Archive | October, 2012

Pearl Chase Society Newsletter

Santa Barbara View is proud to publish The Capital, a monthly newsletter of the Pearl Chase Society. You can read the full newsletter by clicking on the PDF icon, left.

The October issue includes a great article by Steve Dowty titled, Adaptive Re-Use: the Greenest Building is the One that’s Already Built. Showcased is the old muffler shop on Chapala Street which was turned into a new administrative office building for the fire department. The pieces also details Five Imperatives for Adaptive Re-Use.

Santa Barbara View asked Congresswoman Lois Capps and Abel Maldonado, “what is the most important issue that you will address for Santa Barbara residents?“….

“It’s the economy, stupid.  It’s simple, but it helped define the campaign that would ultimately elect a no-name Governor from Arkansas President of the United States.  According to virtually every poll in the universe, creating jobs and growing the economy are the most important issues to the American people.  That’s why I have publicly released a specific framework that details what policies and initiatives I will introduce and support to advance the goal of removing government barriers to job creation so we can get the economy moving forward again.  I believe we need to repeal the dangerous cuts to defense that Lois Capps helped put in place. I believe we need to provide meaningful tax relief for small businesses, which Lois Capps opposed. I believe we need to repeal the tax on medical devices that threaten local enterprises like Hardy Diagnostics in Santa Maria. That’s the same tax that Lois Capps helped write. I believe we need certainty and consistency in the tax code so job creators can plan for the future. Lois Capps thinks we need more regulations from Washington bureaucrats. Which way works better – that choice belongs to all of you.” - Abel Maldonado

“Creating jobs and growing our economy remains my greatest legislative priority.  We are doing much better than when economy was in a free-fall 4 years ago – but we must do more.
I have already voted to cut taxes for every working American, saving the typical middle-class family $3,600 in taxes over the last four years.  Now, we need to extend the tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses immediately and I have already voted to do that.
As my opponent stuck Californians with the largest tax increase in state history, we’ve cut federal taxes for small business owners 18 times, giving $200 billion in tax relief and incentives to businesses.” – Lois Capps

Today, the Santa Barbara City Council will once again discuss and consider naming the new Santa Barbara Airport Terminal.

As noted on Santa Barbara View, feedback from the community was solicited, and according to the Agenda, “the Airport Director received 76 emails and letters with recommendations.  Community comments were also posted on online newspaper websites and in the print media Letters to the Editor. The recommendations ranged from maintaining the current name for the airline terminal building to names reflecting California and local history and culture.  There were also recommendations made for a number of local individuals who contributed to the community.”

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Weekly column by Loretta Redd

Astrologically speaking, when Mercury goes ‘retrograde’ 3 or 4 times a year, communication goes absolutely bonkers… and the American Presidency is not immune to such planetary influence.

I’m  not referring to Nancy Reagan’s White House psychic, Joan Quigley, who helped Ronnie and Nancy plan Presidential travel, press conferences, his cancer surgery, and even the nuclear treaty with the Soviets…nor do I speak of Hillary Clinton’s channeling of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The planet Mercury rules intelligence, communications of all types like messages, texting, talking, computing, and travel.  Bad time for any decisions; worse time for new projects.  Its rather like the astrological signature for Murphy’s Law: “If something can go wrong, it will.”

Although Mercury is a more practical than emotional planet, seeking truth, intelligence and education, the word ‘retrograde’ indicates a backwards moving motion, which of course puts all of those attributes in reverse.  Contracts and mail gets lost, software glitches, computers crash…ah, the trickster of the Universe, Mercury, is at is again.

Unfortunately, Mercury enters his ‘retrograde’ moment on November 6th…the day of our Presidential Election.

Remember Bush-Gore?  Another retrograde of history changing proportions…and this one is likely to be no less dramatic.  Mercury tends to have its strongest influence at the beginning and end of its mischief: Bush and Gore at the end of 2000 and Obama-Romney at the beginning of this potential catastrophe.

Already we are dealing with tropical storm/hurricane/drenching Sandy, forcing the shifting of schedules and rock concerts and -darn it all- giving us something to angst over OTHER THAN the absolute end of ‘the American Way of Life As We Know It’ that the other candidate portends.

You aren’t convinced that the star alignment with the planets actually rule our Presidential race, are you?  You might actually think that the outcome has more to do with the nine hundred million dollars of advertising paid for by loyal ameri-cuns at Crossroads USA, or billionaire corporate moguls living in Beijing or Oman.

