Month: June 2006

Moving Forward by Bowing Backward

SURREAL ESTATE MOMENT: Turns out that Santa Barbara’s standing in the USA Today poll of “overvalued” real estate markets in America has a good- news/bad-news component. Yes, our real estate market is now officially 73 percent overvalued, but that pales in comparison to the 104 percent in Naples, Florida. Meanwhile, “growth” is the buzz word/dirty word in town: We have the pro-growth faction, the no-growth bunch, and now a group of quasi-anarchists, the anti-growth folks, who are advocating knockin’ stuff down and restoring our precious vacant lots. Stay tuned for more (anti-) developments. Meanwhile, back to the music :

PARK IT AT PBS:

The local nonprofit New Beginnings Counseling Center will take center stage on PBS this week, when the station KCET airs its popular Friday-night television program California Connected.

TWO MILLION POUNDS OF GUNK

The City of Santa Barbara’s street-sweeping program has proven so successful in its four years in operation – scooping up 1.9 million pounds of debris and gunk from city streets and curbs each year – that public works administrators want to expand into the Mesa and the upper Mesa. While generous with their praise, councilmembers urged caution when it came to what Councilmember Grant House termed “street sign pollution.”

The Perfect Speed

Seeing Santa Barbara on a Segway Tour

After more than a decade of having friends and family come visit, it wasn’t until recently that I discovered the perfect method for touring Santa Barbara. I’d led visitors on drives around town, but while we covered a lot of ground and grabbed some great views, all the exotic shrubbery, ornate architecture, and friendly faces along the way got lost in a 35 mph blur.

FIESTA CONTEST FOR KIDS:

Arts Alive! is hosting an Old Spanish Days Fiesta art contest for kids aged 5 to 13. To participate, use any medium to portray this year’s Under the August Moon theme into a 16-by-20-inch, ready-to-hang piece, and submit it to the gallery, at 1 North Calle Cesar Ch¡vez, by Monday, July 3. Call 966-6366 or see artsalivesb.com.

WAITING FOR LIGHTNING TO STRIKE:

More than 500 firefighters succeeded in containing a blaze late Sunday that ravaged 14,988 acres and three mobile homes in New Cuyama, only to see a bolt of lightning start up a fresh fire several miles away on Monday.