Ethan Stewart, Author at The Santa Barbara Independent

News By Ethan Stewart | Fri Aug 03, 2007 | 6:00am

Fiscal Chaos Plagues Schools

Less than four months ago, the Santa Barbara School District was reluctantly wielding a budgetary ax with millions of dollars worth of teaching positions, after-school programs, and junior high school electives dripping off its blade. Now, in the wake of a somewhat shocking budget meeting in late June, the district-which this spring appeared desperately cash-strapped-has what looks to be some $5 million in surplus cash sitting in its recently adopted 2007-2008 budget.

Outdoors By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jul 26, 2007 | 12:00pm

Zaca Fire Burns On

As of Tuesday evening, after tens of thousands of acres in the Santa Barbara backcountry had burned, firefighting forces appeared to have the Zaca Fire under control with more than 60 percent of the inferno contained and August 3 earmarked as the likely full containment date. The mini-city erected in recent weeks at the Live Oak campground to provide home base and command central to the approximately 800 personnel fighting the blaze was being slowly taken down even as plumes of smoke continued to rise above the distant ridgeline.

Business By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jul 26, 2007 | 12:00pm

Showdown Over Wide
Open Spaces

This year, for the first time in human history, more people will live in urban areas than in rural lands. Though the tipping point will most likely be reached-or perhaps already has been-without fanfare, its significance cannot be overlooked. With this new age comes a whole new set of rules, values, and views that threaten to leave many of our most celebrated traditions behind as we work to reconcile past methods of survival with a less agrarian lifestyle. Here in the United States, with the ever-growing beast of urban sprawl spilling from cities toward the horizon, the rural, agricultural spaces that were the societal backbone of previous generations are fast becoming zigzags of highways connecting suburbs to shopping centers.

News By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jul 12, 2007 | 12:00pm

Ojai versus Big Trucks

Nestled at the intersection of State Route 33 and Highway 150, Ojai enjoys a reputation as one of Santa Barbara’s most idyllic inland neighbors. Tucked in the shadow of the Santa Ynez Mountains and just a short drive from Ventura, the Ojai Valley is an oasis in the sprawl of Southern California. However, with plans to expand gravel mining operations in the area, the sleepy little city of about 8,000 residents is facing a potential daily invasion of several hundred 80,000-pound rock-hauling Mack trucks on their way to and from the Cuyama Valley mines.

News By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jul 05, 2007 | 12:00pm

Fire Season ’07 Roars to
Life in Los Padres

Shortly after 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, it was obvious to anyone looking toward the mountains that a fire was raging in the back country of Santa Barbara. With the soon-to-set sun turned an ominous blood orange and the telltale swirl of golden smoke clouding the horizon along the Santa Ynez Mountain range, fire crews from Santa Barbara County and the U.S. Forest Service rushed to a stretch of the Santa Ynez River near Paradise Road in the Los Padres National Forest as ash began to fall in the foothills and portions of downtown Santa Barbara.

Books By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jul 05, 2007 | 12:00pm

Sea Tales

The waterman tradition of Santa Barbara runs deep. Among the army of pleasure yachts and billionaire toy boats that stuff our harbor, there is a core collection of hardworking commercial fishing boats, their captains and crew an essential and refreshingly authentic ingredient to the fabric of our seaside community.

Living By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jun 28, 2007 | 12:00pm

Small 2.7-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes SB Channel

Locally, there have been neither reports of damage nor much notcie by residents.

Living By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 12:00pm

More Review for Gaviota Mega-House

Tentative plans to put a luxury home longer than a football field on top of a ridge at the southern gateway to the Gaviota Coast came to a grinding-though perhaps temporary-halt this week. For nearly three hours on Tuesday, June 19, Santa Barbara County supervisors struggled to make sense of an occasionally heated three-way version of “he said/she said” among their own staff, the advocates of the 13,333-square-foot Ballantyne home, and those opposed to the construction of the massive single-family home.

Visual Arts By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 12:00pm

Siren Song: Wave Riding as Art

On the deepest level, the pursuit of wave riding has much more in common with high art than it does with sport. Each wave is a once-in-a-lifetime canvas, providing the opportunity for the artist to draw lines whatever way he or she chooses.

Living By Ethan Stewart | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 12:00pm

Life and Death in the Sandy Shadows of Coastal Armor

Whether or not Al Gore is responsible for it, mainstream America seems to be fast waking up to the realities of global warming and the associated doom and gloom of Earth’s rising sea levels. And while these new ocean heights will no doubt equal polar bears dancing on ice cubes and State Street going all Lost City of Atlantis, they also portend some very real and disturbing scientific trends, the depths of which the scientific community has just now begun to examine.

Ethan Stewart

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