Not only did the Bush-Gore debacle occur during a retrograde, but more recently, Rick Perry- Republican party darling with absolutely every reason to win the nomination, kicked off his candidacy during a retro.  Don’t know about you, but I thought the guy had it in the bag…good looks, swagger, ‘Gubner ‘ of the great state of Texas, smart and well-spoken…until he spoke, that is.  Yes, the MIS-communication of Mercury raised its mischievous head and his hand-made boots were firmly planted in his mouth time after time until he exited the candidate stage.

As Mercury zips between forward and backward pressure, between two worlds, between the two halves of our brains, we have this juxtaposition between acute clarity and wobbly reality.  I’m guessing most voting Americans by now feel that they’ve been on a flight between heaven and hell with loss of cabin pressure one minute and suddenly gaining altitude the next.

Unfortunately, this is not a time to put your life…or our Presidential election…on autopilot.  Astrologically speaking, we have President Obama– a Leo who loves the stage and limelight, but has a steady hand of leadership opposed by challenger Romney– a Pisces, who swims against the tide of doubt, but is slippery as a fish when changing directions.

Mercury may have well been in cahoots with Mother Nature today, trying their darnedest to alter the date of the Presidential election by drowning the East coast and destroying communication and power lines along most of the original 13 colonies.  We will likely recover, given our post-Katrina standards, and the polls will be open on November 6th…just in time for Mercury Retrograde to turn this election on its head.  I wouldn’t expect a decision as to who takes the White House until several days later…

Outside of the Presidential and local Congressional race, Proposition 37 will likely be the hottest topic for Santa Barbara voters. Prop. 37 requires a simple label if food is genetically engineered. Let’s get a peak of your views with a straw poll eight days out.

The fall tour of local businesses continues as Santa Barbara View catches up with Michael and Cheryl Gardner, owners of The Burger Bus. “Michael had wanted to enter into the restaurant business for a while but opening a brick and mortar was a bit overwhelming,” they said, when asked about their start. “The food truck scene had not yet started in SB so we figured, Why not open a food truck?. 3 1/2 years later and we’re still running a successful BUSiness.”

The Burger Bus serves up the best grass fed and hormone free burgers around! They also have a killer grilled cheese and a homemade falafel for vegetarians or anyone who wants something different. Cooks hand dip the beer battered onion rings and pickle chips and they also serve hand cut yam fries that are delicious.

Michael and Cheryl have a commitment to all local ingredients, “We believe in locals supporting locals, which seems to have a strong following in SB,” they said. “It takes 6 local distributors to make our burgers and our sides. The less amount of time our ingredients have to spend traveling in a truck, plane, train, or ship, the lower our carbon footprint!”

As a mobile BUSiness, they have many different locations between Goleta on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Downtown Santa Barbara on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Burger Bus is often open on Saturdays too. The best way to find times and locations near you is to visit their website, theburgerbus.com.

Have you picked up the Santa Barbara Sentinel this week, with contributions from Santa Barbara View? If you haven’t, here’s the Sentinel’s local crime blotter…

Zombies in Santa Barbara

CRIME: A male transient was arrested late Monday night after he pushed a female transient down and bit her face (no blood was drawn). SBPD was called after passersby heard the woman yelling “stop biting me.”

OBSERVATION: Despite suspicion to the contrary, SBPD’s investigation revealed the man was not a zombie (or a vampire); truth be told, the all-American pair had been dating.

COMMENT: You don’t really expect us to comment any further on this, do you?

If You’re Pregnant, Please Pause

CRIME: On Monday, October 22, 2012, at around 8:30 am, SBPD found a 41-year-old female Santa Barbara resident just off State Street with “reduced logic and reasoning skills, poor balance, an odor of booze” and an inability to “care for her own safety.”

OBSERVATION: That, frankly, is not a particularly interesting detainment or arrest report. Any long weekend or early Monday morning binge can result in the foregoing symptoms. But, alas, this was not the end of the officer’s report. The full finishing phrase reflected that the woman was unable to “care for her own safety or that of her unborn baby.”

COMMENT: Wow. Really? No real joke here, just shock and awe at what’s happening on the streets of Santa Barbara. It is disconcerting to see this type of stuff in print, in dozens of arrest reports each week, sitting in SBPD. These are serious problems that we are clearly not adequately addressing and there needs to be some meaningful conversation about what to do in connection with the addicted and homeless among us. And, eventually, there needs to be some action, too. We are making this a priority around here.

