Cover Story
Creating a downtown: Can a revamped development plan and a farmer’s market help revive the city’s core?
It’s Friday afternoon. You shower after work and walk the two blocks from your downtown loft to the farmers’ market. There you grab some produce and a bite to eat at the Asian fusion food truck and catch a few songs from your favorite local band. Along the way, you stop at that popular café…
It’s time to get briefs with 55 Fiction
Boxers or briefs? Come on. You know the answer. It’s not even a question. You go with the latter. You go with the tighty-whities. And if you just can’t, your only option is this: briefly in boxers. Yes, brief is better as the ads for this year’s 55 Fiction contest proclaim because, as Shakespeare wrote,…
Orcutt educators and school district aim to work through salary negotiations impasse
It’s a California classic: Underpaid and underappreciated public school teachers are demanding a big raise from their district, whose board members swear they don’t have the money for it. The story has been rehashed by school districts up and down the golden coast—and now, Orcutt Union School District is doing its own rendition. Salary negotiations…
Fire destroys farmworker housing structure in Nipomo
A Nipomo house fire last night destroyed an unfinished structure intended for farmworker housing under H2A, a government program for temporary foreign farmworkers. The cause of fire is still under investigation, but Cal Fire said they suspect arson. Cal Fire said the incident was reported at 11:25 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, and the…
Kris Buck and Deborah Breedon share their pastel landscapes at Gallery Los Olivos
Thanks to the few yet potent days of rain in March, the springtime bloom has yielded hillsides singing with the color of wildflowers and grasses awakened by the much-needed moisture. Many local artists are inspired by the natural growth, from photographers to painters, but it takes a special kind of painter to plant themselves outside…
What do you want to see built in Santa Maria?
Nick Refice student “I want to see more trees planted in Waller Park because a lot of the trees are being eaten by the Bark Beetle, and just more planting.” Reginald Corella utility meter reader “A culture diversity center including all ethnicities and all cultures so people can have a balanced understanding, and an understanding…
Pico at the Los Alamos General Store open for locally-sourced comfort food
It’s dinnertime. It’s Tuesday night. You’re out on the town in Los Alamos, with no plans, a few close friends, and a $50 bill in your wallet. You’ve got on your Clarks and some super funky striped socks. And you’ve put that tin of moustache wax to good use, so you’re lookin’ hip and clean…
The closet conundrum
My wife and I have a few skeletons in our closet. Not in the theoretical sense, like we have some dark secrets, but more in the literal sense. The skeletons in our closet are old Halloween decorations from 1997. I haven’t seen these decorations since 1997, but I know they’re still in there because anything…
Santa Maria Philharmonic Society announces new music director
The Santa Maria Philharmonic Society is gearing up for its last concert of the 2015-2016 season, which features a chamber orchestra performance under the direction of guest conductor James Riccardo. Riccardo is one of several guest conductors to collaborate with the orchestra over the last season, with only the season opener last September featuring longtime…
DANA Cultural Center welcomes new board of directors
The DANA Cultural Center in Nipomo, home of the historic Dana Adobe, recently held a board election and welcomes longtime and new volunteers in several capacities. The board of directors is in the midst of developing a dynamic heritage park site and Nature Education Facility and will be breaking ground on several projects in 2016.…
Wildling Museum offers Nature Printing workshop
The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature currently features the exhibit Prints from Land and Sea: A Blend of Art and Science, featuring the artwork of Eric Hochberg and Shane and Genny Andersen, through April 10. At 3 p.m. on the day of the exhibit’s closing, the scientist/artist group that created the show will deliver…
C Gallery welcomes sculptor Neil Goodman for lecture
The C Gallery in Los Alamos welcomes locals to join an afternoon lecture featuring nationally acclaimed sculptor Neil Goodman on April 10 from 4 to 5 p.m. at the gallery. Goodman will speak on his sculpting style, which explores themes of size and scope with both small and large-scale pieces currently showing throughout the country.…
Second annual Plein Air Competition and Exhibition paints Guadalupe
Many of the arts can be solitary in nature, and painting is certainly an example. Studio artists and plein air painters often do their work alone, in introverted bursts of creativity. However, many of these creative types do recognize the benefit of peer interaction and make an effort to connect and engage with artists in…
Jessi Van der Laan
St. Joseph High School senior swimmer Jessi Van der Laan probably wouldn’t be where she is now—competing for a spot in the state swim meet and receiving attention from multiple college coaches—if it weren’t for one fateful day during her childhood while living in Canada. “My dad is in the military so we moved to…
A Saintly makeover: Santa Maria High School upgrades athletic facilities as part of sports revival
Santa Maria High School may be best known in local prep sports circles as the perennial bottom-of-the-pack finisher in the Los Padres League. Brian Wallace, the school’s second-year athletic director, is doing his damnedest to turn that lowly reputation around. “We’re trying to be competitive and provide a better experience for our kids,” Wallace told…
Keeping the law of the land
For all the wild-child ways of my school days, I’m such a law-abiding, society-conforming birdie these days. So much so that my high school self would probably pummel my grown-up self for being such an annoying rule follower. Whenever I pop into Spencer’s Markets to grab a quick deli lunch, I always enter the parking…
