The Canary

Looks like Santa Barbara County is staying true to itself with the district attorney’s race in which nobody is running against current District Attorney Joyce Dudley’s handpicked replacement, Deputy District Attorney John Savrnoch. Savrnoch will sail on through the primary like fellow “campaigners” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino and Laura Capps, who is walking into […]

To hear Mike Stoker tell it, campaigning for elected office is really about one thing: “How it really should work is to have two candidates with two different perspectives who are willing to own those perspectives. We can both be nice people but it’s a question of what direction you want for California.” Two candidates […]

What is the solution to homelessness? I can tell you that clearing out encampments isn’t a solution—it’s just temporary relief for the housed population that can’t deal with the problems that come with an unwanted gathering of people who have nowhere else to go. These include environmental issues that stem from trash and human waste, […]

Empty liquor bottles, bullets, and Porta-Potties aren’t allowed on or near gravesites at the Santa Maria Cemetery. You’re not allowed to drink alcohol or have a barbecue there either.  While that may sound like common sense, it apparently is not common knowledge—according to the Santa Maria Cemetery District, which posted a long PDF on its […]

Rent stabilization by any other name is rent control—and Santa Maria doesn’t want to have it. According to one group of upset city residents, it’s all Mayor Alice Patino’s and City Councilmember Etta Waterfield’s faults.  The group—the North Santa Barbara County Manufacture Homeowners Team—has been begging the city to do something about the ever-increasing cost […]

Election season 2022 is upon us, and you know what that means?  Another race with a predetermined winner!  Yay! Not.  What’s the point of an election if only one person runs for office? What’s the deal, Santa Barbara County? Can’t figure out how to win?  In this year’s races, which had a candidate filing deadline […]

If Santa Barbara County Planning Commissioner Larry Ferini likes it, then you should like it! At least when it comes to agriculture, according to fellow Commissioner Michael Cooney.  “Similar to a baseball team, you figure out who the best players are for a given project,” Cooney said during a March 9 hearing about a giant […]

In a contest between squiggly lines or straight lines, will the straight lines win?  It’s definitely possible in Santa Maria, where the City Council and residents seem to favor a redistricting map that divides the city into the four quadrants that have always divided the city—along Main Street and Broadway.  Those two roads divide so […]

Being homeless isn’t a crime. But “many kinds of public conduct are illegal.”  Santa Maria Public Information Officer Mark van de Kamp told us that. And he’s not exactly wrong. But, if the public conduct associated with being homeless is illegal, aren’t we essentially saying that homelessness is a crime?  A recent Santa Maria Riverbed […]

In an apparent effort to protect Lompoc’s minors from any human traffickers who might want to open a dance hall, Lompoc City Councilmember Gilda Cordova went to bat for the city’s unenforced 50-year-old laws on dances, dance halls, and dance studios.  “These are basic regulations that protect the activity of minors in those locations,” she […]

Santa Barbara County and Santa Maria are fighting over the homeless and a Motel 6.  At least, that’s the simple version of the story.  The real story goes back many years but comes down to ideological differences and what Santa Maria believes is best for the city. Mayor Alice Patino, City Councilmember Etta Waterfield, and […]

Sheds. Homeowners can’t live with ’em and they can’t live without ’em. And in Solvang, regulators seem to be having a hard time with the unintended consequences of a shed regulation situation caused by shed-stirrer and Skytt Mesa resident Kristin Kellner  She complained about a neighbor’s shed not following city code guidelines, which eventually put […]