The Canary

Three iterations and nine months after California first introduced the ever-changing COVID-19 reopening tiers with the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the state is kicking it to the curb.  And just as Santa Barbara County reaches out for the most minimal tier on it, too. So close! This county is itching to inch into the […]

Don’t want to wear a mask anymore? I know just the spot where you can shop. Trader Joe’s! And because they trust their customers so much, you don’t even need to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination.  The Centers For Disease Control recently announced that you don’t need to wear a mask if you’re vaccinated. […]

Don’t worry everyone, the Santa Barbara County Coalition for Responsible Cannabis has got our backs! They’re taking care of business that the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has failed to adequately address time and again, according to Coalition President Blair Pence.  I mean, if the Board of Supervisors would just do exactly what the […]

What happens when a city passes a regulation without actually putting any thought into it?  You get Santa Maria’s recently minted rules surrounding mobile commercial car washers—built to comply with an apparent environmental ask from the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board without actually caring about how it would impact the industry it’s meant […]

What’s your function? Hooking up Lompoc with nonprofits and Santa Ynez Riverbed cleanup efforts.  Dysfunction junction, how’s it function? Lompoc has three favorite phrases that don’t get the job done.  Dysfunction junction, what’s their function. They want “liability insurance” because of the “potential for injuries,” and a need to “issue permits.” Those’ll get you pretty […]

Santa Barbara County’s Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission is supposed to lead to something better than the alternative: A fair process of redrawing the lines that outline Board of Supervisors’ districts to create a less politically driven, more representative elected board. It’s supposed to be less controversial.  And so far, it’s been anything but.  Almost as […]

Santa Barbara County is working its way through a series of performance reviews designed to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of county departments.  Efficient. Effective. They sound great on paper. But what do they actually mean?  Cost-savings? Trim departments so they can handle more services with fewer people?  Nope! According to county CEO Mona Miyasato, […]

While Los Alamos, Goleta, Isla Vista, Carpinteria, and Santa Ynez all know what could potentially be coming their way when it comes to recreational cannabis retail, Orcutt will have to wait until at least May 21.  Why? A capitalistic temper tantrum.  The Natural Healing Center—the totally non-controversial cannabis company that purchased the building that once […]

Whenever there is a development project, you know they’ll be there. Hitch in their giddy-up, all discombobulated over housing—especially higher density housing.  The NIMBY opposition is predictable. I can make the arguments for them. They don’t even need to waste their breath telling the world. We already know! Don’t you realize that there will be […]

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley is sure keeping environmental polluters in check! She’s saving the world, one working man at a time by throwing the book at people who drive too fast on Highway 166.  Everyone, be wary! Actually, Dudley’s only got her eagle eyes on one guy—the driver of a tanker truck […]

The Blueprint for a Safer Economy is so dumb. And here’s why. The requirements outlined in the state’s COVID-19 regulations “blueprint” just changed. And they will change again.  So what’s the point of a system that makes it impossible to compare your status from next week to one month ago? Umm, politics.  I mean, I’m […]

If COVID-19 has shown us anything (and it’s actually shown us a lot of things), it’s that people are hustlers. Put between a rock and a hard place—in this case COVID-19 pandemic job losses—people do what they have to do!  Yeah!  Take making food at home and selling it to people who prefer not to […]