Fight Club

CRIME: SBPD responded to a 9-1-1 call late last week after a fight between two transient males broke out. The winning party, 51, was found near the scene of the brawl but said he didn’t know where, exactly, the fight had been because he “drank too much.” (Talk about an admission against interest.) He was arrested for public intoxication.

OBSERVATION: In a related story, a 72-year-old transient male who lost a fight and called 9-1-1 was arrested for public intoxication after slurring to responding officers that the aggressor was “dumb” but that he himself was also “out of control.” (Again, another unwise admission against interest.)

COMMENT: Good call, SBPD. Let the courts figure this one out. Or just leave them on the streets since we doubt jail time is having much positive impact on them, or society, or Santa Barbara’s budget or…well, you get the idea.

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Solely for use on SBView.com. By award-winning local cartoonist Steve Greenberg.

It’s the Green Button, one of the results from this administration’s slew of investments in our 21st century energy infrastructure. If anyone doubts the effectiveness of these efforts towards conservation and renewable energy, the trend of per capita energy use in the U.S. is now gliding downward.This is thanks to technological innovation and more educated consumers.

In the last century, most of us were happily ignorant of the tremendous amounts of fossil fuel energy we used. We could afford it and it brought us conveniences in our daily lives that allowed us more leisure time, and the power to travel long distances with ease. In the 21st Century, no longer can we quaff the stuff, sipping time is here, but also opportunities for $$$ savings. The challenge for a green energy economy is to make this possible without sacrificing our quality of life.

The Green Button initiative is program to empower us consumers to have much greater control over our home energy use through easy access to individualized usage reports, money and energy savings techniques. At this point across the U.S., 35 utilities have signed on, who serve one third of all households. The Department of Energy sponsored a competition for entrepreneurs* to create apps that work with the utilities towards this end, to offer us ways to get the most from this information, to “treat data like a fuel (PDF).” This fuel can be safely quaffed!

PS: The three of the winners are Leafully, Melon and VELObill

The City of Santa Barbara wants to hear from you in an effort to help understand how the current Bikestation facility, located inside the Granada Garage parking structure, can be responsive to community needs. They City has put together a Bikestation Santa Barbara Outreach Survey 2012…  share your views here.

On the move… the popular column by John Dickson, The Restaurant Guy, has moved from the defunct Daily Sound to the Santa Barbara Independent. Few noticed the move as Dickson’s column was buried on page 157 of the Indy’s 167-page Best Of edition.

Happy Anniversary…. to the Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club, celebrating 75 years!

Strange, but true… Roseanne Barr is one of six candidates listed on your ballot for President of the United States. Barr is running under the Peace and Freedom Party.

Lanny lambastes Rickard… the most compelling case against naming the Santa Barbara Airport Terminal for Jack Rickard comes from Lanny Ebenstein, who writes in the News-Press, “It is ironic, however, that a one-term Santa Barbara mayor in the 1950’s and minor figure in the city’s history, should be singled out for his role in annexing Goleta land to the city of Santa Barbara, when he had little to do with it.”

Some good news for Congresswoman Lois Capps… Over 11,000 voters were registered at University of California Santa Barbara since mid-August, breaking UCSB’s previous record of 10,800 registered voters in 2008.

Rebuilding Santa Barbara’s birthplace one brick at a time… on Saturday, October 27, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation will lead a day of adobe brick making at El Presdio de Santa Barbara Historic Park. The group needs to add 6,800 adobe bricks to complete the Presidio Northwest Corner Reconstruction Project.

Seen around Santa Barbara… Abel Maldonaldo playing to the crowd at Chuck’s uptown, Michael Towbes having his sport coats taken in at Panoyan tailoring, attorney Josh Lynn hanging out at Brophy Bros. and Cathy Murillo lunching at Playa Azul.

Speaking of Brophy Brothers… did you know that the iconic water-front restaurant reportedly takes in $20,000 in sales on an average weekday? The restaurant is rumored to earn more money per square foot than any other restaurant in the country.

If the Architectural Board of Review thinks the pressure is tough today…. they should be thankful they weren’t around during the transition of Santa Barbara from a sleepy Spanish pueblo into an American village. When a Yankee built the first frame house in 1851, an outraged local of the adobe faction burned it down the day it was finished!