Regarding Bill Macfadyen’s Dec. 31 announcement, “Noozhawk Begins 2024 with New Roles for Local News Team,” what a great job Tom Bolton has done, along with Macfadyen, of making Noozhawk a great local Santa Barbara news source. No way do I dare miss reading through it everyday, even when we’re out of the country.
The good news is that Bolton will continue working for Noozhawk while many others things are being added. It’s all impressive and adds to my big wishes for Noozhawk. Good luck in 2024!
Susan Miles Gulbransen
Montecito
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Congratulations to Noozhawk for making your year-end fundraising goal, and for your announced expansi0n.
With traditional newspapers in Santa Barbara County dwindling before our eyes, or just declaring bankruptcy, it’s reassuring that Noozhawk is going in the other direction. We need you now more than ever!
Thank you for your dedication.
Robert Walker
Santa Barbara
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The City of Santa Barbara seems “full steam ahead” with a 10-year-old plan to renovate the Leadbetter Beach bathhouse. Laudably, toilets will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Unfortunately, the two shower walls, a foot wash and the central seating will be demolished along with the changing area. The city cites incidents of lawless behavior as its rationale.
Those promoting this plan do not seem to realize why this facility “as is” serves the public so well. During the winter holidays, it is difficult to get a true reading of the plan’s deleterious impact.
At least 150 students who register for Santa Barbara City College swimming and surfing classes use the bathhouse. The classes usually accommodate 20 students at a time. At the end of class, they need to shower, change and get to their next class.
When children attending summer day camps leave the beach, counselors can keep their groups together and supervised. It serves beach-going families in the same manner.
The ocean swimming and surfing communities appreciate and enjoy the existing design. It is a necessity for those among us who do not have access to basic amenities.
The walls provide protection from the elements. Ample spacing of the shower heads allows multiple people to rinse off simultaneously. The changing area affords needed privacy.
The central seating under the palm tree is ideal to leave gear nearby and in plain sight while showering. The wall and the seating helps those who are not so steady on their feet get in and out of their wetsuits. It is an informal town square where we can socialize and create community.
Two column showers are a poor substitute.
I would urge the city’s decision makers and the greater Santa Barbara community to re-examine this plan, and proceed in a civic-minded and thoughtful manner that preserves what serves us.
Carol Shaw
Santa Barbara
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Our Santa Barbara beaches are among our most valuable assets. They define our city and our lifestyle.
Sometimes cities go ahead with a project without truly understanding the needs of the primary users. To serve the community is to listen to its needs. We appreciate the opportunity to be heard and to contribute to making the Leadbetter Beach restroom renovation a better solution for everyone.
Please know that the currently proposed Leadbetter Beach facility renovations would take away more than they would give.
As community members and daily users, we hope that by underscoring the significance of this facility and the superiority of the existing design that the proposed renovation may be re-examined and changes made so that the structures on the south and east side of building remain in place.
Specifically, the angled wind walls and six showers and foot wash a central seating area, and outdoor changing area enable the diverse groups who use the beach to shower, change and socialize.
Please do not relegate the enjoyment of a public space to lawless behavior.
Patrick Boyle
Santa Barbara
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I am a former resident of Santa Barbara and should know my way around, but with the lack of building numbers visible from the street I got seriously lost the other day.
Do firefighters have to memorize what each building/business looks like rather than being able to identify it by a number? Isn’t this dangerous to everyone? Wouldn’t it be critical to locating a building on fire or going to an emergency?
Wouldn’t U.S. Postal Service, UPS and FedEx drivers be greatly assisted by being able to identify a location of a building by the number visible from the street?
Other cities have large street signs indicating the block as well as a requirement that each and every building have identifying numbers, similar to the requirement for license plates.
I know that the City of Santa Barbara has a lot of pride and will establish an ordinance to require identifying building numbers if it wants to move into the future as a city where it is easy to find your way around.
Cheryl Rogers
Goleta
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The recent resignation of college presidents based on questionable, tentative and immoral leadership has shaken the “woke” movement on campuses throughout the country.
Weak leadership at the top, and the inability to support traditional liberal values of free inquiry and debate, has become familiar at our own Santa Barbara City College for more than a decade.
Respected institutions have been racked with an ideological movement from a group of domineering students and faculty who seem to care more about DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) activism than learning.
Despite the distraction, or worse, this poses to good academic work, administrators keep cowering instead of upholding long-held scholastic standards.
SBCC has suffered for years under weak leadership from college presidents on down. Its newest president, Erika Endrijonas, has yet to show any courage in redirecting the educational goals at SBCC by challenging the condemning campus culture that shuts down academic freedoms and new faculty hiring based on misleading DEI ideology.
A course correction upholding rigorous scholarship and thoughtful debate of issues in higher education may just be starting. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful new year’s resolution?
J.W. Burk
Santa Barbara
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As an Army veteran, I have always appreciated the support of elected officials who show up at events to honor our military.
Since her election eight years ago, Santa Barbara County Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann has attended many functions at the Lompoc Veterans Building, and I have heard her speak eloquently about our service and needs. I heard her at last year’s Veterans Day event and appreciated her heartfelt words.
One of Hartmann’s opponents recently made a public comment, saying Hartmann only goes after the “feel good” issues. This comment bothered me because I personally know Hartmann has actively supported veterans in this county. Having an advocate who prioritizes the needs of thousands of us, whether for affordable housing, educational assistance or medical care, helps those veterans who need assistance getting benefits.
Several years ago, I made a suggestion to Hartmann regarding the possibility of a discounted rate for camping at county parks. She was able to convince the county that this would be one small way to show appreciation to local veterans.
In the scheme of things, this might seem “feel good,” but it showed me that Hartmann listens, then knows how to take action and get things done.
I hope residents of Lompoc and the rest of the new Third District will vote for Hartmann, who has worked so hard over the past eight years for veterans and other groups that might need assistance working their way through a sometimes-complicated system.
Chris Brooks
Lompoc
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