Here are some thoughts I feel that the state, counties, and cities should explore to address the homeless housing crisis. This would be cost effective, easier to implement, and help create a sense of home, not a municipal housing project costing a fortune to build or renovate. I propose a mobile home complex with a […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Washing away
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 […]
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Cunningham should focus on his full-time job
It’s interesting to see Mr. Cunningham respond to a Sun letter (“Achieving sound public policy,” April 22). In addition to full-time state legislator, gym lawyer, parent, and husband, he is now newspaper commentator? It wouldn’t take a genius to notice that someone is getting the short end of the stick here. I would kindly ask […]
Posted inOpinion
The planet isn’t any better off today than it was 50 years ago on the first Earth Day
In Santa Maria, Lompoc, and many other areas of the country, Earth Day was observed a couple of weeks ago as it has been for several decades. It originated in 1970 to recognize and encourage world peace and honor the Earth. In more than 50 years, is the Earth doing any better peacefully or environmentally? […]
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Dysfunction junction
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 […]
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Cunningham needs to go
While his office should get credit for helping residents secure their unemployment benefits during the pandemic, Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham called for a reopening of our county in April, just one month into the pandemic. When other cities and counties reopened throughout the state, they were hit with a wave of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. We […]
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Please don’t divide us into conflicting tribes
We recently finalized a national election. On that hopefully we can all agree. But now everyday things are quickly changing that are not at all familiar to me. Our government is acting like they have become our parents, too. They are using their power to tell us exactly what we can and cannot do. Last […]
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Redistricting drama
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 […]
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Achieving sound public policy
The blatant and misleading political hit published in this paper last week deserves response (“Remember this,” April 15). (The letter writer, it should be noted, is the chair of the San Luis Obispo Democratic Party, and perhaps let partisan bias seep into a false narrative.) Since day one, our office has taken the COVID-19 pandemic […]
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Public policy should be carefully thought out
Have you ever made a decision that had unintended consequences? For example, you decided to paint your house, and the color swatch you chose to pick the paint didn’t match the final outcome when the entire house was painted. The unintended consequence was that instead of admiring the paint job, all you got were complaints […]
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Over time, over budget
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, […]
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Let’s close down ski resorts, too
If we close down the Oceano Dunes to recreational vehicles, we need to shut down all California downhill ski resorts as well. They are a blight on the landscape—wide swaths of forest devoid of trees that caused increased erosion. They are also big contributors to climate change, needing large amounts of power to run ski […]
