Noozhawk has been an internet pioneer since we launched now nearly 14 years ago.
We pride ourselves on our innovation and ever-evolving ways of covering and delivering local news, but our team’s experience, longevity and deep understanding of our community have been just as important to our success.
My math skills are not sufficient to total up the career years my business partners — executive editor Tom Bolton and business development vice president Kim Clark — and I have put behind us in this town.
We’re not alone as sports editor Barry Punzal, North County editor Janene Scully and staff writer Josh Molina are pretty well known in their own right.
Even managing editor Giana Magnoli, who started with Noozhawk right after graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, has been with us for 12 years.
To this august crowd I am proud and pleased to announce the arrival of Mark Patton, who joins us Aug. 8 as our new sports columnist.
Mark has been an integral part of Santa Barbara County’s sports scene since 1972, when he earned the sports editor’s job at The Channels at Santa Barbara City College.
After graduating from USC and a stint on the news desk of the Santa Maria Times, he started work at the Santa Barbara News-Press in 1977.
Over the next 4½ decades, Mark was the face and voice of local sports, serving as a reporter, sports editor, senior writer and columnist covering, literally, everything — from Little League to the Olympics.
Mark’s joy in those assignments has been clearly evident in his timeless story telling, which created lifelong connections with players, coaches, parents and grandparents. No matter how long ago they were forged, those bonds and that affection are just as strong today. It’s really quite remarkable.
As impressive as that record is, what I envy most about Mark is the professional opportunity he had to follow his father, the late Phil Patton, as News-Press sports editor. If that kind of heritage is going to happen anywhere, of course it would be Santa Barbara. But let’s face it: We won’t see it again.
Mark did his dad proud, and I know Phil would be as excited as I am about his next adventure with Noozhawk.
The senior Patton might not be familiar with the technology we use but he would recognize the genuineness and sincerity of our reporting because we follow his playbook, the one he passed down to his son.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sharing more details of what’s in store for Noozhawk Sports this fall. In addition to Mark, we’re adding more reporting coverage along with artificial intelligence-generated game recaps through a partnership with Lede AI and ScoreStream.
If you’d like to help us expand our local sports coverage even more, please become a member of our Hawks Club today. Your financial committment will help support Mark, Barry, and high school, college and youth sports throughout Santa Barbara County.
Your contribution, at any amount, makes a huge difference for Noozhawk. Thank you.
According to our Google Analytics, Noozhawk had an audience of 108,636 readers this past week. What follows is my take on the Top 5 stories you were reading.
After writing nearly 600 of these weekly Best of Bill columns over the last dozen years, it should go without saying that this is my opinion column, not a news story. But I still have to say it.
1. Santa Barbara’s Move to Clear Downtown Sidewalks Raises Questions, Pushback
After about 14 months of a fledgling pedestrian promenade on State Street in downtown Santa Barbara, city officials are attempting to regain the iron-fisted control they had ceded to struggling restaurants at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
As our Josh Molina has been reporting, the City Council has voted to clear downtown sidewalks of unpermitted tables and chairs, citing the need to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Still-beleaguered businesses are not happy, but few would speak to Josh on the record, fearing retribution from the city.
Let that sentence sink in. We’re talking about sidewalks, but business owners are so fearful of bureaucrats that they’ll keep their mouths shut rather than risk retaliation. What is this, Cuba?
One restaurant representative not afraid to talk is Warren Butler, general manager of the venerable Chase at 1012 State St.
“Now is not the time to be pushing people back inside and is not in line with the state’s mandate of encouraging outdoor dining,” he told Josh, referring to the recent spike in coronavirus cases. “We can do this while complying with all ADA requirements.”
An open area of four feet is required by the ADA, but city engineer Brian D’Amour says “a key component” of the outdoor dining license standard is eight feet.
To acquire an outdoor dining license agreement, businesses must submit an application and site plan. The agreement costs about $265 per chair, per year.
“The city is waiving application fees and the annual license fees for this program during the term of the Emergency Economic Recovery Ordinance,” D’Amour said.
One restaurant owner told Josh “the city is going back to the way they used to do things.”
“Everybody is sympathetic to people in wheelchairs, but that is not what this is about,” he said.
2. Vegetation Fire Erupts Near Homeless Encampment Along Highway 101 in Santa Barbara
A middle-of-the-night vegetation fire somehow ignited around one of Santa Barbara’s ubiquitous, unpermitted and illegal homeless housing projects near downtown on Aug. 3. There were no injuries, but wind-blown embers started a second fire in the area.
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue first reported, the fire broke out about 1 a.m. near the Union Pacific railroad tracks in the 600 block of Wentworth Avenue, between Highway 101’s Carrillo Street entrance ramp and the Castillo Street exit ramp.
Santa Barbara fire Battalion Chief Mike DePonce said firefighters put out the larger fire on the south side of the tracks, then crossed over to tackle the other one burning near the freeway ramps.
The railroad tracks were shut down for three hours while firefighters took care of business, he said.
Although the cause of the blaze is under investigation, DePonce said “it is worth noting that there was a homeless encampment in the direct vicinity of where the fire was started.”
Noted.
