While the light-blue-line crowd gathered on the steps of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse yesterday to pitch their tax and spend agenda, the Santa Barbara Republican Party came out against Measure S 2010, a proposed half-cent tax increase to fund a North County jail.

According to the group… “The problems of under-funded law enforcement and an overcrowded jail are not new developments in Santa Barbara County. Dating back to the 1980’s, the need for expansion was known and should have been budgeted for. Instead, those tasked with planning and handling the county’s growth, the County Supervisors, have been grossly negligent in their duties to include jail funding in the budget. There have been numerous years of surplus that the Supervisors have squandered on pet construction projects, and never controlled the growth of spending within existing infrastructure. Even if the funds are used only for their designated purpose, there is no accountability that the funds will be spent wisely. And based upon their existing track record, there is a high risk for waste.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Column by Cheri Rae

A couple months ago, one of the City’s lead planners on Plan Santa Barbara, referred to the need to create housing for the “worker bees” in our community, specifically nurses and teachers.
That stung.

As a little basic apiary research proves, all worker bees are female and incapable of reproducing. While they live very busy lives, they—like their male counterparts called drones—are devoted only to serving the hive and the needs of the Queen Bee.

No one I know would ever refer to themselves as a flying insect dedicated to serving a Queen Bee, needing only a tiny cell in which to light when not engaged in endless activity devoted solely to the success of the hive.

I checked in with my sister, a dedicated nurse, and my neighbor, a terrific English teacher at a local high school—both well-educated, highly professional individuals with lots of interests, dreams and roles that go far beyond their work lives. And neither one of them was too happy about hearing about such terminology from a public official.

The teacher called it “incredibly insensitive and insulting” to be described as a worker bee. She explained, “There is a very negative connotation of pursing mindless tasks at the lowest level of existence, and no acknowledgment of how we put our personal lives into this community.”

And the nurse noted, “Housing just for nurses and teachers?  It sounds rather like herding a specific group of employees into a common living space.  Weird.”

For years the keepers of Plan Santa Barbara, have swarmed all over this document that turns Santa Barbara into something very different than the city we know now. The newest buzz is all about creating teeny, tiny little dwellings for our worker bees. Confined to 600 square feet, they won’t be raising families in them.

Which is fine for flying insects, not so much for feeling, thinking, human beings who typically aspire to leading personal lives beyond the work shift.

Thoughtful citizens have been swatted away throughout the long Plan Santa Barbara process whenever they have objected to densifying this place. If the beekeeper’s vision comes to pass, Santa Barbara may just resemble a bee hive with all those small units they have in mind.

Contrast the worker bee description with the wording in the introduction to the1964 General Plan, “…Every possible effort has been made to maintain an intimate contact with the people of Santa Barbara, for they are the ones ultimately to feel the full impact of changes in their environment. In fact, without this contact and a consequent mutual understanding, no effective planning is possible.”

It concludes, “It [the Plan] will therefore speak of the meaning of Santa Barbara held in the minds and hearts of its citizens. The degree of truth with which it does this will be the measure of its value and the strength of its influence in the years to come.”

When the City Council takes up the density discussion of the General Plan in the next couple of weeks, let’s hope they remember they’re debating the future of human beings—not a pesky bunch of drones or indistinguishable workers who just ended up here to serve the hive—and plan accordingly.

Supporters of Measure S, a half-cent sales tax increase to fund a North County jail, are inappropriately pitching the proposal as a tax reduction…. “Measure S will be funded by a dedicated ½ percent sales tax beginning July 1, 2011. This new ½ percent tax will coincide with the legislated expiration of the State’s temporary one percent sales tax, for a net ½ percent reduction – from 8.75% to 8.25%.”

Read the rest of this entry »

By Chloe Walker, Arts & Entertainment Reporter

Twin brothers Joshua and Jeremy Pemberton didn’t get the average start to the business of event production– but then again they don’t run the most average of production companies.  Just weeks away from their 4th annual West Beach Music Festival, the brothers face new challenges with unfaltering enthusiasm and an eye to the bright future of their Twiin Productions.

In early 2007 the two San Jose natives found themselves managing local Santa Barbara sports bar, The Cliff Room, and looking to run a one-time beer garden at a local sorority volleyball tournament, a gig which would change the direction of their lives thereafter.  By the late afternoon the tournament was coming to a close and Jeremy and Joshua stood at the beer garden watching 4,000 co-eds leave the beach.  Joshua described the scene as the initial inspiration:  “We thought, man, if we could keep them out here we would sell more beer, concessions and food.”  Just six months later, the two brothers were heading up their newly founded Twiin Productions and producing the first West Beach Music Festival.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Santa Barbara Photo of  the Week… by local photographer Bill Heller.

