Baseball is back.
Well, the physical game that goes on between the white foul lines anyway. For the first time ever, Major League Baseball will be entirely fan-free for the 60-game sprint of a season it’s sanctioned.
Fortunately for Los Angeles Dodgers fans, the pointless, years-long broadcast blackout was resolved — within days of the season being postponed in the spring. What a coincidence, that.
And after eight years of making half-hearted moves for the team it fielded, Dodgers ownership made a statement investment for its loyal and long-suffering fan base. On July 22, the day before the delayed Opening Day, the team and superstar outfielder Mookie Betts agreed to a 12-year, $365 million contract extension, before the free-agent signee had even played his first game as a Dodger.
Happy days are here again.
The news in Noozhawk wasn’t so happy this week, with much of it surrounding the latest surge in coronavirus cases as the contagion again reminded us that we’ll be living with it for the foreseeable future — “living” being the operative word.
According to our Google Analytics, there were 104,502 of you reading Noozhawk over the last seven days. What follows is my take on your Top 5 stories.
Apparently it bears repeating: This is my opinion column and not a news story. I am Noozhawk’s publisher and not a reporter.
But thanks for reading on.
1. Bill Macfadyen: Gavin Newsom Puts Most of California Back on COVID-19 Lockdown
Gov. Gavin Newsom was the headliner but I’m pretty sure my son, Will, and his wife, Colleen, stole the show. I got far more feedback on their wedding in Los(t) Alamos(t) than I did about Newsom’s proclamation putting the kibosh on California’s already tentative reopening.
Thank you to the scores of Best of Bill readers who sent their congratulations; they were much appreciated.
And to the guy who demanded to know “why in the hell should I care about your family? Just report the fucking news,” I’ll give you props for honesty if not reading comprehension. I didn’t ask you to care, but you really should know by now that this is my opinion column.
2. Coronavirus Business Ban Cuts Deep for Santa Barbara County Barber Shops and Salons
The on-again, off-again opening and closing and restricting of … Oh, wait, I wrote that last week about restaurants and bars, and the endless loop of uncertainty that is strangling them.
This week it’s barbershops, hair salons and their ilk that are being strangled in the endless loop of uncertainty.
When our Josh Molina posted this story on July 18, these seemingly benign — but evidently menacing — businesses were completely sidelined by COVID-19. Two days later, Gov. Gavin Newsom magnanimously agreed to allow them to reopen if they … moved their chairs to the great outdoors.
How quaint; it’s just like pioneer days. Maybe for an extra 5 cents, customers can take a bath in the horse trough.
Actually, that’s not an option. There’s no shampooing and rinsing allowed. Or coloring or highlights. Basically, just a trim.
I don’t know about barbers, but aren’t hair stylists required to put in hundreds of hours of work to attain state board certification? With a large part of that training emphasizing cleanliness, sanitation and safety? And now they can cut hair in the street?
The indoor risk from the coronavirus is real but isn’t the state Board of Barbering & Cosmetology just trading one hazard for another?
I’m fully in favor of small businesses doing anything they can to survive the self-imposed second coming of the Great Depression, but I question whether these ever-contradictory restrictions are really going to help them even pay their rent.
Barbershops and hair salons have been closed far more than they’ve been open over the last four months. I’ve faulted Newsom for his overreach throughout the pandemic, but what has the state Board of Barbering & Cosmetology been doing all this time? Licensees really should demand answers as to why this is the best solution they have.
3. Gavin Newsom Orders Remote Start for Santa Barbara County Schools
Regardless of how you feel about the content, structure or results, public schools are one of the enduring foundations of American society — the common denomimator for an estimated 90 percent of children.
If you were gobsmacked by the chaos accompanying the abrupt closure of our K-12 educational system in the spring, just wait till the encore performance this fall.
Since even before the abbreviated school year officially ended last month, school administrators have been diligently working on fall scenarios intended to be more organized, useful and beneficial to students, parents, teachers and staff. It’s not pretty, but school districts were beginning to put their cards on the table.
