This year-end wrap-up started out to be a look at the top stories of 2007, but trying to choose the most interesting entries was difficult, so I have left it for you to make up your own mind! Listed below are all the tidbits Montage brought to your attention this year. It’s like a map of Montecito — our joys, sorrows. trials, tribulations, and a few secrets to boot.

If a topic catches your attentions and you want to read the whole thread, just click on the date, and it will take you directly to the full report. Or just go here for the entire collection of Montecito Montages, and scroll through until you find the column you want.

Today, we are listing Montages from January through June. Next week, on January 1, we’ll list the Montages from July through December. Let me know your favorite stories by leaving a comment at the end of the column or by sending an email to jamy@independent.com to reach me privately.

Happy Holidays and Merry Montaging!

January 2, 2007

● After six months in the making, MBAR rolls out a new checklist for MBAR applicants

● Oprah goes to Africa to open her girls’ school, and some Montecitans tag along

● Pricilla Presley buys a house in Montecito

● Steve Strong and Denise Adams are elected Westmont Trustees

● Montage Crystal Ball predicts Bob Bierig to be MPC Chair (correct), Miramar rising like a Phoenix (correct!); No Pres. Candidates will measure up to Gerald Ford in the kindness category (correct), and David Myrick will step down early form MA (wrong, but seven others departed, so erroneous prediction is neutralized)

January 10, 2007

● Voices of Montecito stymies Carbajal’s MPC appointments

● MA adjourns annual meeting without electing officers

● “Sony” and “Meltzer” start Montage blog-a-thon

January 16, 2007

● Leaders Depart: Montecito Water District announces death of board member Robert Puddicombe; Westmont’s Ron Cronk retires

● Leaders Installed: Deirdre Cannata (MSD); Roy Jensen (MFD); Jan Able (MWD); Troy Harris (MERRAG) Michael Cooney (SB PC)

● Coast Village Rd. landlord, the late Mary Jane Barton, leaves $2 million to Philly’s Curtis Institute

● Montage leaks Tom Cruise and Sacha Baron Cohen will attend SBIFF and Thomas Friedman will be Westmont’s breakfast speaker

● Mug Shots: Rob Lowe plays a Senator in new TV hit; Michael DeGruy, natural history film maker, plays with squids; DAWG offers playful pet portraits

● Breaking News: Supes cave in; Carbajal says his MPC commissioners will be seated.

January 22, 2007

● LA Bling Mall developer Rick Caruso to purchase Miramar

● BoS officially approves MPC Comish Bob Bierig, Michael Phillips, and Sue Burrows

● Film Festival 2007 gears up with “A Native’s Primer” lunch at the Biltmore

January 31, 2007

● Insights on Ty Warner, Rick Caruso, and the future of the Miramar

● Montecito’s Mike DeGruy to introduce Al Gore at SBIFF

● Plow and Angel re-opens

● MA’s Dick Shaikewitz ambles into Caruso’s media event

● $200K Biltmore’s Birthday Bash held in conjunction with Film Fest

● MPC’s Westmont’s decision faces BoS double appeal—from Westmont and neighbors

● Balloonist Julian Nott speaks at Institute for Theoretical Physics

● Breaking News: Bob Collector withdraws from MA prexy consideration (2/5)

February 5

● Robert Collector drops out of Montecito Association leadership race

February 6, 2007

● Bill Palladini nominated as MA’s new president

● Supervisor Janet Wolf walks for heart health

● Highlights of Film Fest 2007 (Photo-Montage)

● BoS denies neighbors’ appeal to curtail Westmont’s expansion

● Coral Casino gets go-ahead after Cynthia Ziegler’s appeal options run out

● San Ysidro Ranch manager Duncan Graham departs after a two year stint

● Caruso to holds a meet-and-greet at community hall

EXTRA: February 12, 2007

● Jack Overall departs MA Board to fill Dick Thielscher’s vacant MPC seat

February 13, 2007

● Interview with new MPC Comish Jack Overall

● Carbajal appoints Michael Cooney to study Montecito planning process

● Nearby Miramar neighbors send Valentines to Caruso

● MA and Caruso plan private reception for select group at community hall

● Richard Gunner previews ideas for the Tom’s Pharmacy corner

● Montecito Water Dist. holds public meeting to discuss of higher water rates

● Designer Bunny Williams speaks at Casa del Herrero event

● National conservative stars Tom DeLay and David Horowitz to honor Andy Granatelli

