BIG MONEY

The Santa Barbara Hospice Foundation is the happy recipient of
unexpected largesse. H. Guy Di Stefano – a former employee of the
Federal Aviation Administration who lived part-time in Santa Ynez
and part-time in Washington State – bequeathed $30 million to
Hospice, which provides free counseling to patients and families
facing issues related to terminal illness. Di Stefano, who had no
heirs, passed away in late July.

The City of Santa Barbara concluded the last fiscal year with
$86,000 in its piggy bank despite having projected a shortfall of
$4 million. City administrators said the shortfall was avoided
because of a hiring freeze that kept many vacant positions
unfilled. Parks and Recreation accounted for $620,000 of the
savings; Community Development, $602,000; and the Police
Department, $508,000. In addition, the city collected far more than
it expected, mostly through increased property tax revenues.

Santa Barbara City Councilmembers delayed deciding on whether to
spend another $250,000 to fix a glitch that marred the opening of
the new $25 million Granada parking garage. City engineers omitted
from their plans a traffic lane into the garage’s Anacapa Street
entrance, raising worries that rush hour drivers might collide with
backed-up cars waiting to get into the garage. The $250,000
solution would have been to cut a lane out of the sidewalk. The
cheaper solution – and the one adopted by the council – was to
eliminate the 12 parking spaces across the street from the
garage.