The Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation supports charter amendment (Measure A2024) featured on the March 5th ballot. In partnership with the Santa Barbara Public Library and the City, the Foundation has been working to revitalize the Library Plaza since 2012. After many years of working through the City Hall approval process and completing a successful […]
Money in politics has been something we have seen for too long, and the results have been devastating. The 1st District Supervisor race pits incumbent Das Williams against challenger Roy Lee. Williams, with substantial campaign funds, has continued to accept financial contributions from the cannabis industry, despite the ethical concerns highlighted by the 2020 Santa […]
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Your recent editorial describing Das Williams as ‘commitment to self rather than to public service’ surprised me. That is a term I have never associated with him. I have personally worked with Das over these last 20 years on issues that touched on his passion for improving our Environment – bike and pedestrian safety improvements, […]
There was a popular book a few years back, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki which gave some very good advice about financial health and wealth. It was a catchy title, so I came up with something similar: Rich Country, Poor Country. I’m going to examine why some countries are rich and some are […]
Dear Editor [Gwyn Lurie], You wrote, “And I say, what do we have to lose by giving him [Roy Lee] a chance to prove it? Seems not much.” (Montecito Journal, Feb. 1-8, 2024) It’s not a chance of losing anything. It’s a chance to gain a lot by electing Roy Lee 1st District County Supervisor! […]
For the first 11 years my family owned our home in Montecito this town was represented on the Board of Supervisors by then Supervisor, now Congressman, Salud Carbajal. Carbajal was and is a politician with the soul of a civil servant who prioritizes constituent services. Which is one of the reasons the MJ supported his […]
Everyone has heard about artificial intelligence and the computer program ChatGPT. It seems to have reached some level of intelligence by digesting and synthesizing data from billions of articles on the World Wide Web. It’s a stunning achievement and holds the promise to positively transform society. Let me disclose at the beginning that I wrote […]
One aspect of my doddering old age is my witnessing of numerous periods of political upheaval and national distress. Recently I’ve been troubled when I hear several friends of my vintage rationalize our current sad state of affairs as “no worse than the string of 1960 assassinations, the terrible conflict and losses of the Vietnam […]
When you wrote the article about Caltrans tearing down the iconic trees in the Montecito median in order to expand the freeway, one of their excuses was that it would allow them to limit tearing up the landscape on the edges of the freeway. I wrote a letter questioning many of the positions Caltrans was […]
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This has been an illuminating few months as it relates to the dark underbelly of County politics and disaster-related funding. Allow me to explain: In November, our six ring nets were ripped from the canyons by the Project for Resilient Communities who privately funded their $6M installation. Now, I don’t pretend to know what behind-the-scenes […]
The Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County political organization on Sunday presented its Woman of the Year award to Montecito Journal editor Gwyn Lurie, whose acceptance speech included a stinging rebuke of feminist groups for their muted response to the Oct. 7 Hamas strike on Israel. “Dem Women” is the most – perhaps the only […]
Gwyn Lurie is my business partner and political opposite. The one thing we agree on is that we make each other better. Well, better and more tired. I was proud that Gwyn was honored this past Sunday as the Dem Women of Santa Barbara’s ‘Woman of the Year.’ Had the Dem Women checked with me […]
Have we no memory? Have we no leadership? Who in our local government is representing the interests of Montecito residents? Are we considered too privileged to merit concern? When the debris nets on the mountains above Montecito were taken down on November 1, I was beside myself. As photos came in of helicopters lifting the […]
You’d think someone moving into a new neighborhood would want to maybe take a beat and see what the vibe is like, maybe see how things happen, maybe get a feel for the place. After all, who wants to start off on the wrong foot with the people who are going to be living next […]
