The Canary

People in the Santa Ynez Valley really just need to mind their own business.  But they’re too entitled for that, aren’t they?  After burning through several principals in a short period of time, Santa Ynez Valley Union High School still hasn’t replaced the most recent resignation, Michael Niehoff. Niehoff resigned last spring after dealing with […]

Who would have thought that it’d take nearly 20 years to get Santa Maria’s downtown vision on the runway? I’d say off the ground, but it’s still taxiing around the tarmac.  On Oct. 3, the city’s Downtown Specific Plan rolled a little closer to takeoff position, thanks to a 3-1 vote from the City Council […]

Solvang updated its homelessness ordinance.  Starting Nov. 9, you can camp overnight in a number of publicly owned spaces but for no longer than 24 hours at a time. Unless, of course, you do camp somewhere for longer. Then, the city can notify you that you have up to 72 more hours to vacate the […]

While environmental organizations are celebrating a recent ruling in ExxonMobil’s lawsuit against Santa Barbara County, they might also rue the day the judge in the case issued it.  At the end of September, a federal judge upheld the county Board of Supervisors’ right to deny ExxonMobil a permit to truck oil on the county’s highways […]

It sounds like the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is taking the four cities it contracts with for a ride!  Must be nice to be able to increase the rates that cities pay for through their respective contracts but not really give them the data they’re asking for.  This issue first came up as part […]

Apparently, providing emergency services in Santa Barbara County is complicated. I mean, obviously it is. But for some reason I can’t quite grasp, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has made it even more complicated in the last six months.  For 50 years, American Medical Response (AMR) has provided emergency medical services to the […]

After all else failed, Santa Barbara County stepped up for Guadalupe in a way that moved 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino to tears for the resilient community he represents and the board on which he serves. “Today you were public servants,” Lavagnino told fellow supervisors after they unanimously voted on Sept. 12 to allocate $8 […]

Who should pay to clean up the hazardous facilities that bankrupt oil companies leave behind? It shouldn’t be taxpayers, but that’s what’s happening. And Santa Barbara County shouldn’t be on the hook to facilitate that cleanup either, but that’s what’s happening.  Venoco filed for bankruptcy in 2017, blaming the shutdown of the Plains All American […]

Do food trucks have an unfair advantage over restaurants?  I’m guessing that food truck owners would say no. After all, it’s not like a thief can just steal a brick-and-mortar restaurant. They can and do steal food trucks. It’s happening all over the U.S.  Can you imagine waking up one morning and your entire business […]

Let the record show that Leah Braitman from “beautiful Lompoc” flipped 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino off during an extremely entertaining hearing about valves on an oil pipeline.  In what may have been a first for the longest-serving supervisor on the dais, Braitman was over her time limit during the public comment period, took her […]

The eagle has landed. Actually, the eagle may get chopped to bits by a big blade before it lands, and BayWa doesn’t have a permit for that yet, but it’s just a little hiccup. A little baby bump in the road that’s definitely not stopping a Lompoc wind project from moving forward. Planning Commissioners gave […]

Santa Maria City Council member Gloria Soto is extremely concerned about the school-to-prison pipeline.  It was in full swing between 1997 and 2021 in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, if you take her comments at a recent board meeting at face value.  “The last thing I want to do is perpetuate the […]