California is facing a financial crisis with two idiotic proposals. First is Proposition 15. Small business owners already have difficulty paying workers. Workers who are struggling to put food on their family’s table and struggling to pay their bills. Proposition 15 is a deceptively worded bad idea trying to gut Proposition 13’s limitation of confiscatory […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
We need a moratorium on dunes vehicle operations
California Coastal Commission and State Parks were supposed to review the final draft of the public works plan for Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (ODSVRA) on Oct. 15. Unsurprisingly, the public works plan is not ready, and the meeting has been canceled. The public works plan has been an excuse for State Parks to […]
Posted inOpinion
Take a hard look at the commander in chief
In response to Ellis Romero’s letter, (“The blame-Trump game,” Sept. 24) decrying those who call Trump “a racist,” I feel you need a bit of Trump’s history before you defend him from that title. My father worked for Trump’s father, and, as a native of New York for 25 years, I had the dubious pleasure […]
Posted inOpinion
Touchy, touchy
People are testy these days, with patience worn thin, looking for any excuse to get snippy. Take this exchange between 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam and County Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso at the Oct. 6 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ meeting. They were chit-chatting about COVID-19 stats, as they often do these […]
Posted inOpinion
Unsavory stories from the Lompoc sewer system
When you flush your waste down the drain it doesn’t just “disappear”; it eventually finds its way to the Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW), otherwise known as the wastewater treatment plant. Before your waste can be released as effluent into the Santa Ynez River, it must be treated to remove harmful substances. The treatment process […]
Posted inOpinion
Questions, questions
It’s election season, y’all. And in Solvang, you’ve got two choices for mayor: Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriff Charlie Uhrig or sitting City Councilmember Karen Waite. While Solvang’s elected officials are fleeing from the dais, Waite isn’t—which should probably tell you something. “I believe the residents of Solvang really deserve to have the choice to […]
Posted inOpinion
Keep the dunes closed
I believe the dunes should stay closed to vehicles so they can be available to and enjoyed by local residents, walkers, equestrians, nature lovers, bird watchers, picnickers, families with small children playing in the sand, without the risk to life, limb, lungs, etc., posed by these beach vehicles, which are degrading our local environment. This […]
Posted inOpinion
I’ve had enough of Trump
Some wealthy, presumably white rancher has put up a hilarious yet disgusting billboard along Highway 101 south of Arroyo Grande. The billboard asks, “Had enough? Vote Republican.” Well sir, in fact, yes, I have had enough. I’ve had enough of a sociopathic, white supremacist, misogynist, moron pretending to be the president of the United States. […]
Posted inOpinion
Fourth time’s no charm
The Santa Barbara Vintners has spent two years and undisclosed funds trying to craft a Business Improvement District (BID). The good news is their latest proposal—1 percent assessment on all California direct to consumer sales—has dropped two of its more objectionable suggestions: using BID funds to market to the trade (grocery stores, wine shops, hotels, […]
Posted inOpinion
Oceano Dunes should be open to vehicles
How many miles of California coast are open to the public? Answer: All of it! Some Californians choose to recreate in vehicles. Some choose to enjoy it in other ways. In all fairness, one group should not be able to deny another group their enjoyment. It belongs to all Californians. Because someone with their own […]
Posted inOpinion
State Parks has mixed up its priorities in managing the Oceano Dunes, putting vehicles over environmental protection
For the past year, The Dunes Alliance (American Woodland Conservancy, Surfrider San Luis Obispo, Sierra Club’s Santa Lucia Chapter, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of Oso Flaco Lake, Morro Coast Audubon, ECOSLO, San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper, Oceano Beach Community Association, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Northern Chumash Tribal Council) have been asking Gov. Gavin Newsom […]
Posted inOpinion
Petition shuffle
If you don’t like the clothes your mom buys you for Christmas, I have an idea for you. Start a petition. I hear it’s the only way to get what you want these days. Don’t like the way your local city council is governing you? Start a petition! Don’t bother voting. Votes don’t matter. Don’t […]