This shot was taken at the end of a very enjoyable day of wandering downtown just taking pictures for fun. I had no specific subject in mind but the clouds were putting on a pretty nice show so I knew I would find something interesting. I was pretty satisfied with the day’s shots, but as we were on our way back to the car the last glow of the sunset highlighted the clouds that were billowing on the mountain beautifully. Many of my favorite images have been after I thought the light was gone, or after I thought I got the shot in some other way. It always pays to slow down and really look around for the beautiful opportunities that present themselves to us. Especially in our beautiful city there are no end of gorgeous moments!

-Bill Heller

Re-posting exciting news… the Santa Barbara View is pleased to announce that award-winning writer Cheri Rae has joined the staff as senior editor and columnist.

Known for her civic activism and insightful chronicles of the local scene, Cheri has a hard-won reputation for writing about issues that other Santa Barbara-based writers are reluctant to tackle.

“I’m delighted to add my perspective to the Santa Barbara View,” stated Cheri Rae. “My specialty is researching and revealing the untold stories of Santa Barbara and I look forward to sharing them with the site’s thoughtful audience.”

The Santa Barbara View is the region’s fastest growing website and Santa Barbara’s online home for information, commentary, and conversation. It’s a website for informed opinion writing and thoughtful analysis about the stories, events, and people that shape Santa Barbara. www.sbview.com

Read the rest of this entry »

Special Report by Cheri Rae: Originally Posted on Thursday, September 2, 2010

In the demolition zone where St. Francis Hospital once stood, a leaking underground fuel tank was recently unearthed from below the original boiler room. The 2,000-gallon steel riveted tank, believed to date back to the 1920s, was discovered by workers on the site on August 6, according to reports filed with the County of Santa Barbara.

The hospital is being demolished (pictured below) to make way for a 134-unit condominium project developed by Cottage Hospital.

Delayed Notification

The tank was removed from the ground by demolition workers without the required permits from the City and the County. The County was not informed about the leaking tank or the observations of contaminated soil below it until August 18. Hazardous waste specialists visited the site on August 19, when they opened a case file to investigate the unauthorized release of a hazardous substance and determine the scope of its clean-up.

“They should have put it back in the ground when they found it,” noted Jim Morris, an Underground Storage Tank inspector with the County, “and then they should have called us.”

Instead of notifying County officials immediately, as is protocol in such cases, representatives of Burke Advisors—the Construction Management team on site—arranged for Criterion Environmental, Inc. to collect soil samples and test for levels of contamination on behalf of an entity listed as Villa Riviera Real Estate Co., Inc. in care of PBCH Project Management (an entity not previously known to be associated with Cottage’s Workforce Housing Project).

According to the report issued by Criterion, the Ventura-based engineering firm collected those soil samples on August 6 at 11:15 a.m. That was the same morning that the construction firm states the tank was discovered, unearthed, moved, relocated and removed from the ground and from the cement encasing it.

The discovery and presence of the tank is not mentioned in the PEC’s daily field log on August 6, or on any other date until August 25 (pictured left), which states, “Underground storage tank to be analyzed by County Fire which will include soil samples.”

Weekly reports issued to the city on weeks ending August 6, 13 and 20 and signed by Dudek employee, John Cuykendall, Project Environmental Coordinator (PEC), fail to mention the tank, the contamination observed, or the soil testing conducted at the site. The discovery and removal of the leaking tank was not mentioned in the required weekly report to the City until September 1. That report notes, “On August 24, 2010, the PEC was informed by the Construction Manager that an approximate 2,000 gallon underground storage tank (UST) was discovered encased in concrete below the former Boiler Room adjacent to Salsipuedes Street by Standard Industries on August 6, 2010.”

According to the city planner assigned to Cottage’s condo project, Allison De Busk, she had no knowledge of the leaking fuel tank at the St. Francis site until August 27, when she learned that representatives of the contractor were seeking to obtain a permit to remove the tank.

“The breakdown in this case,” she speculated, “is that the construction manager didn’t believe this involved the Project Environmental Coordinator or the City, and made his first contact with the APCD.” [Air Pollution Control Board]

Levels of Contamination

According to the soils analysis issued by Criterion Environmental on August 13, the soil is too contaminated to be disposed of at Tajiguas Landfill or elsewhere in Santa Barbara County. The firm recommended that the soil be transported to “a hazardous materials landfill” outside the county.

The soil removed for testing at the St. Francis site contained what was described by engineers as “an oily like substance.” The test results reveal a TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) Diesel Range of 6,900-8,000 ppm, considered a very high concentration.

The site assessment to determine the extent of the contamination will include excavation to a depth of 16 to 18 feet (as deep as a backhoe can dig), and several soil samples taken for analysis. Yet to be determined is where the contaminated soil, the tank and the sludgelike contents of the tank—which have been tested at 800,000 ppm—will end up.

The County Fire Department’s hazardous waste team will determine whether or not any additional actions are required after the site assessment. If there are additional actions, the public will have an opportunity to comment on the corrective action plan.

This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on the Santa Barbara View. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. By local cartoonist Steve Greenberg.