Tri-tip sandwiches are the bread and barbecue sauce (or salsa) of fundraising in the Santa Maria Valley. Need to raise money for a school basketball trip? Tri-tip barbecue! Need some funds for soccer uniforms? Tri-tip barbecue! Senior center field trip? Barbecue. Nonprofit low on dollars? Barbecue. Santa Barbara County just made it a lot harder […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Lompoc’s luck
How many times has the city of Lompoc been denied by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Santa Barbara County? I’m not sure, but the city’s efforts to annex some of the land near Bailey Avenue out of the county have met with roadblock after roadblock. For a quarter of a century, the city […]
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A fabricated “emergency” aims to reduce environmental protections
Do you know about the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule? It prioritizes the health and resilience of ecosystems on public lands. The rule, legally binding on the actions and decisions of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), requires them to “protect intact landscapes, restore degraded habitat, and make informed management decisions based on science and […]
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Parachute drops are similar to paper towels: They don’t do much to help
Tax-funded parachute drops on rescue missions in Gaza remind one of another intervention by Trump during a crisis. In September 2017 when Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria and left in ruin, its infrastructure was rendered useless and its people were in dire straits. Trump visited, arriving armed with paper towels that he lobbed […]
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Best of the best
We’ve had not just one fire, but two this summer. Both started along Highway 166’s lonely stretch of two-lane road and lapped up vegetation, grassland, and oak-studded hills stretching through federal land—Los Padres National Forest, Carrizo Plain National Monument, the Caliente Mountain Wilderness Study Area, the Garcia Wilderness—threatened ranches, remote houses, county parks, cattle, crops, […]
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The land itself is the area’s biggest loss in the aftermath of the Gifford Fire
The Gifford Fire has been burning in two counties for a couple of weeks. This fire, combined with a previous burn in the same area, has incinerated well over 200,000 acres of vegetation; that’s more than 300 square miles of now barren land. The immediate losses, millions of dollars in losses, are associated with ranches, […]
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‘American silence is a crime’
With so many humanitarian atrocities continuing to happen here locally on the Central Coast, in our state, across the United States, and globally, I’ve spent many sleepless hours pondering how I’ve become so disillusioned and frustrated with Americans. Until this year, I’ve been proud to be an American and part of our society that I […]
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Flooding downtown
Do you think it’s possible that converting a dingy old department store in downtown Santa Maria into apartments is the step needed to reinvigorate an area that’s needed reinvigoration for as long as it can remember? I remember when Fallas Discount Store first proposed filling the space on Broadway. It was 2013. Mayor Alice Patino […]
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The Central Coast desperately needs to build its way out of the housing crisis
We are pro-housing. Period. At Generation Build, housing is our core mission. We advocate for it all: for all types, at all levels. Unlike some organizations, we aren’t afraid to engage in the tough political conversations that others shy away from. That’s because we know real progress requires bold action, not empty platitudes. To solve […]
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Now is the time to help each other prepare for eventual evacuations
Two friends, who have lost absolutely everything to wildfires, say now is the time to help one another prepare to evacuate. If it’s not this fire, or an earthquake, or a tsunami warning … it will be some big challenge in the near future. How about we each help an elderly or disabled neighbor? Help […]
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Gold stars
It’s almost back-to-school time, and I’m jumping the gun by handing out gold stars this week. It’s rare that I get to give so many accolades! First up, North County schools are growing their own gardens thanks in large part to Explore Ecology and One Cool Earth. These nonprofits help establish and run the gardens […]
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Congressman Salud Carbajal and two colleagues are trying to initiate immigration reform
Back in July I said, “the immigration laws need to be updated, but simply resisting enforcement of existing law with endless conversations, waving signs, yelling and screaming, harassing enforcement officers, burning public property, and stopping traffic isn’t helpful and produces no meaningful results,” (Start assisting in immigration issues,” July 10). And “legislators could start with […]