Third District would be lucky to have Hartmann
Do you want to see your community thrive and lead the way toward economic, social, and environmental stability? Vote for Joan Hartmann for Santa Barbara County 3rd District supervisor! I was so happy to see Joan Hartmann running for the seat recently. We’ve worked together for years to improve the Buellton community, primarily through the…
Porter is dedicated to building next generation of citizens
In the June election we will have the chance to elect a truly caring and thoughtful person to be our next county supervisor for the 3rd District—and that person is Bruce Porter. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Bruce for several years on the Santa Ynez Valley Youth Coalition, an organization dedicated to finding…
A renewed call to move forward in Santa Ynez as neighbors
I have been a proponent for a win-win-win scenario to break the deadlock between the county and the Chumash tribe over the tribe’s need for housing, joining with many who have enumerated the benefits to the tribe and community of this more prudent development scenario. The solution demands that all of us truly act as…
Experience, honesty and public service count
What’s going on in politics these days? Watching the national debates, we are reminded of a quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 5: “To-morrow … to-morrow … it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” The clear trend is loud, rude, angry, disrespectful, dishonest, egotistical, name calling, know-it-all, self-appointed…
An inspirational approach to education
William Doyle, a Fulbright scholar, New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning TV producer, wrote a powerful essay about the “School of the Future.” First, the context. As a Fulbright scholar, Doyle spent five months as a Finnish public school father and a classroom observer. In his own words, he was “completely amazed at how…
Hancock College gets technology grant
More students in numerous design programs like graphics, multimedia, and architectural drafting at Allan Hancock College will soon see their creativity come to life thanks to a national grant. New Matter, a technology company, selected 100 schools and school districts in 28 states to benefit from its Educate and Inspire Initiative. Hancock College, the only…
Orcutt Academy robotics team finishes strong at competition
The Orcutt Academy High School robotics team recently returned from the Ventura Regional Competition March 24 through 26 at Ventura College, where the team earned a strong finish. This year’s challenge, called FIRST Stronghold, had some defensive elements that wreaked havoc on the robots. Orcutt Academy’s team FIRST3512 Spartatroniks suffered a setback when its robot,…
Spotlight on: Libertine Brewing Company
The craft beer boom has hit Santa Maria. With Santa Maria Brewing and Figueroa Mountain Brewing companies having already planted their flags in the city, Tyler Clark is hoping to do the same with Libertine Brewing Company. Clark has leased an 8,000-square-foot facility on the south end of the city, at 2325 A St.—near the…
Political Watch 4/7/2016
• A bill by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) to monitor and cap California’s old, abandoned, and leaking oil wells passed out of the Senate Natural Resources Committee March 16. The vote was 8-1. The bill, SB 900, the Coast Oil Well Cleanup Act, now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Community Notebook 4/7/16 – 4/14/16
MONDAY, APRIL 11 • The Santa Maria City Block Grants Advisory Committee has its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room, 110 E. Cook St., Santa Maria. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. TUESDAY, APRIL 12…
Injured Santa Maria man rescued in La Brea Canyon
Dirt biking solo in the Santa Barbara County outback can be treacherous, if not deadly. A Santa Maria resident and U.S. Marine Corps veteran got a taste of how dangerous it could be after getting rescued on April 3 in the La Brea Canyon area, according to Kelly Hoover, the public information officer for the…
Spike in snowy plover violations push Surf Beach to the brink of closure
Hardly a month has passed since the start of snowy plover nesting season at Surf Beach and already the beach is on the brink of closure. Air Force spokesman Sgt. Shane Fibbs at Vandenberg Air Force Base told the Sun that nesting habitat violations have reached 26 as of April 1 and if that number…
Some assembly required: Four candidates run to replace Katcho Achadjian to represent the 35th District in the California Assembly
Two Republicans, a Democrat, and a Libertarian walk into a Central Coast bar and what happens next? The joke isn’t complete, but four candidates—Steve LeBard, Jordan Cunningham, Dawn Ortiz-Legg, and Dominic Rubini—are vying to represent the citizens of the 35th District in the state Assembly. It’s a district that covers all of San Luis Obispo…
Good’s caretaker sentenced to parole
Wanda Nelson, the caretaker convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Solvang ALS patient Heidi Good, was sentenced on April 1 to five years’ parole. Nelson, 63, was on the job on March 25, 2013, when Good died after her breathing tube was disconnected and she was administered a toxic dose of medication. Nelson…
Longtime Santa Maria-Bonita School District board member resigns
Fidenzio Brunello has resigned halfway through his fifth term on the Board of Trustees for the Santa Maria-Bonita School District (SMBSD). The 14-year board member wrote in his resignation letter that he plans to spend more time with his family. “I have decided that, at this stage in my life, I would like to spend…
Santa Maria Elks: More than ‘an old men’s drinking society’
The Santa Maria Elks lodge has done a lot right in its 89-year history: It’s donated big bucks to local community programs, hosted delicious indoor barbecues, and racked up more than 3,000 members, making it the biggest Elks lodge in the state and fifth biggest in the nation. It has not, however, appointed a female…