● Sarah House holds SBIFF black tie party

February 21, 2007

● BoS grants Westmont’s appeal of MPC traffic restrictions and decal mandate

● Gayle Beebe selected as new president of Westmont

● Westmont offers pre-visit lecture on Tom Friedman’s work

● Water District votes to increase residential water rates

● MA / Caruso open previously private reception to the public and over 70 attend

● Jim Wolfe, elected to MA 1/16/07, resigns; Gene Sinser takes his place

February 27, 2007

● Q&A with MA’s new Prez, Bill Palladini

● Garden Lane’s tastemaker Nancy Salvucci goes on line at Sbdigs.com

● Caruso socializes with Miramar neighbors at Montecito Country Club, hopes to open Miramar in 18-24 months, and introdudes William Reich as Hotels VP.

●Biltmore Spa Beautician Susan Ciminelli offers epidermis enlightens

March 6, 2007

● LA-style vehicle and pedestrian traffic jams San Ysidro Road

● Carbajal sets up 18-person fact-finding group to review safe routes to Montecito schools

● Coral Casino members get construction update, and there’s speculation the initiation fee for the 85 open memberships could go for as high as $65K

● Over 800 people hear Thomas Friedman at Westmont’s President’s Breakfast

March 13, 2007

● MBAR votes to leave the community hall and move their meetings downtown

● Montecito Union School receives transportation survey

● Jody Thompson named the new supervisor of Montecito Branch Library

● Music Academy gets revised MBAR approval for possible August start to its previously approved rehabilitation master building plan.

● Locals complain about Plow and Angel’s packed house

● Rudi Giuliani to visit Montecito on March 25

March 20, 2007

● COAST to honor Barry Siegel

● Montecito’s Grace Tynan gets national media attention for Girl Scout cookie efforts

● Oprah’s steady, Stedman Graham, speaks at Planned Parenthood

● David Horowitz Freedom Center honors Andy Granatelli and hosts conservative think tank at the Biltmore

● Music Academy is accepting donations for May Madness Sale on May 5

March 27, 2007

● Over 100 Montecito Supporters greet Rudy Giuliani

● Assembly Member Pedro Nava honors Barry Siegel with commendation

● Montecito San borrows $14.7 million for system rehabilitation

● Heal the Ocean / Montecito San. Discuss pending ocean water study

● Sandy Stahl talks to Montage about the local real estate market

● Richard Dicker speaks to Human Right Watch at Montecito Country Club

April 3, 2007

● MA names Victoria Greene Executive Director

● Caruso will unveil Miramar Plans at April 10 Town Hall meeting

● Hank Hurst gets MPC preliminary approval for dream home in hotly debated 3-2 vote

● Tagger hits Santa Barbara Bank and Trust and gets snapped by security camera

● Ted Tedesco named MA’s Land Use Chair

● MERRAG opens membership drive

● Concerned Citizens attorney Barry Cappello files lawsuit over Westmont expansion

● Demographist Bella DePaulo speaks to Women’s Political Committee at Montecito CC

● Montecito turns out at Chamber of Commerce State of City Mover and Shaker Breakfast

April 11, 2007

● Carbajal announces engineering study to look at pedestrian options on San Ysidro Road

● Tony Harbor appointed to MA Board to fill Jack Overall seat and Retired MPC Comish ● Bob Meghreblian joins MA Honorary Board

● Both Maria Herold and Community Sheriff Isaiah Tchobanoff return to work after medical leaves

● Allan Nishimura, Westmont chemistry professor, installed in Kathleen Smith Chair

● MBAR holds their first meeting at downtown county hearing room

● Heal the Ocean receives $300K grant to study Hammonds Beach

● Westmont biologist Jeff Schloss to be Westmont Downtown speaker

● Montage called to jury duty

EXTRA: April 11, 2007

● Caruso unveils new Miramar plans to a packed town hall meeting

April 17, 2007

● Montecito Sanitary District votes 3-2 to support collaboration with Heal the Ocean on their upcoming study of shallow-water sewer outfall near the end of MSD’s line

