Proponents of Measure A, a proposition that would move Santa Barbara’s city council elections from odd- to even-numbered years, kicked off their campaign Tuesday. Those against the measure, meanwhile, continued to voice their belief that the measure would be bad for Santa Barbara.
THe kids in the hall: Dr. Mark Capritto, pictured here just after the last bell on the first day of school, replaces Paul Turnbull as principal at Santa Barbara High School. District attendance was down though not as much as feared in the current declining enrollment reality. The secondary district reported 9,618 kids-down about 700 from last year-and the elementary reported 5,592 students, down about 220 students from last year.
In a case of toxic trickle-down, county mental health officials now find themselves pressed to find $1.4 million to fund a successful program that keeps mentally ill homeless people off the streets. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger axed funding on August 25 as part of Sacramento’s convoluted and dysfunctional budget dance: In order to get the Republican votes needed to pass his budget, the governor agreed to cut $700 million from the $145-billion budget.
Natasha Lohmus is worried about the trout. Formerly a game warden and now an environmental scientist with California’s Department of Fish and Game, Lohmus has reported three pumps in Montecito creeks because she suspects they are drawing off more water than the endangered Southern California Steelhead can spare.
America’s best and hardest-working rock unit played a fitting, elegant, and raucous swan song to summer last Sunday night under a silvery full moon at the Santa Barbara Bowl. It took a few tunes to get going-that whole rapport-with-the-crowd thing getting in the way at the start of the set-but after a dulcet set by popster balladeer Richard Swift, who delivered a half dozen songs in a Harry-Nilsson-meets-Elvis-Costello-like tone, Jeff Tweedy (in great voice) and the revised Wilco lineup opened with two lyrical offerings from the lush new album, Sky Blue Sky.
Not content with being a pioneer of country music, Wanda Jackson decided to throw caution to the wind and embrace the wild new discipline of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s. While Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley received public praise, Jackson fought for recognition in the confines of a male-dominated genre, and is now widely heralded as the First Lady of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
This September is officially “local eating” month. The challenge is to eat food grown within a 100-mile radius of home, while enjoying the process and, indeed, eating well.
What was once a weed-grown lot languishing against the northbound side of the 101 at Gutierrez Street is today a quiet oasis of artists’ lofts known as El Zoco. Here, artists live and work close to the heart of the city, creating work that might never have existed in Santa Barbara without such a home.
“C’est mieux de n’en pas parler,” I said to myself the first time I sat on top of Ryan Mountain and tried to put my finger on the exact shade of goodness the Joshua Tree National Park radiates. The expression I came up with-“everything in its place”-was the reason I quickly urged myself (in French, which is naturally the language I use to admonish myself) not to speak it aloud.
UCSB’s defending national soccer champions unveiled their version of David Beckham last Saturday night. Early in their exhibition game against Westmont College, the Gauchos were awarded a free kick about 25 yards out from the goal. Sophomore midfielder Ciaran O’Brien stepped forward and swung his foot into the ball.
