If Fiesta brings out the Grinch in you, there’s no better way to celebrate than by renting a copy of Cutter’s Way, a genuinely grimy noir thriller set in Santa Barbara during Fiesta. Starring Jeff Bridges, John Heard, and Lisa Eichhorn, this 1981 film follows a trio of painfully dissolute losers who, after stumbling onto a murder, hope to make big bucks by blackmailing the murderer.
SILLY SEASON: As usual in Santa Barbara, the fight is about water. This time, it’s about how high the seawater will rise if and when Greenland’s vast prehistoric ice sheets melt as a result of global warming. A group of well-intentioned eco-agitators has decided the best way to get the public’s attention about global warming is to paint a light blue line-1,000 feet long-on Santa Barbara’s downtown streets and sidewalks showing exactly where the new shoreline would be if the water level were to increase by the projected 20 feet.
Roger Horton said he hopes to prevent kid’s programs from being cut.
Councilmembers opined that local demographics are fairly represented by the current system.
The intended site is near the corner of State and Montecito streets.
The oil company proposes a 140-foot-tall drilling platform.
Police aimed to make streets safe during Fiesta Weekend.
GO LONG: Poor Michael Vick. He’s in a lot of trouble. But then, he should have known better. He should have known that Americans will tolerate any degree of cruelty, no matter how pornographically depraved, when inflicted on foreign nationals of darker pigmentation, especially if they may or may not have had something to do with terrorism.
As high-powered gabfests go, the July 18 assembly of movers and shakers at the Cabrillo Arts Pavilion was about as impressive as they come. There to discuss whether downtown Santa Barbara should lower its building height limit were every member of the City Council, the Planning Commission, the Architectural Board of Review, and the Historic Landmarks Commission, as well as some of Santa Barbara’s best-known architects, lobbyists, and community advocates.
IT’S CHINATOWN, JAKE: Once upon a time, Goleta Water District meetings offered the best show in town. That’s if your idea of a good time is watching roosters claw one another to death or pit bulls chomp each others’ necks. Otherwise staid, sensible, middle-aged, propertied, and very white boardmembers could be counted on to lose their collective cool and throw a punch or two.