April 24, 2007

● New high tech, high-powered telescope installed at Westmont, as culmination of $625K project

May 1, 2007

● Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy speaks to Channel City Club

● Music Academy gets ready for world-class rummage sale on May 5

● Crane School holds annual “Green” Fund raiser on May 5

● Former MPC Comish Dick Thielscher honored by BoS Commendation

● Cold Spring School kids read essays at Montecito Association meeting

May 8, 2007

● Cal Trans Head visits Cold Spring School to discuss pedestrian routes on Hwy. 192

● “Chainsaw” Don Miller cuts roadside vegetation that prevented walking to Cold Spring School

● Ralph Baxter, past MA president, takes early retirement from MA Board

● J. W. Colin is appointed to MA Board to fill Baxter’s seat

● Ralph Baxter and Dick Thielscher elected to MA’s Honorary Board

● Paula Lopez does KEYT spot on Montecito

● Westmont holds graduation 2007

● Assembly Member Pedro Nava holds Cinco de Mayo Luncheon

May 10, 2007

● On April 18, 2007 P&D rolled out some new tools for the Montecito area planning. The refreshed guidelines include a revised MBAR application, a conceptual review checklist, a neighborhood compatibility database, a Montecito square-footage overlay map and a common features area map.

May 15, 2007

● Montecito Fire District urges wildfire preparedness during third driest year on record

● MERRAG hosts responses and recovery training sessions on June 7

● Montecito Journal Editor Guillaume Doane announces his departure

● Landscape designer Pat Brodie tells how to create a Zen garden space.

May 16, 2007

● Montecito Association’s Victoria Greene leads planning workshop with Citizen Planning Association and Environmental Defense Fund

● County Public Works fixes rascal root on High Road

● Chef Anne Cooper addresses Montecito Union School community breakfast.

● Montecito residents Harold and Annette Simmons donate $1millon to Westmont

May 22, 2007

● Vons is considering upgrade their Montecito supermarket

● Victoria and Carter Hines host lithograph exhibit

● Montecito Water District’s Mike Clark will teach a conservation gardening on May 26

May 29, 2007

● With 500 businesses and $677K in annual sales tax, Coast Village Road draws attention

● San Ysidro Ranch names Marco Perry Managing Director at posh ranch reception

● LA Times reviews the Biltmore

June 5, 2007

● Chainsaw Don Miller grows frustrated by slow response to installing safe route to school

● Hacks and Flacks toast departing Journal Editor Guillaume Doane; Carbajal presents with a BoS commendation to Doane

June 12, 2007

● Caruso delivers his Miramar Plan to P&D and Miramar locals dub plan “perfect!”

● Music Academy gears up for final building fundraising spurt and gets OK on final traffic plan

● Arts Funds hosts Teen Art Mentorship Show, showing works of several Montecito students

● Artist Lily Sanders shows off Montecito watercolors at one-person show

● Architect Jeff Sheldon produces whimsical renderings for a proposed Cold Spring Pedestrian footpath

● Montage enter Team Bike Challenge on electric bike

● Largura’s hillside development heads back to MBAR on June 18

June 14, 2007

● The Montage Village Cheat Sheet answers 12 question only locals know how to answer

June 19, 2007

● Montage attends a fundraiser for Jerry Roberts' legal defense fund

● Local author Stephen Murdoch has a new book: IQ: A Smart History of a Failed Idea

● Ebb/Flow Gallery shows off surf art

● Jana Zimmer mixed media art in new show, “Through the Eyes of Survivors and Children of Survivors” will soon to travel to the Prague Jewish Museum

● Music Academy Master Classes are in full swing

●Writers Conference is set for June 29

June 27, 2007

● MA hosts semi-annual homeowners meeting where Chainsaw Don Miller seeks to get 144 opened on high fire danger days

● Carbajal and Fire Chief Wallace promise community-wide evacuation drill in April 2008.

● MERRAG distributes “Disaster Preparation Tips” via email

● Architect Bob Easton promises Largura’s hillside home project, slated for MBAR on July 2 will be substantially reduced in square footage

● Writers Conference gets under way with a slew of Montecito writers on hand

EXTRA: June 30, 2007

● Fire in the backcountry burns 200 acres, gets people on edge.

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