3. BizHawk: Riviera Bar Opens in Santa Barbara, Bringing New Vibe to Former Sportsman Site
It seems as if it was years in the making — 18 months of it due to the coronavirus — but my friend, Kevin Boss, has finally opened the doors at the Riviera Bar in downtown Santa Barbara.
The Riviera Bar, at 20 W. Figueroa St. between my two happy places, Los Arroyos Restaurant and the Santa Barbara Club, took over the former home of The Sportsman. Talk about night and day.
Whereas dark and dingy may have been accurate adjectives for The Sportsman’s low bar, the Riviera is bright, cheerful and run by veterans of the former Paradise Café and the Shoreline Café, two legendary Santa Barbara institutions. Boss has been a principal in both.
As our Josh Molina reported, the Riviera menu features “strong drinks, classic and house cocktails, handpicked wines and California beers.”
I’m told the signature double cheeseburger is awaiting a #bestofbillrecommendation so you can be sure I’ll be checking that out myself.
The Riviera Bar is open from 4:30 p.m. to close daily. It’s a bar so … adults only.
4. Santa Barbara County Issuing Mask Mandate for Indoor, Public Areas This Week
Trampling all over its messaging that COVID-19 vaccines prevent and/or minimize the effects of the coronavirus, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has reissued its order requiring masks indoors for everyone — even those who are fully vaccinated — as of 5 p.m. Aug. 6.
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue reported, Public Health Department director Van Do-Reynoso announced that the county’s active cases have “increased significantly” over the past two weeks, to more than 55 new cases a day along with a 6.8% testing positivity rate.
Meanwhile, officials announced Aug. 5 that a majority of the county’s 450,000 residents — roughly 239,000 people — is fully vaccinated. That leaves about 144,000 currently eligible people who remain unvaccinated for various reasons.
Rather than redoubling efforts to get the holdouts inoculated, which should be the department’s ONLY priority right now, the county instead opted for expediency over SCIENCE.
“Requiring indoor masking is the least disruptive strategy and can make an immediate impact on limiting the spread of COVID-19, specifically the Delta variant,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county’s public health officer.
If you’re vaccinated, however, that’s simply not true. But don’t take my word for it.
In a damning Aug. 5 news briefing, both Do-Reynoso and Ansorg acknowledged time after time that the unvaccinated are at far graver risk than the vaccinated.
They also provided zero evidence of the vaccinated being behind this recent spike in transmissions. Where’s that data?
Furthermore, while there are a handful of specific risk factors for certain vulnerable vaccinated individuals, not one of those individuals is currently hospitalized in an intensive-care unit.
At the briefing …
» Do-Reynoso announced that the case rate for unvaccinated people is 3.4 times higher than for vaccinated people.
» In May and June, Do-Reynoso said, 89% of COVID-19 hospitalizations were among unvaccinated people.
» Ansorg was quite forthcoming: “Those vaccinated folks who need hospitalization are usually quite old, advanced in their age, and therefore their immune system is not as robust, or they’re on medication that suppresses the immune system. None of the vaccinated hospitalized patients right now requires ICU care. It shows that the vaccine is doing its job in preventing severe illness and death from COVID, even in the elderly.”
A day earlier, Do-Reynoso had lamented the county’s “missed opportunity” at getting the remaining 37.8% of eligible locals vaccinated. Ya think?
I will say again that the Public Health Department’s ONLY priority right now should be to get people vaccinated. The same goes for the California Public Health Department and the CDC, which instead has been busy remaking itself as the Centers for Doubt and Confusion.
But by declaring a purely political mask mandate and needlessly diverting attention, public health officials are single-handedly torpedoing the public’s confidence in the efficacy of those lifesaving shots. Talk about motivation!
Shame on them.
5. Santa Barbara Police Arrest Teen as Suspect in Downtown Shooting
The teenage suspect in a downtown Santa Barbara shooting was taken into custody outside his Lower Eastside residence the night of July 31. There were no injuries in either incident, but the arrest had quite an impact on Milpas Street.
As our Janene Scully first reported, Santa Barbara police Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale said officers were dispatched at midafternoon July 30 to the area of Anacapa and East Cota streets, where witnesses said a youth had opened fire on several people before fleeing the scene.
According to Ragsdale, detectives were able to develop enough evidence to obtain and serve a search and arrest warrant for a 14-year-old suspect.
The next night, police, including the SWAT unit and the Crisis Negotiations Response Team, set up outside a two-story building in the 400 block of North Milpas Street, near the busy intersection with East Haley Street.
Ragsdale said the suspect, after initially refusing to comply with commands to surrender from the second-story apartment, eventually gave up about two hours later. Traffic was diverted around the neighborhood throughout the ordeal.
The youth, whose identity was not disclosed because of his age, was transported to Santa Barbara County Juvenile Hall in Santa Maria.
He was booked on charges of attempted murder, participation in a criminal street gang, and discharging a firearm in commission of a felony, Ragsdale said.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Dennis Mammana: Perseid Meteor Shower Prepares to Put On Sky-Is-Falling Show.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Could this work here? Dubai Using Laser Beam-Shooting Drones to Shock Rainwater Out of Clouds.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Saying hello to camping and goodbye to Sylvia Brickley Weller, my Instagram feed ranged far and wide this past week.
• • •
Watch It
This orangutan’s future’s so bright …
(ViralHog 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.
