Canary

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 […]

If there’s been one thing that COVID-19 is good for, it’s an influx of funding to tackle homelessness—kind of. It’s more like an influx of funding to make us feel temporarily better about not spreading a contagious virus among a population we’ve failed for decades.  Homeless advocates like Good Samaritan Shelter Executive Director Sylvia Barnard […]

Who knew building a greenhouse on agriculturally zoned land could be so controversial?  Ooh, pick me! Pick me!  It’s definitely not surprising that the same county that brought you years of discussion over whether or not hoop houses should be allowed over a nice view from Highway 101 is the same county in which a […]

Great news, everyone! California residents eligible for the next phase of vaccines can now make appointments to get vaccinated!  Well, actually, just kidding!  According to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department’s top peeps—Dr. Van Do-Reynoso and Dr. Henning Ansorg—only part of that phase (aka 1B) is actually eligible for vaccines, and they’re only eligible […]

How long does it take to build something?  In the case of the the Santa Barbara County Jail under construction in Santa Maria, at least eight years, maybe longer. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown has touted the facility as the future savior of the county’s justice system woes since at least 2013.  Every malady […]