Cover Story
Santa Maria mobile home residents advocate for rent stabilization through challenging city politics
Rancho Buena Vista Mobile Home Park resident Gary Hall has spoken at the last 27 Santa Maria City Council meetings. His mission: to get a mobile home rent stabilization ordinance on the council’s agenda. A rent stabilization ordinance would limit the amount by which landowners can increase the rent each year, said Hall, the North…
BINGEABLE: BAD VEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES. (2022)
BINGEABLE: BAD VEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES. (2022) Where’s it playing? Netflix What’s it rated? TV-MA It seems stories of cons, crime, and deception are hot now with the popularity of documentaries like The Tinder Swindler and The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, as well as the dramatized true stories portrayed in Inventing Anna and…
BINGEABLE: UNDERCURRENT: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF KIM WALL (2022)
BINGEABLE: UNDERCURRENT: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF KIM WALL (2022) Where’s it playing? HBO Max What’s it rated? TV-MA In 2020, HBO released The Investigation, a six-part Danish series detailing the investigation of journalist Kim Wall’s mysterious murder onboard a privately owned submarine. It must have gone over well because the story comes once again to HBO…
Kevin Harris is heartfelt and humorous in SLO Rep’s bittersweet one-man show, ‘Every Brilliant Thing’
Don’t go into SLO Rep’s latest production empty-handed. Bring tissues. Lots of tissues. Within the first 15 minutes of the performance I attended, there were few dry eyes to be found in the audience. I suspect even the most stoic of attendees of Every Brilliant Thing will be susceptible to tears, but not just in…
Nathan Peitso takes on dual role as Sear Steakhouse’s new owner and executive chef
Almost all the walls at Sear Steakhouse are adorned with at least one historic photograph or colorful artwork, minus one particular wall with a large bookshelf in front of it. Pressing hard on a specific side of the shelf reveals its true purpose—a secret door, straight out of a Scooby-Doo episode. “It’s totally the Batcave,”…
County officials expected higher numbers from homeless count
After more than 400 volunteers hit Santa Barbara County’s streets in February to capture a snapshot of those experiencing homelessness, the 2022 Point-In-Time Count’s preliminary results showed a 3.4 percent increase over 2020. The count showed 1,962 people were experiencing homelessness in the county on Feb. 23, according to a county Housing and Development press…
Buellton approves new mixed-use complex, amid parking concerns
Buellton Vice Mayor Dave King admittedly got “passionate” about the future of on-street parking, while speaking unfavorably about an upcoming mixed-use development in town. The 1.22-acre complex that will consist of both commercial businesses and residential units was recently approved by the Buellton City Council in a 4-1 vote, with King dissenting. “You’re going to…
Cottage Health awards toxic stress prevention grants to community organizations
When a child is exposed to a prolonged amount of stress—like caregiver neglect, substance abuse, mental illness, exposure to violence, or emotional abuse—it can affect their mental health and well-being in the long run, said Cottage Health Population Health Program Manager Ama Atiedu. The constant adversity in their lives can lead to toxic stress, a…
Environmental Alliance of Santa Barbara County Museums holds exhibits, events to raise climate change awareness
The Environmental Alliance of Santa Barbara County Museums presents Impact: Climate Change and the Urgency of Now, a series of events and programming offered at 14 different locations between April and September. The collaborative program is described in press materials as “a multidisciplinary project aimed at building a greater collective responsibility for limiting the effects…
Fort Vine holds live folk concert in Santa Maria
Manhattan-based folk duo Fort Vine, featuring Nyna Nelson and Trevor Tunison, will perform in the sanctuary of Unity of Santa Maria on Sunday, April 17, at 6:30 p.m. The pair is widely known for touring across the U.S. from concert to concert in a Sprinter van. This upcoming performance is part of a monthly series…
Stable instability
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…
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…
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…
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…
Political Watch: March 31, 2022
• Registered vehicle owners in California could get at least $400 per vehicle as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $11 billion relief package for Californians facing high gas prices, the governor’s office announced on March 23. “We’re taking immediate action to get money directly into the pockets of Californians who are facing higher gas…
District Attorney rules Lompoc officer-involved homicide was ‘justifiable’
Fifteen of the 26 bullets Lompoc police officers fired at 32-year-old Travis Daniel Carlon on Oct. 9, 2021, struck his body, according to a recently released investigation from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. The office ruled Carlon’s death a “justifiable homicide.” Senior Deputy District Attorney Anne Nudson said the DA’s Office concluded that…
