History and our culture are rife with seemingly odd pairings that, perhaps counterintuitively, turned out to be productive and beneficial. Previously in these pages I’ve mentioned the counterbalance provided by founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. But there was also an odd friendship between George Wallace and Shirley Chisholm. House Speaker Tip O’Neill and […]
Two weeks ago at the Montecito Association’s 34th Annual Beautification Day, the Partnership for Resilient Communities (TPRC) was selected as the 2019 recipient of the “Citizen of the Year” honors. The ceremony included last year’s winner Abe Powell of Bucket Brigade fame and 1st District County Supervisor Das Williams, along with MA officials. Who Are […]
Recently Trending
More from Montecito
Last week, two million fellow residents of the Golden State were intentionally blacked out by their public utilities without a whimper of protest from our publicly elected officials in Sacramento, Washington, D.C., or Santa Barbara County. Fortunately, Montecito, Carpinteria, and Montecito stayed alit, while residents of Goleta woke up last weekend to smoky air, face […]
The hottest topic last week was “When will we lose our power in Montecito?” And, if so, “How often and for how long?” In the past, some 60% of power blackouts have been caused by bad weather such as violent storms. However, 30% of power outages can be attributed to aging electrical grids that are […]
Collectively, every California household is on the hook to pay for the public pension promises and retiree healthcare commitments made by elected leaders to not only the 2.6 million public employees who currently are employed in California, but also the 2.4 million retired public workers, who are now living longer and enjoying lifetime employment benefits […]
According to the Wall Street Journal, California has 12% of the nation’s population, but accounts for half of the homeless population. San Francisco is only a few degrees cooler than Orlando in January, but the homeless rate in the City by the Bay is 30 times higher than Orlando. In the last year, homelessness in […]
Montecito has emerged temporarily from a seven-year drought which ended in 2017. Our opportunity for permanent water security and independence from drought is to tap the biggest reservoir in the world, the Pacific Ocean, larger than all the world’s land masses combined. The Pacific Ocean covers 30% of the Earth’s surface, or 60 million square […]
There isn’t or wasn’t enough room in the above sub-title to add Santa Barbara, Summerland, Hope Ranch, the Mesa, or virtually anywhere along this golden little coast of ours. But, all those areas are included in the virtuous and valuable Circle of Friendship known locally as “real estate.” Sitting around in the living room of […]
Montecito’s vaunted “semi-rural” ambiance was shattered along with residents’ confidence after the Thomas Fire and the ensuing mud and debris flow that took the lives of 23 of our friends and neighbors and destroyed or seriously damaged nearly 10% of our housing stock. It is going to take a little time before the idea of […]
Read more...
There’s nothing that will make you feel poorer than perusing the high-end homes for sale in the Friday edition of The Wall St. Journal. Or heck, pick up a paper in Atherton, San Francisco, Pacific Palisades, Beverly Hills, or any upper-end community in Napa, Sonoma, Oakland, or even Oxnard. Everything for sale comparable to what […]
Well, now, here’s a good idea, and it’s one we believe will receive a hugely positive response from Montecito residents. The recent Village Fourth Parade and Celebration – sponsored by the Montecito Association and financed by the Montecito Community Foundation – was an expression made up of equal parts of patriotism, community, joy, and relief, […]
In an exquisitely crafted 2006 article about debris flows written for Canyon Voices and specifically about the nature of Rattlesnake Canyon, Karen Telleen Lawton wrote: “Barely a thousand years ago – a second on a geologist’s watch – a rainwater and boulder slurry called a debris flow surged through [Rattlesnake Canyon], strewing its 10 million […]
First, the bad news: “There’s plenty of material up here waiting to come down,” says Kevin Taylor, division chief of Operations at Montecito Fire Department. He says this as he, I, and Montecito Fire chief Chip Hickman examine the Montecito back country and the dry steep mountains directly above in a four-person, single-rotor helicopter flown […]
It looks like our “New Normal” is to be the evacuation of upwards of 30,000 residents who live below the Thomas Fire boundary from Carpinteria to Goleta, where the now bare soil has been completely upended and exposed to drying winds and constant desiccating sunshine. Every time a hint of precipitation shows up on a […]
