the CHP is investigating the cause of the crash.
3. Venue Announced for ‘American Idol’ Auditions in Santa Barbara
Local singers can get their shot at fame next week as ABC’s American Idol holds open call auditions in Santa Barbara as part of a cross-country tour to find the next singing sensation.
The Santa Barbara auditions are scheduled for Aug. 23 at the Veterans’ Memorial Building, 112 W. Cabrillo Blvd.
Returning to the judges table for the 2020 season are pop star and Goleta native Katy Perry, country superstar Luke Bryan and four-time Grammy Award-winner Lionel Richie.
Click here for more details about the audition — and all the fine print standing in your way of reality TV show glory.
4. Santa Barbara Commission Sides with Institution Ale Over Controversial Neon Sign
Will wonders never cease. Santa Barbara’s Institution Ale Company has won an appeal to keep a spindly neon sign inside its brewery at 516 State St.
The father-son team of Roger and Shaun Smith opened their establishment in February inside the long-vacant location, and installed a yellow neon sign with the subversive message of “Institution Ale” on one of the interior walls.
They didn’t get a permit for the $8,000 sign, however, and in typical Santa Barbara fashion, an official review was triggered by an anonymous complaint asserting that the sign was too close to the front window.
City Sign Committee commissars ruled last month that it was indeed in violation of the sign ordinance and El Pueblo Viejo District design guidelines. The city then threatened to fine the Smiths $100 a day until the sign was removed or moved toward the back of the brewery.
Astonishingly, the Smiths decided to put up a fight rather than shut up and capitulate.
Even more astonishingly, the Historic Landmarks Commission on Aug. 7 voted 5-2 to grant a sign ordinance exemption, bestowing on beleagured business owners a rare victory in what is still somewhat of a no-go zone on State Street. Although the environment does seem to be improving — thanks to Institution Ale and similar innovative concepts.
As our Josh Molina first reported, the commission appeared to be swayed by the historical nature of the building, which was an automobile dealership a lifetime ago and sported quite a lot of neon signage back in the day.
Commission chairman Anthony Grumbine said the sign fits with the building’s streamlined modern architecture.
“This is an example of where an exception could be made,” he said.
5. Solvang City Council Rescinds Closed-Session Contract Terminations That Were Challenged
The City of Solvang may think of itself as “The Danish Capital of America,” but I really don’t know what planet — let alone country — its leadership has been living on.
For months now, the Noozhawk team has been trying to figure out what city officials are doing. There have been sudden departures of senior professional staff from the municipal ranks, on again/off again contracts with business and tourism organizations, allegations of flat-out corruption topped with a repugnant multiethnic slur from a city councilman, absurd and peculiarly detached legal advice from the interim city attorney, and all-too predictable blaming of the news media for reporting inconvenient facts.
We’ve been flummoxed, but we weren’t sure anyone other than our friends at the Santa Ynez Valley Star was paying attention.
It turns out you are. And it turns out you should be.
In early July, the City Council abruptly canceled contracts with the Solvang Chamber of Commerce and the Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau — for economic development and tourism services, respectively.
Of course, the council is totally within its rights to do so, but there are pesky, not-so-little laws governing how such actions can be taken.
The council’s published agenda for the July 8 meeting stated that the organizations would be making funding presentations for discussion and that the council would be directing staff to return with revised contracts at a later date.
Instead, the council, claiming it was facing “threatened litigation,” met in closed session and terminated the contracts.
Noozhawk and the Star countered that the council’s actions violated California’s Ralph M. Brown “Open Meetings” Act, which limits what of the public’s business can be discussed in private. A potential legal challenge is not among them.
As our Janene Scully first reported, the council met Aug. 12 and voted unanimously to rescind its earlier actions on the contracts. It then asked the Solvang chamber to return for new contract talks while also establishing a council committee to meet with chamber representatives.
That’s all well and good, but what a freaking waste of time this exercise in poor judgment this has been.
For now, I’m going to ignore the councilman who seems to be leading this clumsy, crusading charade. His obvious personal vendettas and lack of a people filter will soon enough put him on the highway to irrelevance, or maybe recall.
My friend, interim city attorney Chip Wullbrandt, should know better, however, and Solvang residents should be demanding more accountability from the office he holds.
Specifically …
» In reference to the canceled contracts, Wullbrandt contends the council “essentially made” the termination decision at its June 24 meeting when it voted to cut the budgeted allocations for the chamber and visitors bureau. Thus, in his view, there was no Brown Act violation at the July 8 meeting.
That’s hogwash. “Essentially made” is not a qualification in the law, and terminating the contracts is a separate action from reducing funding. Specific advance notice is required and it must be done in public. Period.
» Wullbrandt spins the council’s vote to rescind the July 8 contract terminations as merely a public relations move, with a nonsensical last-century reference to fighting with “people who buy ink by the barrel.”
Noozhawk is only found on the Interwebs and buys no ink, but I suspect that wiser heads on the council realize Wullbrandt left them over a barrel so they prudently voted to take back their legally dubious previous actions.
» As the Star previously reported, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the council’s Brown Act compliance. The DA’s Office potentially could even conduct workshops to prevent Brown Act violations.
“I welcome that,” Wullbrandt said. “If they can come give you your free AB 1234 training, come on up …”
Huh? Is that an admission that the current City Council has had zero Brown Act training? How about Wullbrandt? What you can do and can not do as a council member — or as a city attorney — really should be a Day One priority.
The bottom line here is that the council and the city attorney blundered into a clear violation of the Brown Act, got caught, and have been trying to weasel out of it ever since.
If you live in Solvang, you should be furious at the lack of transparency by the council and the cavalier attitude of the attorney providing legal counsel to the city. If they can’t be forthright about this, what else are they not telling you?
And if you’re a council member, you should be furiously trying to get control of this situation — the scrupulous way. Solvang deserves far better than what it’s gotten this year, and you have the power to correct that course.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? As State Street Stumbles, Santa Barbara’s ‘Lagoon District’ Soars.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
I’m not a Cat Person, but this left me purring: The Cat Man of Aleppo.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
O Canada! My Instagram feed this past week is loonie with photos of “The True North strong and free.”
• • •
#santabarbaraeyesores
I got nothing. No one made a #santabarbaraeyesore nomination this past week, and I’ve actually been visiting Vancouver and environs, searching for #bestofbillrecommendations at every restaurant I can find while keeping an eye out for Psych location sightings.
But I’ll go out on a limb and posit that Loreto Plaza is still fronted by a jungle of weeds. Because no one cares — not the City of Santa Barbara, not the property owner, not any of the businesses that call it home. What a shame.
But email your #santabarbaraeyesores suggestions — and photos and street addresses — to me at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com.
• • •
Watch It
Relax.
(WANAPEDIA video)
• • •
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Twitter: @noozhawk and Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