On July 17, however, Gov. Gavin Newsom dealt his own wild card, ordering all schools throughout Santa Barbara County — public, private, charter and parochial — to be closed to in-class instruction when classes resume.
In a sweeping edict from Sacramento, Newsom cited a statewide increase in coronavirus cases as his reason for starting with remote learning in most counties. He previously had said that the school districts themselves, in consultation with local public health officials, would have the flexibility to set their own next steps and timelines.
“All 20 school districts, all charter schools and all private schools in our county are not currently authorized for any in-person instruction,” Ellen Barger, assistant superintendent of the Santa Barbara County Education Office, told our Josh Molina.
“School campuses will remain closed, and all districts and schools will be prepared to offer distance learning.”
Barger said the decree means no after-school sports. She was less certain on the tricky state of special education.
Even more unpredictable will be how parents adjust to this new and erratic reality, and the ultimate choices only they can make for their children’s well-being. I have a hunch the public education system as we know it will look vastly different when all is said and done.
4. Fate of Westside Tree in Hands of Santa Barbara City Council
A Santa Barbara couple went before the City Council last week in a bid to rid their neighborhood of a threat from the ground up: the massive roots of a towering Queensland lacebark tree that are warping and breaking the sidewalk in front of their Westside home.
As our Josh Molina reported July 20, Amy Steinfeld and Cameron Clark, residents of the 1700 block of Gillespie Street, have asked the City of Santa Barbara for permission to cut down the 35-foot-tall, 70-year-old tree so they can make the sidewalk safely passable again.
The homeowners offered to pay to remove the tree and to plant a half-dozen other trees along the street.
“We’re tired of fighting a losing battle against this untamable tree,” the couple wrote in a letter to the city. “While there are good reasons to keep it, the pros are vastly outweighed by the cons.”
The city Parks and Recreation Commission had already denied their request, and on July 21 the council agreed, voting 4-3 for the tree.
“This tree is healthy and beautiful,” said Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon, who joined Mayor Cathy Murillo and Councilmen Eric Friedman and Mike Jordan in the majority.
Council members Alejandra Gutierrez, Meagan Harmon and Oscar Gutierrez dissented.
Oscar Gutierrez, a Westside native, noted that it’s a “rite of passage that you have tripped and fallen on our sidewalks because of the trees that have pushed up the concrete, and we all literally have the scars to prove it.”
“It is a hazard,” he said. “I totally relate to them when they say it is dangerous for kids.”
5. COVID-19 Cases Rise by 137 in Santa Barbara County with Gatherings Still a ‘Significant’ Source
Blaming a long list of human gatherings, Santa Barbara County officials reported 137 new coronavirus cases on July 17. More troubling, hospitalizations were rising along with the infections, and the county had compiled a 32-day run on the state’s at-risk list.
“Every geographic area of Santa Barbara County is experiencing positive COVID-19 cases,” county Second District Supervisor Gregg Hart told the day’s news conference. “We need to do more, and quickly, to stop the spread of the virus.”
Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, the county’s public health director, said “gatherings continue to be a significant issue” behind the increase.
As our Tom Bolton reported, she described “large gatherings” as work, bars, grocery stores, gyms, lake gatherings locally and out of the county, beach gatherings out of the county, barbecues, funerals and birthday parties.
On July 23, the Public Health Department reported 162 new cases, most of them in Santa Maria. There are 86 patients currently being treated at local hospitals, with 27 of them in intensive-care units.
Since the contagion arrived in Santa Barbara County, there have been a total of 5,444 cases and 32 deaths — a 99.49 percent survival rate. Additionally, 5,051 patients have made full recoveries.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Despite Homeowner’s Pleas, Santa Barbara Council Says Towering Tree Must Stay.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
I can’t even remember those good old days: What Did People Use Before Google to Search the Web?
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
After a brief hiatus, @sadiethealaskanmalamute is back in my Instagram feed.
• • •
Watch It
I’ll leave it to the Westmont College Choral Union to deliver the “Benediction.”
(Westmont College 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.
