As a city with an economy built around tourism, Solvang has been hit especially hard during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. During a City Council meeting on April 13, City Manager Xenia Bradford said the city will lose about $2 million in revenue related to this virus during the current fiscal year, which runs through […]
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County outlines economic reopening plan development
A week after Gov. Gavin Newsom identified six indicators determining when to change the existing stay-at-home order, Santa Barbara County officials have released the first steps of their own reopening plan. During the Board of Supervisors meeting on April 21, Assistant County Executive Officer Nancy Anderson said that over the next four to six weeks, […]
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County Foodbank ramps up services during COVID-19 crisis
As businesses remain closed under the statewide stay-at-home order and the number of people unemployed in California continues to increase, many residents are facing food insecurity for the first time. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County has ramped up its services to provide fresh food to the thousands who may […]
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County moves forward with preliminary budget amid COVID-19 unknowns
Because government budgets are based on projections and estimations, there’s always a degree of uncertainty involved with preparing them. But this is even more so the case during a global pandemic. Santa Barbara County officials held a budget workshop on April 13 for the county’s 2020-21 fiscal year. During the meeting, Assistant County Executive Officer […]
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Lompoc City Council meetings remain open to the public amid COVID-19
As most local governments in Santa Barbara County continue to block in-person attendance to their meetings, this isn’t the case in Lompoc. On March 12, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that allows local and state governments to hold public meetings via conference calls and live video. Following this, local city councils and the […]
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Central Coast hospitals are increasing telehealth services amid COVID-19 pandemic
While health care providers have a heightened focus on screening, testing, and treating people infected with COVID-19, there are people who doctors and nurses are treating for reasons not related to the virus. For some patients who don’t want to risk catching or spreading the highly infectious virus during a visit to a clinic or […]
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Lompoc couple livestreams a morning show to celebrate human spirit amid COVID-19 anxiety
To stay connected amid the physical distance we’re all supposed to be keeping, Lompoc residents Jeremy and Michelle Ball started a morning show to celebrate the city they live in and its residents. “We just thought it was too easy for people collectively to go to a dark place full of fear and panic, but […]
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Two Solvang residents are leading a campaign to establish an urban growth boundary for the city
When it came time to start knocking on doors to collect signatures for a hoped-for ballot measure, two Solvang residents have had to rethink their method. Susan Bott and Nancy Emerson are leading a campaign called Save Our Solvang, through which they’re gathering support for a November ballot measure to give residents a vote on […]
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PetroRock withdraws application for Cat Canyon oil project
After putting its plans to drill hundreds of oil wells in the Cat Canyon Oil Field on hold about a year ago, the oil and gas company PetroRock has abandoned the project. Errin Briggs, supervisor of the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department’s Energy, Minerals, and Compliance Division, said the company withdrew its application […]
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County health official outlines modeling, hospital surge plans for COVID-19
A recent presentation from the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department that outlines different scenarios for how the county will fare during the COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the importance of social distancing, but it raised concerns about how long these guidelines will continue to disrupt thousands of residents’ lives. According to the presentation that department Director […]
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Cities and the county begin to weigh financial implications of COVID-19
As public health officials continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, cities in Northern Santa Barbara County are beginning to understand how closures related to the virus are affecting their budgets. With many businesses closing that are deemed nonessential under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, local cities and the county are poised to lose millions […]
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Cities, county weigh tax relief amid COVID-19 pandemic
As many Santa Barbara County residents and businesses take on additional financial burdens related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the county and some local cities are offering some form of temporary tax relief. During the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting on March 24, county Treasurer-Tax Collector Harry Hagen said the county doesn’t have the […]