The Canary

Should someone who was caught lying to police and pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter after blaming the accident on another person be able to run for office?  No.  But, legally, yes. Yes, they can if the charge they pleaded guilty to is only a misdemeanor. And that’s exactly what’s happening in one of the races […]

Worst-case scenario for Lompoc in November’s election?  For 4th District City Councilmember Jeremy Ball, it’s that he and Mayor Jim Mosby simply switch seats. Like musical chairs, Ball would get voted in as mayor and Mosby would get appointed to fill the remainder of the 4th District term.  How would that be any different than […]

Solvang’s still down 30 city staffers after more than two weeks of a strike over the City Council’s “last, best, and final” salary offer: 4 percent raises in each of the next three consecutive years.  What do employees want? For two of those years to have 6 percent raises, instead. They want it so badly […]

Things got a little wild at Lompoc’s last City Council meeting—so wild that Mayor Jim Mosby asked police officers to forcibly remove a woman from the chambers.  “Can you please remove her?” Mosby asked about resident Shawna Stillwell, who continued speaking after he warned the chattering crowd that he’d “clear the chambers.” “We don’t want […]

Guadalupe’s in quite the fiscal pickle.  Facing a $1.6 million deficit, the city’s elected leaders made the prudent decision to cut their own stipends as way to help tackle budget woes—even though it only amounts to savings of $2,100 per month, every little bit counts!   It’s quite the opposite of what its neighbor to […]

Should we allow gun stores to set up shop close to schools and day care centers?  It seems like we’ve been doing it for a long time: Get R Gun in Santa Maria, for instance, is across the street from Santa Maria High School.  In Goleta, prior to recently opening next to Here We Grow […]

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is getting a new payroll system! Hopefully one that will prevent the overtime cost overruns that have plagued the law enforcement agency for years.  How is it going to do that? Umm, that part isn’t exactly clear.  “We’re still working on exactly how the system is going to be […]

Since last December, Lompoc City Councilmember Jeremy Ball has been asking his colleagues on the dais to join him in doing something about fellow Councilmember Steve Bridge’s predicament.  No, not to help the guy. To slap him on the wrist.  Ball finally got his wish, kind of.  The council agreed 3-1, with Bridge abstaining and […]

Santa Barbara County gave unanimous approval for an oil-related thing.  I know. Pick those jaws up off the ground!  It was fairly routine—the county Planning Commission gave the go-ahead for an ownership transfer of an asphalt refinery near Santa Maria. But the last time an ownership transfer came before the county, it was denied! (Yes, […]

Lawsuits. Santa Maria thinks it can avoid them with a preemptive strike! But mobile home park owners around town are low-key threatening to sue over the city’s new mobile home park ordinance anyway.  The new rule impacts five senior parks in the city and ensures that those parks will continue to cater to the 55-plus […]

Guadalupe, Guadalupe, Guadalupe, what are we going to do with you?  After fits and starts, false starts, and no starts, the city’s calling it quits on the Royal Theater restoration project. I think anyone’s who’s been following my sarcastic commentary on the matter probably knows that should have happened a long time ago—maybe when the […]

Solvang lost some of its Danish charm in a battle over one partially developed lot with nine almost-built little cottages on it. A fight over what the developer calls whimsical and how closely it resembles the permit granted to him by the city landed the two sides in court.  The gloves came off, and the […]