POTHOLE POLITICS: Until this past weekend I’d been hoping and praying that Santa Maria Supervisor Joe Centeno would wake up one morning, dust off that Superman cape hanging in his closet, and decide to be the hero that only he can be.
Mass transit and alternative transportation advocates from 22 community organizations called on the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) to place just one $1.6 billion bond measure on the November ballot, instead of the two separate bond measures-A and B-now proposed.
Opponents of the proposed county split — on the countywide ballot this June as Measure H — have raised nearly $25,000, while advocates of
WHO’S WATCHIN’ THE MAN? Thank God the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force finally stumbled onto the Raging Grannies. I know I’ll be sleeping better at night. For those unfamiliar with the Grannies, they’re peace activists who subscribe to the impudently impish notion that it’s better to be outrageous than to be outraged. To this end, the Grannies wear big hats and goofy costumes and write clever songs against the war, which they belt out with more gusto than polish in public places. The Grannies boast sleeper cells-which they cleverly call “chapters”-just about everywhere on the Pacific Coast except, naturally, for Santa Barbara.
Members of the Board of Supervisors said next to nothing after listening to 20 speakers blister efforts to expand or renew Measure D-the half-cent sales tax surcharge that has funded most road improvements countywide since 1989. Most of the speakers complained Measure D gravely neglected buses, trains, bikes, and other forms of alternative transportation and vowed to oppose it unless this changed.
Developer Mark Lee and members of the Santa Barbara City Council have been playing a game of high-stakes chicken regarding the fate of Lee’s fiercely fought Veronica Springs housing proposal-slated for the west side of Las Positas Creek-and late Tuesday afternoon, both sides blinked. Lee managed to avoid all but certain defeat by agreeing to reduce the number of homes proposed from 23 to about 15. In a major reversal, Lee also agreed to build his access road through Alan Road rather than construct the entrance bridge he originally proposed, which would have spanned Las Positas Creek directly across from Elings Park.
Orange County developer Steven Gelson just completed acquisition of Carrillo Plaza-now home to Carrows and Spudnuts at De la Vina and Carrillo streets-which he hopes to demolish and replace with a four-story, mixed-use condo project. While Gelson’s plans are far from finalized, he said slightly more than one-third of the 55 condos he’s proposing would be affordable. A 30-year veteran of the Orange County development scene, Gelson is now focusing on properties facing severe environmental challenges. In the case of Carrillo Plaza, the Regional Water Quality Control Board has ordered a massive cleanup of subsoil contaminants-produced by a former dry-cleaning business-that threaten the city’s groundwater basin.
Still hurting from the high cost of running for office, members of the Santa Barbara City Council took a few baby steps toward campaign finance reform Tuesday afternoon. By a unanimous vote, the council approved the formation of a new committee to study how other cities have dealt with the issue and to what effect.
MERCURY IN RETROGRADE: The great tragedy of our times is that Karl Rove doesn’t make house calls. Late last week we learned that Rove, George Bush’s beloved political hatchet man, can affect long-distance medical miracles simply by picking up the phone and “touching” someone electronically. I’m referring to the dramatic improvement reported by Republican Congressmember Elton Gallegly, the Simi Valley arch-conservative who also represents much of inland Santa Barbara County, after taking a call from Bush’s chief plotter and schemer.
Nadia McCaffrey’s son was shot and killed in Iraq two years ago, by Iraqis posing as American support troops; even so, McCaffrey says she bears the Iraqis no vengeful feelings. Instead, her anger is focused at her own government, which she contends has prosecuted the war with a disastrous cocktail of deceit and incompetence.
