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 […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
In the midst of COVID, where’s the Fourth Estate today?
Santa Barbara recently enjoyed a return of its International Film Festival. Films have played a legendary role in the culture of not only this country but internationally as well. It happened that the same week, Steven Spielberg’s movie The Post came up on my Netflix deliveries. Several things struck me. Spielberg … said it was […]
Posted inOpinion
We support inflation, says no one anywhere ever
After reading Mr. Ron Fink’s opinion piece in the Opinion section of the Sun’s March 24 edition (“Our county needs change”), I am primed for the claptrap that follows the subhead, “Three county supervisors support inflation.” I would challenge anyone to ask any of the supervisors, or anyone with knowledge of how our socioeconomic systems […]
Posted inOpinion
Democracy is dead in Santa Maria, ‘Waterfield Worm’ lives on in the city’s districts
The leaders of our City Council do not listen to the people of Santa Maria. Everyone who spoke to the council on the re-creation of our voting districts supported a change to four clear quadrants, so we could easily know our district and council person. Alice Patino and Etta Waterfield voted “no.” The mayor asked […]
Posted inOpinion
No choice
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Three county supervisors support inflation, which means your family loses purchasing power, change can come with the election
Inflation impacts everyone no matter what their political affiliation is. The Free Dictionary defines inflation as the “reduction in purchasing power of a currency.” Inflation has historically occurred when a country prints too much of its currency in too short a period of time. When COVID-19 surfaced two years ago, federal, state, and local governments […]
Posted inOpinion
Expert testimony
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Downsize the proposed Dana Reserve housing development
I am very much opposed to the development proposed in Nipomo (“Develop and preserve,” Feb. 17). I usually exit Highway 101 at Willow Road to avoid the traffic on Tefft Street. If this development goes through, the traffic at this intersection will increase dramatically. I also am appalled that the developer will be removing 3,400 […]
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As the pandemic turns a corner, schools reflect on where COVID-19 has brought us
Two years have passed since COVID-19 forced schools around the world to close their doors, a tectonic shift in daily life with effects still unfolding. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. By Friday, March 13, many schools here and beyond announced that campuses would cease in-person instruction and […]
Posted inOpinion
Santa Maria BMX racetrack brings back fond memories of home
I was feeling nostalgic for my hometown of Santa Maria and thinking of all the things that my family left behind and found your paper’s 2015 article on the Santa Maria BMX track (“Trick-less speed: Santa Maria BMX racing is alive and well,” March 31, 2015). My father and our family built that track back […]
Posted inOpinion
History repeats
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Lompoc needs to limit its cannabis retail/dispensary permits and ensure operators pay all applicable fees
When the city of Lompoc considered licensing the manufacturing, distribution, sale, and on-site consumption of cannabis in our city, the subject of how many permits to issue was discussed. If our City Council would have bothered to listen to the information presented by the staff when this issue was decided, they would have understood that […]
