Agriculture in Northern Santa Barbara County, or the Colonies as I refer to us, had a bad day at the Oct. 13 Board of Supervisors meeting. Along the usual 3-2 lines, I lost my bid to legalize 4,500 acres of existing berry hoops and to preserve the ability of farmers to innovate and evolve to […]
PETER ADAM
Posted inOpinion
Sovereignty and the legislative platform
We must make sure that we are asking the right questions
Since I questioned the whole idea of sovereignty during a discussion of the County Legislative Platform, there has been much said by many people. Both pro and con views have been expressed concerning my statements. Let me explain how we go about adopting that platform, one specific issue about the Chumash Tribe, and my position, […]
Posted inOpinion
The rose-colored glass is half full
A note to my fellow supervisors: Optimism is not a plan
Recently, Supervisor Steve Lavagnino wrote an opinion piece in the Santa Maria Times, saying that Santa Barbara County’s government is doing great and being managed well on your behalf (“A brighter outlook on county’s fiscal future,” Dec. 20). First, I’m going to tell you why that’s wrong. Then I’m going to tell you why Supervisor […]
Posted inOpinion
Can’t we all just get along?
Tolerance and patience are necessary to life on this increasingly crowded planet
Rodney King was an ordinary guy with a few too many brushes with the law. But his now famous rhetorical question contains wisdom that we should all contemplate. “Can’t we all just get along?” Apparently not. We seem to have changed as a society. I think the problem is that many of us have come […]
Posted inOpinion
Second-class land rights
The law tightens even more
I wrote recently in local media about a Board of Supervisors decision concerning an old farmhouse in Los Olivos. Its continued use had been “grandfathered in” as a “legal nonconforming use.” But “legal nonconforming” structures have a kind of second-class citizenship. Various provisions in the Land Use Code allow these structures to be “abated.” It’s […]
Posted inOpinion
This county is more than its extremist leaders
Southern supervisors are making economically suicidal decisions
It’s déjà vu all over again. A few weeks ago an oil company sought planning permission to drill new wells just south of Orcutt. The Planning Commission had given the green light for a project that would bring jobs to our area and pour badly needed tax revenue into county’s general fund. The board rejected […]
Posted inOpinion
A dispatch from the colonies
South County threw North County under the bus in the Santa Maria Energy matter
They know what’s good for us As 4th District supervisor, I had people asking me what happened with the Santa Maria Energy project. I’ll tell you what happened—and why. South Coast Supervisors Janet Wolf, Doreen Farr, and Salud Carbajal ignored state law, common sense, and the wishes of the people who live and work in […]
Posted inOpinion
We shouldn’t spread ourselves too thin
Be realistic; elected officials have to do the best they can with what they have to work with
In their opinion piece, “One Step Toward Fairness,” (March 25), the Santa Maria Times editorial writers unwittingly identified, arguably, the single largest problem in politics today. Namely, it is the idea that whatever services exist today, because they exist, the citizens have become accustomed to their availability and therefore have a “right” to have them […]